# Need help figuring out where I am in the cycle...



## tank1312 (Apr 20, 2012)

Hi all! This is day 7 of my 10 gallon tank being up and running. On day 3, I added 3 glofish/danios (if I had understood the cycling process then like I do now I wouldn't have bought them until my tank was fully cycled). I just got my test kit in the mail today and tested my water. These are the results:

Ammonia: .25ppm
Nitrite: 0
pH: not sure
HR pH: 8.1ish
Nitrate: 0

I haven't done anything to my tank since day 1 except add 3 glofish. When I very first set up the tank, I added the appropriate amount of Aquatic Stress Relief, Special Blend, and Nite-Out II. And, that's all I've done to it. 

Where am I at? And, what do I do next? I have 2 more tanks (a 10 gal and a 25 gal) that I'm going to cycle fishless, but I don't want to do anything until I get this first tank healthy and happy so I can learn!

Thanks soooo much for any help or advice!!


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

If Tube 2 is your Nitrate test, then the tank has stabilized for this bio-load. Otherwise without a Nitrate test, I can't tell if you've just done lots of water changes or something.
The pH test seems to be very wrong - showing below 7.4 and above 7.6 concurrently - it might be a lighting issue though. IME a cheap Phenol red solution does the job for the pH ranges I measure.
It's important to use the tests exactly as per the instructions.
To kickstart the other tanks, you could put your filters in the cycled tank and add ammonia when you return them to the new tank!
cb


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## tank1312 (Apr 20, 2012)

tube 1 is pH
tube 2 is HR pH
tube 3 is ammonia
tube 4 is nitrite

the tube for nitrate isn't in the pic, but it came out bright yellow. that's a really good idea about about cycling the other filters in this tank!! I never thought of that. I would run them as normal so I'd have 3 filters running in one tank?


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

It's possible that your cycle has actually started and that the 3 danios are not producing much ammonia to register much of an ammonia spike or nitrite spike. Just keep testing and you should experience a climb in one of the 3 - typically ammonia, followed by Nitrite and then Nitrogen.
To the best of your knowledge, when running the pH test, what is the reading you get?
cb


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## jbrown5217 (Nov 9, 2011)

You are in the very beginning of your cycle. You will need to test at least every other day, but everyday would be better.

If ammonia or nitrites ever get above 1ppm you need to do a 50% water change (this is for the safety of your fish). When nitrates start to generate, if they ever reach 40ppm you should do a water change (also for the safety of your fish). Cycling this tank will probably take anywhere from 4 - 8 weeks, but since you are cycling with fish I will proly say around the 6 -8 week mark.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

I agree, the cycle has just started.


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## tank1312 (Apr 20, 2012)

Here are today's test results. I made sure to follow the directions to a T.

pH test results: nothing on the card matches the shade of blue that it turned out to be, but the HR pH looks awfully close to 8.2



ammonia test results: .50 ppm



nitrite test results: 0



I'm supposed to add more Microbe-Life Special Blend today according to the label. Should I not even mess with that stuff and let the tank do what it wants to do? Or should I continue with what it says since I started out with it? Also, should I attempt to lower the pH somehow or will a water change help lower that? When I do water changes, should I do any cleaning? Everything still looks the way it did on day 1, but I'd rather clean while it's easy than wait until it looks gross. Definitely don't want to mess with the cycle tho!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Your cycle started the second you added fish....you didn't need to detect anything to confirm it had started.

The ph low range test maxes at 7.6. So if your water is 8+, the highest that test will read is 7.6. Mine is 8.2 out of my tap and I just did that test only. If it ever read off, then do your low range test.

I agree with the recommendations, but I only changed 50% if the ammonia/nitrite spiked above 3ppm. You can have periods where it will spike pretty fast on ya.


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