Joined
·
232 Posts
Recap.
75 G set up 4 weeks ago yesterday. 4 black skirt tetras and 2 white skirts were added to cycle the tank. (It was my grandmothers idea, I know not ideal but the tank is at her house) Also 2 small anubias, 2 bunches of hornwort, and one amazon sword. For the sake of the fish I have been doing about 25% water changes when ammonia reaches .50. For four weeks the ammonia has not gotten over .50 and I still have never had a positive test for nitrites. Nitrites are about 5 ppm which is close to what they test out of the tap. She also feeds the fish once a day. Should I add a few more fish to up the bio load or is something else going on? I don't think I have enough plants in the tank to be affecting the cycle. What would you all do if this was your tank. The fish and plants all seem to be doing fine. I noticed a pond snail increase this week so she might be overfeeding however I have not seen a big ammonia spike. So I told her to feed every other day. Using API master test kit.
My main concern is that I have been told that the nitrite portion of the cycle will usually take about twice as long as the ammonia stage. If this is true I am looking at at least 8 more weeks, and that's if I start seeing nitrites now. I keep telling her to be patient but she used to have tanks thirty years ago and thinks I am crazy with all my voodoo testing and water changes.*n1
75 G set up 4 weeks ago yesterday. 4 black skirt tetras and 2 white skirts were added to cycle the tank. (It was my grandmothers idea, I know not ideal but the tank is at her house) Also 2 small anubias, 2 bunches of hornwort, and one amazon sword. For the sake of the fish I have been doing about 25% water changes when ammonia reaches .50. For four weeks the ammonia has not gotten over .50 and I still have never had a positive test for nitrites. Nitrites are about 5 ppm which is close to what they test out of the tap. She also feeds the fish once a day. Should I add a few more fish to up the bio load or is something else going on? I don't think I have enough plants in the tank to be affecting the cycle. What would you all do if this was your tank. The fish and plants all seem to be doing fine. I noticed a pond snail increase this week so she might be overfeeding however I have not seen a big ammonia spike. So I told her to feed every other day. Using API master test kit.
My main concern is that I have been told that the nitrite portion of the cycle will usually take about twice as long as the ammonia stage. If this is true I am looking at at least 8 more weeks, and that's if I start seeing nitrites now. I keep telling her to be patient but she used to have tanks thirty years ago and thinks I am crazy with all my voodoo testing and water changes.*n1