Need cycling help

[Asuka]

Okay it's all thanks to my uncle that I have earthworms and a testing kit with me it's sera quick test kit though it doesn't include ammonia-- (we didn't realize this till much later-- I won't be able to afford an ammonia test on my own till mid Jan.)

I had the tank with fish and filters running for about 20 days. I've been cycling a little blindly with minnows (yes I know fish in method is least recommended...) now since I can see a bit better, with my testing kit I would like to know in which state my cycle is at. And if my blind water changing method was incorrect or not.

Before tests I would change water (when I had my lotl in there, then I took him out because he got sick-- it was unexpected for him to join my keeping thus why I had to put him in the cycling tank as I had nowhere else for him) and I would perform at first 20% water changes once a week, then increased it to daily 20% under recommendation from someone in the forums.

While the store said it was too much of a water change... I don't know. I did it anyways to keep the water clean.

Now I did a test for the first time after a water change and I have:

Ammonia : unknown
PH: 7
NO3: 15 mg/l
NO2: 0

so yeah, is my tank cycling at all, and where is at you think?

p.s: I understand I did a nooby mistake, honestly I chose cycling with minnows at first because, I couldn't find a bottle of pure ammonia nor did I think that the food in method was very safe for future users of the tank. Plants were a no no because I kill them somehow lol and yeah... I went old school. I feel bad for letting my lotl in there during the cycle, so please do not be too hard on me for that. My tank is currently with 5 minnows and 3 amano shrimp. My lotl is away atm.

 

[FX1C]

You really do need a test for ammonia!
It's very important & helps to work out the cycle stage as well.

Cycling with minnows is fine - I think I prefer cycling with fish than pure ammonia

My best advice is as long as you know the water temp is ok is to leave your axie alone... Turn lights off & leave him to relax & destress. Cover tank with a towel & let it just recover from the last week. Or pop him into the fridge to wait for his tank to be ready.



<3 >o_o< <3

 

[FX1C]

Read about tank cycling on here, there are many posts about it.

I don't think 20% water change weekly is enough while you're cycling it.



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[Asuka]

Read about tank cycling on here, there are many posts about it.

I don't think 20% water change weekly is enough while you're cycling it.



<3 >o_o< <3

I said it was 20% weekly and now it's 20% daily. I am aware I need an ammonia test kit, but I cant get any till after mid janurary. I don't have my axie with me at the moment, I posted above that I moved him away. He's at the pet store awaiting an exotic vet to be checked... I hope he does recover, I suspect that my ph could have been the culprit because before I put in a few rocks, my ph was bordering a dangerous 6. But that is a different matter and I solved it to be around 7-7,2

I just want to know where my cycle is if possible, I have been reading guides, posts from this forum and others but nothing can help me if I don't know where I am at. I could do a 100% change and start all over but I'm reluctant...

 

[FX1C]

Why would you start all over?
It is impossible to accurate guess where in the cycle your tank is.

To know exactly where it is in the cycle you have to test for Ammonia & NitrItes first & wait for NitrItes to zero & the NitrAtes begin to build up...

The NitrAte is easy to control with regular water changes & this is what you end up with when your tank has cycled through.

Can you ask someone to buy you a test kit (as an early birthday present or a late Xmas one) or perhaps you could borrow the money for a test kit - it is THE most important part of owning an aquarium! Waiting for a couple more weeks will make it harder for you to know where your tank is at & also longer time that your axie can come home.



<3 >o_o< <3

 

[JessKB]

As stated above, a test kit is ideal. You say you've had the fish in there for 20 days, a tank USUALLY takes about 30 to cycle. First the ammonia spikes and disappears, then the nitrite spikes and disappears, and then the nitrate starts going up and has to be taken out with water changes.

Based on your 0 nitrite level, and your low nitrate level, and the amount of time you've had the tank established, I would say your tank is likely either cycled, or very close. Of course, we can't tell for sure because we have no ammonia reading.

