Water testing results please help !
- Thread starter Bhnj
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rockstarta78
Well-Known Member
Are you feeding the tank to increase ammonia? Your goal is to get NH3 turn to nitrite and Nitrite (NO2) will turn to Nitrate (NO3). Once you can go from NH3 to NO3 within 24hrs, usually you will see start of Cyano.
rockstarta78
Well-Known Member
When you say "some" how many fishes did you add? NH3 is toxic to fish, I know people use fish to cycle their tank, and it has worked in the past, I personally don't like that idea. I feel like it's cruel to the fish. Since you said some, I am assuming you added more than 2 fishes. I don't know how many of these fishes are going to survive. Plus, with fish added to your tank, your NH3 will rise due to uneaten food and fish waste. Depending on the type of fishes you added, it won't surprise me if you lose some of your fishes. I like fishless cycling. If I were you, I'd return these fishes.
Plus, since your tank hasn't finished cycling adding fishes too fast will also cause algae bloom. I would add fishes slowly over time. No need to stock up the tank in one go. This hobby takes a lot of patience. Cycling alone can take somewhere between 3 to 6 weeks or even longer in some cases. You are responsible for any life you acquire, so making sure these fishes survive should be your first goal. I posted the link where it explains how the cycling process works. Please read through that thread. Finish your cycling before adding fishes would be my suggestion.
Plus, since your tank hasn't finished cycling adding fishes too fast will also cause algae bloom. I would add fishes slowly over time. No need to stock up the tank in one go. This hobby takes a lot of patience. Cycling alone can take somewhere between 3 to 6 weeks or even longer in some cases. You are responsible for any life you acquire, so making sure these fishes survive should be your first goal. I posted the link where it explains how the cycling process works. Please read through that thread. Finish your cycling before adding fishes would be my suggestion.
PatW
2500 Club Member
Ammonia is highly toxic. You should have a 0 reading for ammonia after cycling before you add any living creature. And yes, .5 ppm is bad. However, looking at the tube, I think you might have a zero result if you are lucky. But these colorimetric tests are easy to misread.
Now, I have heard that the API Ammonia test tends to read .25 ppm when it is actually 0 ppm. You might take a sample of tank water and get your LFS to test it. Or you could buy another ammonia test like Salifert or RedSea and test it yourself.
If you got lucky, everything may well be fine. But I hope you do not take this as a reason to be reckless. Next time, I hope you make certain that your system is ready.
Now, I have heard that the API Ammonia test tends to read .25 ppm when it is actually 0 ppm. You might take a sample of tank water and get your LFS to test it. Or you could buy another ammonia test like Salifert or RedSea and test it yourself.
If you got lucky, everything may well be fine. But I hope you do not take this as a reason to be reckless. Next time, I hope you make certain that your system is ready.
