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Cycling tank question


subramn
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Currently my tank is cycling (8th day) and water parameters are

Ammonia - 0.25 PPM

Nitrite - 0 ppm

Nitrate - 0 PPM 

I have around 25 guppies with bunch of plants, 1 hang on back filter , 1 sponge filter and 1 bio bed filter.

feeding twice a day very little food.

Added sachem stability and prime for last seven days and today added only prime.

do i have to be concerned about this ammonia at 0.25 and if there are ways i can bring down this ammonia to zero ?

please advice

 

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25 Guppies in a new tank?  I missed the tank size. ? .

My very first aquarium had about .75 ppm ammonia throughout cycling.  Kept all my fish alive with Seachem Prime & Stability.  Definitely not the best way, but it did work.  

Time itself will be your friend.  Eventually seeing nitrite & then nitrate, later on.  

@Candi, posted a great video.  Highly recommended.

Some other thoughts:   definitely don't over feed the fish & watch water parameters, very closely.  If you have cycled media from another aquarium, that would help, too.

 

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4 minutes ago, subramn said:

@DaveSamsell Thanks for your reply , tank size is 55 gallon. i have applied Seachem Stability daily for last seven days and prime alternate days.  i will feed once a day and for how long you applied stability and prime please advice

Interesting.  My aquarium was a 55 gallon as well.  With about 20 very small fish, it took about a month for my complete cycle.

If you have a good number of plants, they will help uptake the ammonia, too.  Look for plant growth & this will be a good sign.  

Personally, I was dosing Prime daily.  If memory serves me, I believe one dose of Prime treats 1 ppm of ammonia for about 24 hours, or so.

I was adding Stability every few days.

I highly recommend a master test kit or good test strips, since you'll be testing often.

There are many other ways of cycling the tank, but we'll go with what you got, if you prefer.  

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2 minutes ago, subramn said:

@DaveSamsell thanks. i will continue with this approach. so you dosed prime daily and stability alternate days?

what about water change

I didn't change any water until my cycle was complete, since my ammonia \ nitrite wasn't super high & being conditioned with Prime, daily.  The Stability is something you may have to observe, I.E. in relationship to ammonia \ nitrite levels.  I was dosing Stability every few days, a bit often, perhaps.  

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1 minute ago, subramn said:

@DaveSamsell thanks. when it warrants a water change?

If your ammonia and\or nitrites keep rising.  A partial water change will help, but will delay your cycle.  

After you read 0 ammonia & 0 nitrite, you will start reading nitrate.  Keep about 10-20 ppm of nitrate for the plants to consume & water change around that premise.  

Again, these are things that worked for me.  There are many other ways, too.

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So far I agree with all that's been said. Start tapering off the Prime and Stability while still monitoring parameters. You want the tank to 'take care of itself' when its built up the levels of beneficial bacteria. The chemicals are a 'temporary solution'. When your tank is 'dialed in' you won't need the additives.

My advice is to taaaake iiiiiit sloooooowww. A new tank is exciting! But you don't want all of your hard work to end up in failure.

Watch videos, have fun, repeat!

Good luck!

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Something to keep in mind as you are dosing Prime.  Some test kits will not have accurate results for the nitrogens and ammonia.  I use API liquid, and have have seen nitrite/nitrate tests show much lower results for up to 48hrs (0ppm for the first 24).  Not sure if others have seen this??

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Hi

@Buzz @DaveSamsell @Dandy Pearl @Sleepy @Candi

Currently my tank is cycling at (11th day) and water parameters staying the same

Ammonia - 0.25 PPM

Nitrite - 0 ppm

Nitrate - 0 PPM 

I have around 25 guppies with lot of plants, 1 hang on back filter optimized based on cory's video , 1 sponge filter and 2 bio bed filters.

feeding twice a day very little food.

i am not sure why there is no change in parameters for last 4 days.

any suggestions.

 

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If you've gotten down to no prime and no stabil, and things are staying stable, maybe your in a good place.

Is you're tank heavily planted?

If so, that may be the reason you are not seeing any Nitrates. Your plants are sucking them up as soon as they become available.

Your Ammonia seems to still be high.

Keep a watch on it. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You'll get there.

Edited by Dandy Pearl
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@Dandy Pearl its heavily planted. few pothos (5) , java ferns (2), java moss(1), couple of amazon swords, few valliseneria plants

stopped stability after seven days

alternate days applying prime.

25 guppies (mix of small and medium size) and 4 plecos (small)

1 hang on back filter (optimized to max following cory's video) , 1 sponge filter, 2 bio bed filter on the sides.

i will keep an eye on ammonia. i am going to hold on to water change.

 

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