Noobie help needed

Hiya everyone, noobie here .

Would love a bit of advice please. I cycled my tank using a filter that had been used in another tank (not mine). The tank cycled in about 12 days which was really quiock I think. I checked the water on Friday and had an Ammonia of about 4-5ppm, but on Saturday I got a 0 reading for ammonia and nitrites too.

I went to get some fish - 6 platties and 6 rasboras but today when I tested the water I have a bit of ammonia and nitrites. Why would that be?

Do I need to do a water change or is a small reading of these ok?

How often should I be doing water changes anyway, if the readings are ok - do you need to change 'good' water?

One of the platties keeps hiding under the filter, is it sick or is this normal?

What are the winning numbers for the lottery lol??

Sorry for all the questions, but thanks anyway,

David

Hi David

When you say the tank cycled in 12 days...were you adding pure ammonia?
To have a reading after adding fish...their waste must be more than the source of ammonia you were adding before to cycle the tank. Seems strange though if the ammonia was at 5ppm on the friday. That suggests there is enough beneficial bacteria to cope with the amount of fish you added..but apparently not in your case.
If you have any readings for ammonia & nitrIte (what are they?) you need to do a water change to get that to 0-0.
I change abot 25% in my community tank weekly. How much are you feeding & how often? Is there any food left uneaten in the tank after feeding?


The winning lottery numbers are 1,5,7,15,21,28

sorry for all the questions but you did ask, lol

Hi David. to TFF

If you read the Sticky about cycling with fish, you'll see that daily water changes of at least 50% are recommended plus adding salt after each water change will help with the nitrite toxicity.

munchycarrot wrote:

Hi David

When you say the tank cycled in 12 days...were you adding pure ammonia?
To have a reading after adding fish...their waste must be more than the source of ammonia you were adding before to cycle the tank. Seems strange though if the ammonia was at 5ppm on the friday. That suggests there is enough beneficial bacteria to cope with the amount of fish you added..but apparently not in your case.
If you have any readings for ammonia & nitrIte (what are they?) you need to do a water change to get that to 0-0.
I change abot 25% in my community tank weekly. How much are you feeding & how often? Is there any food left uneaten in the tank after feeding?


The winning lottery numbers are 1,5,7,15,21,28

sorry for all the questions but you did ask, lol

Are you sure about those numbers - that doesnt look like a winning line to me lol!

Wow, you lot are quick to reply, thankyou

* I added ammonia up to a level of 2-3ppm. I thought with it being a 'used' filter I might overdose it by dosing it up to 5ppm.
* Todays results were ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0.25
* Ive just done a 25% water change
* I feed twice a day, a couple of pinches. Most of it is eaten, but the odd bit does get to the bottom.

Any left over food should be taken out or it will add to the ammonia levels. Maybe feed just once every other day, taking out any uneaten food.
I would do another test tomorrow & if there are any readings other than 0-0 for the 2 tests, do a 50% water change. It should settle nicely with daily water changes until you get the 0-0.
Do you know your nitrAte reading at all?

What sort of test kit do you have david because the test STRIPS are not accurate, maybe theyre the reason for the up and down readings??

One of the reasons that I only feed every other day is so that the fish have to forage for missed food on the non-feeding days and this makes sure there's very little waste.

phishy07 wrote:

What sort of test kit do you have david because the test STRIPS are not accurate, maybe theyre the reason for the up and down readings??

Hiya phishy, I have the API 5in1 Water Testing Strips. I thought API was a good make for this sort of stuff? What should I get instead?

munchycarrot wrote:

Any left over food should be taken out or it will add to the ammonia levels. Maybe feed just once every other day, taking out any uneaten food.
I would do another test tomorrow & if there are any readings other than 0-0 for the 2 tests, do a 50% water change. It should settle nicely with daily water changes until you get the 0-0.
Do you know your nitrAte reading at all?

Hello munchycarrot, maybe I have been a bit generous with the grub then :lol: . I will leave off feeding them for a day now. The Nitrate is 20. I did a water change this morning, do I just check it again tomorrow, or later on today?

That's fine for nitrate (anything less than 40ppm is considered ok). Just cut back on the feeding and test again tomorrow, David.

It has been said/known that the testing STRIPS arent as accurate as the liquid testing, but i havent used the API strips so I wouldnt know, just read problems in past posts in other forums that their stats are all over and inaccurate and they use the strips.

Someone might have both on here to comment on their accuracy

When I was in the initial stages of setting up a tank, I ONLY used the liquid tests as they're more accurate. But now I just dip an API stick in the tank every so often to check that everything is ok. If any of the readings are off, I use the relevant liquid test for a more thorough analysis.

The liquid tests are much cheaper in the long run so are probably more advisable with a new tank as you'll be testing so often. :lol: