Tank Cycling

[Jill Wright]

My tank is three weeks old today. I started out doing a fishless cycle. On Day 3, due to a very kind and sweet husband, who did NOT understand the term "fishless cycle", I was the proud owner of 13 platys! All the fish have been treated and are doing great and my plants are growing. I've attached a picture of my water parameters. I've been doing 30% water changes every four or five days and of course the ammonia goes back down. My question is: how does my tank fully cycle if I keep doing the water changes? Is it just a slower process because of the fish and having to do water changes? Thanks for any help. 

[ARMYVET]

Doing water changes definitely slows down the progress but in your case you have no choice since you have fish in it.  Patience and perseverance will be key for you.  Just keep up what your doing and it will slowly happen.  You can also try adding a bacteria starter like Fritz 7.

[Jill Wright]

On 9/11/2021 at 4:20 PM, ARMYVET said:

Doing water changes definitely slows down the progress but in your case you have no choice since you have fish in it.  Patience and perseverance will be key for you.  Just keep up what your doing and it will slowly happen.  You can also try adding a bacteria starter like Fritz 7.

Thank you! I appreciate so much the confirmation of my thoughts!

[ARMYVET]

My pleasure.....Your doing everything right.  You got this!

[Colu]

Small daily water changes add prime to detoxify  nitrites and ammonia every 24hr is the best way to go you could also add some bottle bacteria as @ARMYVEThas suggest to help speed things up

Edited September 25, 2021 by Colu
Stupid auto correct

[Jill Wright]

On 9/11/2021 at 6:53 PM, Colu said:

Small daily water changes add prime to detoxify  nitrites and ammonia every 24hr to the best way to go you could also add some bottle bacteria as @ARMYVEThas suggest to help deed things up

Thank you! I will definitely do that.

[mommygourami]

I agree with what everyone is saying.  I would also suggest you feed very sparingly.  When I was starting out with my first new fish, my lfs actually suggested waiting almost a week to feed them.  I couldn't go quite that far, but skipping a day to a few days would help keep ammonia levels down while you are waiting for the beneficial bacteria to grow. 

I always try to tell myself that it's better for the fish to be a bit hungry than dealing with the stress (or death) of added ammonia during the cycling process.  Good luck!  Your tank looks great so far! 🙂

[Patrick_G]

I think you’re doing great so far. It’ll be cycled before you know it! 

[Jill Wright]

On 9/12/2021 at 9:33 PM, mommygourami said:

I agree with what everyone is saying.  I would also suggest you feed very sparingly.  When I was starting out with my first new fish, my lfs actually suggested waiting almost a week to feed them.  I couldn't go quite that far, but skipping a day to a few days would help keep ammonia levels down while you are waiting for the beneficial bacteria to grow. 

I always try to tell myself that it's better for the fish to be a bit hungry than dealing with the stress (or death) of added ammonia during the cycling process.  Good luck!  Your tank looks great so far! 🙂

I’m so sorry I’m just now seeing this!! Thank you so much!

On 9/12/2021 at 10:41 PM, Patrick_G said:

I think you’re doing great so far. It’ll be cycled before you know it! 

Thank you so much for the confirmation! It is definitely a patient process!