Chemistry findings

[Sandra the fish rookie]

I have been cycling my tank for what feels like YEARS at this point. I did a water change (adding seachem prime with some SmartStart complete as well), and cleaned the plants and got these results today. I have been reading these thing so much I swear I can't even tell the colors anymore (which are not that easy to read sometimes), I tossed the PH before this picture because it was 7.4 and it has been that way since starting the tank. 

I will not feed the fish (the 3 I have) tonight. But is there anything else I need to do? I have been using the SmartStart complete because my LFS recommended to try it because the Frits Zyme was not really moving anything along 😞 

[Frank]

Is the ammonia zero, and the nitrite at 0.25?

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@Frank Yes Ammonia is 0ppm, Nitrite looks like .025ish and Nitrate 0ppm

[Frank]

Are those levels much higher before water changes and treatments?

Those are relatively safe levels on a temporary basis. 

Our sponsor says 0.5 ammonia and 0.5 nitrite are the numbers to start worrying about. 

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@Frank I had an itty bit of ammonia like barley green (could hardly notice it was green).. and 0 ppm Nitrite, 0 ppm Nitrates at my LFS the day before cleaning the tank. He was not concerned about it at all. 

I hade quiet a bit of detritus, that I manually cleaned off my plants. I added some filter floss to my HOB filter behind my coarse filter to catch some of it. Boy did it EVER.. it was brown within an hour! I changed it, and now is much better.. Water it super duper clear..but did my cleaning of the detritus cause a nitrite spike????

I was feeding every day..with NO issue ..and all of a sudden now that I am beginning to cycle, I have to be more carful with feeding I guess. 

[Frank]

Maybe stirring it up sped up the decomposition process?

Then, the bacteria took a while to catch up to the extra ammonia?

Now, the bacteria are taking a while to catch up to the extra nitrite?

[Jollypop4321]

When performing maintenance on your aquariums it is very important NOT to clean your filter and substrate and hard scapes on the same day.   By doing so you remove the important nitrifying bacteria and thus will interrupt the nitrogen cycle and crash your tank. In this situation it can stress your fish and leave them vulnerable to infections such as ich and columnaris. 
 

In a case such as this  You will have to start the nitrogen cycle again. The biofilm on all the decorations and plants and substrate are essential in your tank to break down ammonia and nitrates.  Its ok to clean your filter one day and say your substrate and plants a few days later after your filter is re-seeded with the essential bacteria’s.  
This is a lesson I learned the hard way.  I wanted so much to keep my aquarium crystal clean that I killed my fish with kindness while doing so.   
 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Jollypop4321
Accidentally pressed save during typing

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@Jollypop4321 Thank you so much for your valuable experience. I did clean the plants, but did not syphon or do too much cleaning of anything else. My snails or fish don't seem to clean the plants very much, so it was over a month before I touched them. They were WAY due. My filters are not cleaned often either, and when done its just enough to ensure they are working correctly and not blocking the HOB. But.. initially I used to clean it like a maniac.. LOL.. I am a nurse.. hard to discipline myself not to fuss with it.  When I clean the tank.. I always leave a wall dirty.. so there is till some good stuff left.. and I don't over clean rocks.  I mostly maintenance the plants when I can't see "green" anymore. I also don't do weekly water changes unless my chemistry tells me to. I have gone as long as 2 weeks without a water change during the cycling process. 

I am closer than I have been in MONTHS to cycling.. so I am really trying to do minimal cleaning/maintenance on the tank as possible. I just have to continue to be patient and let it do its thing. I am not used to seeing ANYTHING happen chemistry wise.. so I am a bit paranoid.. 

