Still fishless cycling any ideas?

[Ilovebettas]

Hi so I have had my tank setup for 4 days now I used the fritz turbo start and fishless fuel to help boost the cycle and here on day 4 i am seeing a bit of nitrites, my ammonia levels are going down, and i have been seeing a bit of nitrate surprisingly. I have a 5 gallon with a hygger heater my tank fluctuates between 78-80 degrees and I have an aquariumcoop nano sponge filter with eco complete as my substrate I have a nice handful of species of plants; crypts, anubias, bacopa, java fern but recently my ph levels have been rising I started off with 7.4 on the high range of the api water test kit and within 2 days it has gone up to 7.8 I have 0 livestock in my tank but I plan on stocking my tank with a betta and 2 or 3 amano shrimp is there anything i should be concerned about adjusting? thankyou! 

[Guppy Guy]

Can I see a picture of the aquarium? It sound like there might be a rock or something making the PH rise.

Also, I looked up eco-complete, and there are 2 versions: Planted and cichlid. The cichlid version will raise the PH to match the water parameters of the African lakes.

On 7/9/2021 at 4:53 PM, Ilovebettas said:

I used the fritz turbo start and fishless fuel to help boost the cycle?

There is also a chance that the turbo start and fishless fuel raise the PH a little bit. For a betta, I wouldn’t worry about it, but I can’t say for amano shrimp as I have never kept them. 

Long story short, I would test it again tomorrow and if it stabilizes I wouldn’t worry about it. If it is too high once it stabilizes, use something like Seachem neutral regulator . 

[ARMYVET]

It can also be that once the water has aerated and driven on the excess co2 the ph will rise a bit.  My Betta Tank has 6 Amano shrimp and a dozed cherry shrimp with mystery snails.  and the ph is almost 8 with no issues. 

[Ilovebettas]

On 7/9/2021 at 2:12 PM, Guppy Guy said:

Can I see a picture of the aquarium? It sound like there might be a rock or something making the PH rise.

Also, I looked up eco-complete, and there are 2 versions: Planted and cichlid. The cichlid version will raise the PH to match the water parameters of the African lakes.

There is also a chance that the turbo start and fishless fuel raise the PH a little bit. For a betta, I wouldn’t worry about it, but I can’t say for amano shrimp as I have never kept them. 

Long story short, I would test it again tomorrow and if it stabilizes I wouldn’t worry about it. If it is too high once it stabilizes, use something like Seachem neutral regulator . 

Hi yes I do have I believe a kind of sieryu stone and I do have some spider wood that is currently collecting some clear type of algae/fungus read up on it supposedly it just happens when there is more surface area on your tank in the beginning of a cycle my tank has the eco complete plant substrate... here is a picture taken yesterday evening I also just got a brighter light although imnot sure that would make any sort of difference 

[Guppy Guy]

I’m not sure about sieryu stone, But an easy way to test is with your nitrate water tester. As krish’s aquariums says, drop a few drops of nitrate test on the rocks in question, and if it fizzes, it will raise the PH. If it dosn’t do anything, then chances are your rocks are safe.