Personally I don't use fish to cycle because then you have to do water changes which slows your cycle. If you just use fish food or a piece of shrimp, you don't have to do water changes. Something to remember for next time.

If you have another fish tank, or a friend has one, take a chunk of their filter pad and put it in with your filter. Or, take a handful of gravel and put it in a nylon and drop it in your tank. That will give you a bunch of beneficial bacteria to boost your growing colonies.

Take a sample of your tank water to a petstore and see if they will test the ammonia for you.

 

[Asuka]

As stated above, a test kit is ideal. You say you've had the fish in there for 20 days, a tank USUALLY takes about 30 to cycle. First the ammonia spikes and disappears, then the nitrite spikes and disappears, and then the nitrate starts going up and has to be taken out with water changes.

Based on your 0 nitrite level, and your low nitrate level, and the amount of time you've had the tank established, I would say your tank is likely either cycled, or very close. Of course, we can't tell for sure because we have no ammonia reading.

Personally I don't use fish to cycle because then you have to do water changes which slows your cycle. If you just use fish food or a piece of shrimp, you don't have to do water changes. Something to remember for next time.

If you have another fish tank, or a friend has one, take a chunk of their filter pad and put it in with your filter. Or, take a handful of gravel and put it in a nylon and drop it in your tank. That will give you a bunch of beneficial bacteria to boost your growing colonies.

Take a sample of your tank water to a petstore and see if they will test the ammonia for you.

I don't mind water changes, personally if I had the chance I would have gone with the pure ammonia cycle in a bucket, because unlike the food method, there is no risk of increasing fungus in water, or having foul smelling water, food cycle doesn't allow you to control what amount of ammonia is being released into the water.

Seeding wasn't an option because fish keeping is rare here.

I will check in the store. They have tested water for me before, I'm sure they wouldn't mind it again.

 

[Asuka]

Why would you start all over?
It is impossible to accurate guess where in the cycle your tank is.

To know exactly where it is in the cycle you have to test for Ammonia & NitrItes first & wait for NitrItes to zero & the NitrAtes begin to build up...

The NitrAte is easy to control with regular water changes & this is what you end up with when your tank has cycled through.

Can you ask someone to buy you a test kit (as an early birthday present or a late Xmas one) or perhaps you could borrow the money for a test kit - it is THE most important part of owning an aquarium! Waiting for a couple more weeks will make it harder for you to know where your tank is at & also longer time that your axie can come home.



<3 >o_o< <3

the sera quick test was my xmas present XD it's fine, though, I knew that trying to find out was hard without the ammonia test, but I had to ask. I ask too many questions sometimes, I understand if it sounds stupid and newbie like. But that's just me.

 

[sugarkandii]

I definitely wouldn't do a 100% water change .. How are your parameters looking now? Are the fish demonstrating signs of stress or disease? Most people recommend at the very least 30 days to get the tank cycled- 6 weeks being ideal normally.. There's generally 2-3 'spikes' in ammonia levels while cycling a tank- your ammonia is quite possibly through the roof. I got my ammonia down (I had a spike from blood worms and had to fridge my baby the other week) by doing 25-30% water changes every single day, as well as introduced an ammonia pad into my filter (I'm not sure what brand it is exactly, but I've got two strips of it and apparently it helps to reduce ammonia levels as well as providing a sponge surface for bacteria growth) but I got the water from a mid-dark green 6 ppm to 0 ppm within a few days doing the water changes and allowing my 'lotl to heal up outside of the aquarium..

I'd say that you probably should keep the axie out of the tank and in dechlorinated fresh water not from your aquarium in a fridge environment until you can get the water tested. Did you quarantine the fish before introducing them to the tank? In terms of getting your water tested, I know lots of local pet stores can either sell you an ammonia kit from API, or take a sample to your LFS and get them to test ammonia levels for you.

In future make sure you do a 30 day cycle bare minimum- the longer that you can age a tank, filter, substrate, etc. before introducing anything into the aquaria is best.