 

[Will Billy]

2 things to think about. If you are going by nitrate levels to determine your tank is cycled, #1 you were talking about your plants. Are they live plants, or fake plants? Live plants will reduce your nitrate level. #2 are you following the directions precisely on the nitrate test? I always, always ask this question to everyone, im not trying to pick on ya. The reason i always ask this question is because it is the one test out of all the rest that can give a skewed result if not shaken properly. By design the nitrate test has the greatest margin of operator error compared to all the other tests. If you feel there is a possibility of error you could see if your LFS can test your water for you. Not all, but many LFS can do this free of charge and you can compare results to your test. 
 

p.s. have you been ghost feeding your tank? Bacteria need food to populate, to start converting ammonia and nitrite. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Will Billy
Added the p.s. section

[KaitieG]

I'd reiterate @Will Billy's question about the Nitrate test.  It looks to me like you have a little bit of Nitrate showing on that test.  The directions on the test say to shake the bottle and then shake the crud out of the vial, but I don't think the directions get across how much you actually have to SHAKE the test solution bottles! 

I was waiting and waiting and waiting for my first tank to cycle.  I finally took water into my LFS (an hour away) and watched an employee do the test.  She smacked those nitrate solution bottles on the counter and shook and shook and banged again and shook some more.  Ta da--I had nitrates!  The solutions in the nitrate bottles form crystals that have to get broken up and mixed in for it to work.  I still use my liquid kit to double check readings sometimes, but I have switched to using tetra test strips most of the time because I can test a lot more often without my arm falling off!  

[Philip]

1 hour ago, KaitieG said:

I'd reiterate @Will Billy's question about the Nitrate test.  It looks to me like you have a little bit of Nitrate showing on that test.  The directions on the test say to shake the bottle and then shake the crud out of the vial, but I don't think the directions get across how much you actually have to SHAKE the test solution bottles! 

I was waiting and waiting and waiting for my first tank to cycle.  I finally took water into my LFS (an hour away) and watched an employee do the test.  She smacked those nitrate solution bottles on the counter and shook and shook and banged again and shook some more.  Ta da--I had nitrates!  The solutions in the nitrate bottles form crystals that have to get broken up and mixed in for it to work.  I still use my liquid kit to double check readings sometimes, but I have switched to using tetra test strips most of the time because I can test a lot more often without my arm falling off!  

Excellent advice. What we call "sloppy chemistry" can be the root cause of a lot of frustration. 

Take your time make sure you are doing things correctly, each and every time. The worst offenders are people who have done it a million times and don't think about it.  I've been guilty myself. 

Rule this out first. 

[Sandra the fish rookie]

Hi @Will Billy and @KaitieG This has been something I have had to condition myself to do, because as a nurse, there are medications that you DON"T shake.. LOL. When I got the API I read the instructions, and also looked at some old posts and noted how people instructed to shake the living heck out of the bottles. So, I do the smack on the counter, shake for a full 30 seconds using a timer. Once both solutions are in, per the instructions, I shake the living heck for 1 full minute using a timer again. Then leave a full 5 minutes to get the results, again using a timer. Sometimes, its REALLY hard to read these .. I am moving from light to light and window to window to see them really well. Sometimes they are just so borderline they are hard to determine a result. 

As for my plants.. they are my pride and joy actually! They are growing like weeds. First picture is Feb 4th, second picture is Feb 25th. My anubias is on its 3rd new full leaf. So this is my question all along, is it at all possible, that I have cycled? I have had a few occasions of increases in ammonia with the highest reading of 0.3 ppm. I only started to see some Nitrate on Feb 22nd which was 2.0 ppm with Ammonia 0.20ppm. I started to see Nitrites on Feb 24th. I am told that I am finally starting to cycle, and my LFS said to not feed the fish for a bit, and test daily. My LFS tested my water and he had slight ammonia, but 0ppm of nitrites, nitrates so.. ????? IDK anymore.. LOL  

I have 3 fish that I have been feeding daily, alternating between flake, and Hakari Algae wafers, and Hikari sinking wafers. But I didn't feed them yesterday. 

