Moving Too Fast

[Matthew C.]

Just got my tank setup with all the plants I've wanted. But I think I rushed getting the fish. I've had the setup for about 2 weeks. And everything is fine.  But did I rush? This is how it looks without the fish. Check my water chemistry a day ago, the nitrate: 50, nitrite: 0, GH: 300 hard, KH: 120, pH: 8.4, and chlorine: 0. O and the fish I am getting are khuli loach.

[Mmiller2001]

Probably, I've never been able to cycle a tank in 2 weeks. 

Are the filters new too?

[Fishoff]

Do a 50 % water change every day for a week then check water parameters closely 

[colo3000]

Did you start the tank with new filter media and substrate? Did you use any beneficial bacteria additives to jumpstart the cycle? An ammonia test would be needed to know your tank is cycled for sure. 0 nitrite and the presence of nitrates is a good sign that it is cycled, as long as there's also 0 ammonia. Getting a tank fully cycled in 2 weeks is pretty fast though, especially if you didn't use any old media or beneficial bacteria.

[Guppysnail]

Is there Ammonia present?  If there are no fish and you have not added an ammonia source it’s not cycled. If ammonia has been added via food or straight ammonia and it is still present it is not cycled.  Have you tested the nitrate level present in your tap. I have 15-25/30 in my tap so if I go off nitrite not present and nitrate being present it looks cycled. But if I test ammonia it shows it has not even started to cycle. I have never had a tank cycle that quickly. It takes approximately 4 weeks for the bacteria to grow that converts nitrite to nitrate. I can’t remember how long for ammonia eating bacteria. If you are using fertilizer you are adding nitrate so it will show prior to cycling. Hope that helps. 

[BettaHomesAndGardens]

You’re fine. Like was stated do water changes daily, test your water parameters daily and It’ll be ok. Just make sure to keep up with it. Enjoy your tank! It looks awesome.

[Matthew C.]

I've had one set of plants since Jan. My ammonia levels have been fine, the last set of plants came in two weeks ago. I've done at least three 75% water changes and I have put in foot tabs and fertilizer liquid all-in-one. I also have been doing water chemistry checks before I put the plants in and after I put new plants in then I check about every three days. In the beginning both my nitrites and nitrates were up in the beginning. Now there stablizing and the last time I checked ammonia levels they were safe. But I've had the tank going since Jan. The filter came with the tank.

 

[Torrey]

On 2/14/2022 at 5:27 PM, Matthew C. said:

I've had one set of plants since Jan. My ammonia levels have been fine, the last set of plants came in two weeks ago. I've done at least three 75% water changes and I have put in foot tabs and fertilizer liquid all-in-one. I also have been doing water chemistry checks before I put the plants in and after I put new plants in then I check about every three days. In the beginning both my nitrites and nitrates were up in the beginning. Now there stablizing and the last time I checked ammonia levels they were safe. But I've had the tank going since Jan. The filter came with the tank.

 

Then to be sure the tank has a sufficient colony of beneficial bacteria, test your water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. 

Add enough ammonia, or liquified food, or a frozen shrimp and test your water for all 3. You need to keep adding ammonia/ ammonia source, until you measure 1 ppm ammonia. In 6 to 12 hours, you should have 0 ppm ammonia and 1 ppm nitrites. [If you don't, it's not the end of the world, it just means not fish safe yet unless you want to do daily water changes and daily testing]

Within 24 hours of 1 ppm ammonia a cycled tank will test 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and ~20 nitrates.

If that's where you are, start slowly with the fish, so the beneficial bacteria can catch up to the bioload

[lefty o]

if its a first tank, yeah you probably rushed it. its normal, no one wants to wait. i set a tank up and have fish in on day 1, but i have been doing this a long time, and have got it worked out. good news is, you have a bunch of plants which are good filters, and likely had a bunch of good bacteria come in on them. watch the fish closely for abnormal behavior, and monitor your water quality. imo, zero reason to just change water. if nothing is out of whack, changing water for no reason just slows things down. if something is awry, by all means do a 25-30% water change, and continue monitoring, and take further action as conditions dictate. with fish in the tank, do not add ammonia!!