Where am I in the cycle? 15 gallon planted tank with CO2

I'm not quite sure what information to provide so here is what I know:

Tank is a 15 gallon planted tank with CO2. It has been up and running for over a week (no fish). The ammonia was reading at .50 consistently for the last week.

Two days ago I added a little ammonia to up the ammonia. It went up over 4.0 but I've done 2 50% water changes the last few days and today the ammonia is reading at 2.0 and the Nitrites are reading between .25 and .50 (previously they were 0).

Where does that put me in the cycle? What do I do now?
The ph is also super low at 6.4 (it was 6.6 2 days ago prior to the water changes and the ammonia spike)....It was low at the beginning of the cycle and I'm not sure if/how/why I might need to address this but FYI in case it changes anyone's answer.

 

So if you are in a fishless cycle, are up to 4ppm, then do a 50% WC, are down to 2ppm, this tells me that your cycle is pretty much at the beginning.
As you are fishless cycling, there should be no need to do WC at this time. At this time I would leave it at 2ppm, and watch the ammonia. When it goes down without a WC, your cycle is moving along. At that time you can bring the ammonia up to 2ppm again. If ammonia consistently gets down from 2ppm to 0 within 24hrs, your beneficial bacteria are at a good level.

 

OK perfect. Thank you. So I just watch the ammonia as it is for now.

I only did the water changes because I thought it wasn't supposed to go above 2ppm and so I thought getting it back down to 2ppm was recommended.

 

In a small tank it is not really necessary to dose as high. Watching the Ammonia is the main task right now. As soon as it drops, watch for Nitrites (though they may not show up as the transfer to Nitrates is occurring fast) and the Nitrates.

 

I agree with Fisch. I do one water change after adding the substrate so the plants do not have too much ammonia. Then I do them very sparlingly if at all.

 

In a small tank it is not really necessary to dose as high. Watching the Ammonia is the main task right now. As soon as it drops, watch for Nitrites (though they may not show up as the transfer to Nitrates is occurring fast) and the Nitrates.

OK this is where I am confused though because there are nitrites in today's readings.

 

OK this is where I am confused though because there are nitrites in today's readings.

Everyone's tank is a bit different. Did you use bacteria starter? My bacteria starter left the ammonia as nitrites and it took forever to build the second kind.


IF you don't have nitrates or nitrites or ammonia in your tap water it looks like bacteria is building but not enough to clear the tank yet.

Make sure its stable (0 0 5-30) for a bit before adding livestock. When cycles do werid things during cycling they take a bit longer to reach a good equilibrium sometimes. Watch the nitrates closely. Mine did something similar and once i added livestock the nitrates liked to occasionally spike seemingly out of nowhere ) no ammonia or nitrites spikes . Test all the parameters everyday for a while.

 

Everyone's tank is a bit different. Did you use bacteria starter? My bacteria starter left the ammonia as nitrites and it took forever to build the second kind.


IF you don't have nitrates or nitrites or ammonia in your tap water it looks like bacteria is building but not enough to clear the tank yet.

Make sure its stable (0 0 5-30) for a bit before adding livestock. When cycles do werid things during cycling they take a bit longer to reach a good equilibrium sometimes. Watch the nitrates closely. Mine did something similar and once i added livestock the nitrates liked to occasionally spike seemingly out of nowhere ) no ammonia or nitrites spikes . Test all the parameters everyday for a while.

OK cool. Thanks good to know.

I'm not at all interested in adding fish before the water is ready but also doing my best not to stall the cycle so it can progress as quickly as it can. Add this to the fact that the whole thing makes my head hurt because it is so simple and yet somehow so complicated.

 

I'm not quite sure what information to provide so here is what I know:

Tank is a 15 gallon planted tank with CO2. It has been up and running for over a week (no fish). The ammonia was reading at .50 consistently for the last week.

Two days ago I added a little ammonia to up the ammonia. It went up over 4.0 but I've done 2 50% water changes the last few days and today the ammonia is reading at 2.0 and the Nitrites are reading between .25 and .50 (previously they were 0).

Where does that put me in the cycle? What do I do now?
The ph is also super low at 6.4 (it was 6.6 2 days ago prior to the water changes and the ammonia spike)....It was low at the beginning of the cycle and I'm not sure if/how/why I might need to address this but FYI in case it changes anyone's answer.

