rads
Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2021
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- 30
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Hey there again y'all!
I'm a couple days into my cycling now. I know it's a long tedious process and am not expecting any instant results. I've been monitoring my levels everyday and seeing a consistent .25 reading of ammonia (or so I think, which is why I attached photos of the reading because I have such a hard time telling sometimes it looks a little more green). I have been doing 25%-50% water changes every day to bring down the ammonia a bit. However I'm not seeing any changes really when I re-test after the water change in the ammonia. Usually I only do about 25% but yesterday I tried 50% to see if there would be more of a difference and saw none. I will continue to stay up on water changes but should I switch to an every other day? Change more water? All other reading are still 0 (besides pH that's 7.6).
I've been using the Top Fin Water Conditioner (pictures attached) and having to treat and then add the tap water in small batches upon refill (which I worry is adding too much conditioner but it's all I can do at the moment as quantity goes). I read somewhere that in using a conditioner like this that a biproduct of the process could be ammonia? However with certain types of conditioners it's actually a binded up version of ammonia where it will produce a high reading however it will be harmless to fish (or axies in this case). Either way I've begun to leave tap water out to decholrinate to use instead just in case and try to supplement bottled water as well to lower the use of using treated water.
My tank is usually in the low to mid 60s F. I also read that that can have an affect on chlorines/ cholramines/ ammonia?
I jump started the cycling process by using a bottle of Tetra Safe Start. Would it affect anything if I got another bottle and dumped it in? Or is it probably unnecessary?
Other specs: 20 gallon tank, one 2 inch axie, two live plants, Tetra Internal PowerFilter (with a charcoal bag and biosponge), assorted caves/ fake plant decorations
Also, would it hurt to rinse out the charcoal bag? I haven't yet as I want to give the bacteria as much help as they can get but I read that charcoal filters can help with ammonia. It's pretty dingy from when I ran it during tank setup.
Rads itself seems to be quite happy and is eating (and pooping!) quite well.
.
I'm a couple days into my cycling now. I know it's a long tedious process and am not expecting any instant results. I've been monitoring my levels everyday and seeing a consistent .25 reading of ammonia (or so I think, which is why I attached photos of the reading because I have such a hard time telling sometimes it looks a little more green). I have been doing 25%-50% water changes every day to bring down the ammonia a bit. However I'm not seeing any changes really when I re-test after the water change in the ammonia. Usually I only do about 25% but yesterday I tried 50% to see if there would be more of a difference and saw none. I will continue to stay up on water changes but should I switch to an every other day? Change more water? All other reading are still 0 (besides pH that's 7.6).
I've been using the Top Fin Water Conditioner (pictures attached) and having to treat and then add the tap water in small batches upon refill (which I worry is adding too much conditioner but it's all I can do at the moment as quantity goes). I read somewhere that in using a conditioner like this that a biproduct of the process could be ammonia? However with certain types of conditioners it's actually a binded up version of ammonia where it will produce a high reading however it will be harmless to fish (or axies in this case). Either way I've begun to leave tap water out to decholrinate to use instead just in case and try to supplement bottled water as well to lower the use of using treated water.
My tank is usually in the low to mid 60s F. I also read that that can have an affect on chlorines/ cholramines/ ammonia?
I jump started the cycling process by using a bottle of Tetra Safe Start. Would it affect anything if I got another bottle and dumped it in? Or is it probably unnecessary?
Other specs: 20 gallon tank, one 2 inch axie, two live plants, Tetra Internal PowerFilter (with a charcoal bag and biosponge), assorted caves/ fake plant decorations
Also, would it hurt to rinse out the charcoal bag? I haven't yet as I want to give the bacteria as much help as they can get but I read that charcoal filters can help with ammonia. It's pretty dingy from when I ran it during tank setup.
Rads itself seems to be quite happy and is eating (and pooping!) quite well.
.