Should I do a water change?

[EZ25]

My 55 gallon cycled in 9 days using TSS. Ammonia and nitrites at a constant 0.0 for 4 days now. Nitrate are rising. It was at 5.0 now at 10 or 20 not sure. Should I do a water change now or wait the exact 14 days which would make a water change due on Tuesday. Fish are fine.

 

[Mamajin]

Do not do a water change for 14 days. On the 15th day do a normal water change, followed thereafter by more weekly water changes. Be easy on the gravel for several weeks until the bacteria has fully established in the bio-media of your filter, then continue with normal gravel vacs (if you have gravel).

 

[EZ25]

Ok. Thanks.

 

[EZ25]

Ok. Its been 14 days as of today. I conducted a 15% water change. I cleaned just the left side of the gravel. Nitrates are still around 10-20 nitrites are 0.0 ammonia level went up to .25ppm(because of my tap water) hopefully tomorrow it will go down. Do you think I might have to do another water change?

 

[jdhef]

Since you ideally would like to keep nitrates under 20ppm, it looks like you may be okay for a few days (depending on whether nitrates and 10 or 20). In the future you may want to do a larger water change to keep nitrates down.

BTW, I vacuum all my gravel weekly. Since very little bacteria should be living in your gravel (all most all should be in your filter media) you will not be disrupting the cycle, and any debris in the gravel on the side you don't vacuum will start producing ammonia. So I think it is better to get everything out of the gravel that you can.

 

[EZ25]

Ok. I just checked my ammonia level this morning and it is still at .25ppm I thought it would go down in 12 hours. It's been a consistent 0 before my first water change. Should it take this long to get back to 0 after a water change? Fish seems fine, but I don't want to keep adding TSS after every water change. The bacteria should still be in the tank I even let my water sit with prime 24hrs before changing it.

 

[jdhef]

You should be able to process .25 ppm ammonia from your tap in 24 hours. No need to let the water sit with Prime for 24 hours, just add Prime to the bucket of water and pour the water right in the tank. Prime will detox ammonia for either 24 or 48 hours (seems like SeaChem now claims 48 hours, but they used to claim 24 hours).

But regardless, the Prime should have the ammonia detoxed until your bacteria converts it.