Although I think your cycle is progressing, you’ll want to keep an eye on the pH level. As pH approaches 6 or below,the cycling process can stall.

If you need to buffer and stabilize your pH, place a small amount of crushed coral (in a fine media bag) in your filter.

What is the water temperature of your tank?

 

Although I think your cycle is progressing, you’ll want to keep an eye on the pH level. As pH approaches 6 or below,the cycling process can stall.

If you need to buffer and stabilize your pH, place a small amount of crushed coral (in a fine media bag) in your filter.

What is the water temperature of your tank?

80.9 is the current temp.

OK that is good to know about the coral. The good news is we are ending lockdown here tomorrow so I could head over to the LFS to see if there is something I can pick up to help raise the ph.

 

80.9 is the current temp.

OK that is good to know about the coral. The good news is we are ending lockdown here tomorrow so I could head over to the LFS to see if there is something I can pick up to help raise the ph.

I’d bump the temperature up to 82 or so.

I wouldn’t recommend using anything but crushed coral to raise pH.

 

OK I will look for crushed coral.

This mornings readings are:
PH - 6.6
Ammonia - 1.0
Nitrite - 0.50
Nitrate - 5.0

So do I add a bit more ammonia?

 

OK I will look for crushed coral.

This mornings readings are:
PH - 6.6
Ammonia - 1.0
Nitrite - 0.50
Nitrate - 5.0

So do I add a bit more ammonia?

I’d dose it back up to 2 or 3 ppm.

 

I’d dose it back up to 2 or 3 ppm.

OK I did add ammonia yesterday but didn't test it last night (which I'm now regretting).

This morning's readings are:
PH - 6.6
Ammonia - 1.5
Nitrite - 2.0
Nitrate - 20

More ammonia?
Also there is all of a sudden lots of algae that looks like hair trailing off of my plants

 

Here is where we are at today. I added some ammonia yesterday and the ammonia levels are down today but both nitrites and nitrates are up.

My question is....do I just keep trying to maintain ammonia of 2.0 until nitrites go back down to 0? Or do I stop with the ammonia now and just let everyone do their thing?

 

Here is where we are at today. I added some ammonia yesterday and the ammonia levels are down today but both nitrites and nitrates are up.

My question is....do I just keep trying to maintain ammonia of 2.0 until nitrites go back down to 0? Or do I stop with the ammonia now and just let everyone do their thing?

Wow Awesome organization. If you cut off the ammonia the bacteria might die, they need to eat. How much to keep using depends a bit on what you plan your stocking to look like. I would continue doing what you are doing until. nitrites start falling. (If you cut down now it will look like they are falling but they aren't, they just don't have as much chemical to convert) Right now you have one kind of Bacteria, the type that does ammonia to nitrites, now you are building the second type. After that is 0 or almost zero keep dosing based on what you plan to stock. If you plan to stock heavy then you need a lot of ammonia still, if you plan on stocking lighter use less. Then 48hours before getting fish drain most of your water (do not touch the gravel or filter media.) and replace it with clean treated water, this will remove the surplus of CL that the plants didn't use up. The "ghost feed" it for a day or two until you stock it.

 

Wow Awesome organization. If you cut off the ammonia the bacteria might die, they need to eat. How much to keep using depends a bit on what you plan your stocking to look like. I would continue doing what you are doing until. nitrites start falling. (If you cut down now it will look like they are falling but they aren't, they just don't have as much chemical to convert) Right now you have one kind of Bacteria, the type that does ammonia to nitrites, now you are building the second type. After that is 0 or almost zero keep dosing based on what you plan to stock. If you plan to stock heavy then you need a lot of ammonia still, if you plan on stocking lighter use less. Then 48hours before getting fish drain most of your water (do not touch the gravel or filter media.) and replace it with clean treated water, this will remove the surplus of CL that the plants didn't use up. The "ghost feed" it for a day or two until you stock it.

Ok thank you! I guess it's time to start thinking about stocking options.....yet another thing I'm kind of clueless about.
I'd like shrimp, a school of fish and then 1 or 2 centrepiece fish. Would that count as heavy? Who is best to add first to a new tank? fish or shrimp?