[KaitieG]

Your plants look beautiful!  It sounds to me like you're in a really good spot and they may just be "eating" as many nitrates as are being produced!  So long as you continue to be careful with the food until you're not seeing even the slight ammonia/nitrite readings I think you're in good shape 🙂 

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@KaitieG Thank you!! my LFS initially was concerned about about phosphate being elevated which was a possible cause of increased growth, but I don't have any algae and it was normal, so that was ruled out at least. 

I was using fritz zyme to help cycle, but my LFS recommended I try StartSmart Complete. So, I figured, what do I have to lose? The next day, I had 0.25 ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites, and 2.0 ppm nitrates. It was the first time I EVER say Nitrates... it has stayed that kind of dark yellow light orange (so 1.0-2.0ppm) ever since. But I was still feeding them every day except for yesterday. When I started the tank, I fed them every 4 days, gradually working up to daily feeding. 

I have the tetra dip sticks as well, but if I see something concerning, I do a full API water test just in case. 

[KaitieG]

Sounds like we have similar testing strategies 🙂  I love the tetra strips for a quick look and the API for a 2nd opinion!

[Will Billy]

The pictures you posted, along with your latest post has provided me the clues needed to solve the case. #1 i see from the pictures you have quite a small bioload. That being said said, there is actually a caveat to bio media. You can have all the sponges, bio rings, pumice stones, lava rocks and so forth in the world, but your bacteria is sorta like pest snails. They only grow to the amount of food source provided to sustain them. #2  your plant growth is quite advanced for such a low bioload. This is leading me to believe that your tank is cycled, albeit with a small bacterial population. I would hazard to guess that it is probably fine to start introducing more fish, but as always i would do it a little at a time so that your bacteria grow with your increasing bioload. 

[Sandra the fish rookie]

@Will Billy Well... as for fish.. I added 5 guppies, and they all died except 1. So , I wanted to wait a bit, and finish my corydora collection, so at least they are complete. IF they do ok.. work from there. 

You obviously have a lot of experience, so here is a good question for you! My LFS uses RO water. I do not, and my water is harder that RO (I think???) PH 7.4, KH 5 (89.5) and GH 11 (196.9).  What am I supposed to do if I buy fish from this LFS? 

[Will Billy]

54 minutes ago, Sandra the fish rookie said:

What am I supposed to do if I buy fish from this LFS? 

There are 2 schools of thought, in my opinion both are correct. One way is to acclimate your fish to your water, the other is to acclimate your water to your fish.  #1 we don’t know the chemistry of you LFS water, but we do know yours. So lets start there. It is far easier and cheaper to acclimate fish to your water. This can be achieved by adding small amounts of water over time to the store water in the bag as you float the fish in the bag to get water temperature right as to not shock the fish. You are doing the same thing chemistry wise as you are temperature wise to gradually acclimate the fish to your water chemistry by squirting a tiny bit of tank water into the bag every 5 minutes or so. After 30-45 minutes of spiking the store water with your tank water it should be fine to release them to their new home. #2 knowing your water chemistry it is usually best to research fish that thrive in your water parameters. I see that your water is perfect for guppies, but not so much for discus. It will be far easier to acclimate guppies from RO water from your LFS to your water than discus would be. #3 if you knew the chemistry of your LFS water you can spend time, money, energy, and patience to match your LFS store RO water. That is assuming that your LFS store is more similar to your wet pets preferred water parameters. The later being ever more time, money, energy, and patience consuming with every water change and tank maintenance until the end of time. Not to mention the possibility of getting your chemistry wrong and redoing your water change sequence all over, or worse getting your chemistry wrong and not noticing and continue with a water change that may shock your fish. In the end the latter method is most preferred for the fish and more complicated for the owner. The first method is easier for the owner and less preferred by the fish. Either way if you dont have fussy hard to keep fish they will survive, and to greater and lesser extents thrive. My experience so far with the numerous “easy” category of fish, and furthermore as i am not actively trying to breed them (if they do = bonus points), but keep them as simple wet pets. Stick to acclimating them to your water parameters so long as they are fish that prefer your similar type of water chemistry.