me again ;D i was at the local pet store yesterday and i mentioned that i vaccumed the gravel as i was doing my first water change ant the guy told me i did the wrong thing and "set my cycle back at least a few days"...is this true? from what i can put togeather from other posts i should vaccum the gravel with each weekly water change while cycling and even after cycle is done and tank is stable. could someone set me straight on this please? i appolagize if i am repeating questions from other posts, but i am a little confused and want to be doing things right...thanks all!!!
Sometimes it's necessary to vacuum the gravel if your ammonia or nitrites get too high. Normally, simply just vacuuming just because can set your cycle back some. When I cycled my first tank, I started vacuuming the gravel after 2 weeks into the cycle, and my tank made it okay. Are your numbers really high?
here are my readings from my first test: pH - 7.2 Ammonia - 4.0 Nitrites - 0.25 Nitrates - 5.0 The tank has been set up for about two weeks with two 20% water changes, do these test results seem right for a tank that has been set up for this long?
Your ph is great and your nitrites look like thry might be coming down, but you definitely need to do a water change of 50% or more to help dilute the ammonia and nitrates if you already have fish in your tank. Just try to have the water as close to the same temperature as the tank water as you can, both for the fish and it does help keep the cycling process stable. The bacteria are susceptible to large temperature changes until they are well established. I hope this helps. Just be sure and test, test, test. That will tell you more than anything how things are going and read the article about cycling your tank on this sites home page. (and never be afraid to ask questions, there is always someone here to lend a hand. - sometimes it also helps to go back and read the posts from others farther back) Shalom, Rose
thanks rose, i appreciate the help!! i will do a water change tomorrow and test again. i also started an excel spreadsheet to document my test results to have them as a quick referance and a log.
Good idea! Keeping a record will help you keep track as things may get a little hectic. Your ammonia is definately high, do partial water changes until it gets down to at least 1. For your fishes comfort you really don't want it any higher. Carol
