# Nervous newbie cycles a tank for the first time.



## Sushifreak (Apr 14, 2011)

Oh God. I am _so_ stressed out! The more I read, the more anxious I feel about whether I am cycling this tank correctly. Any advice would be so much appreciated.

I set up this 33 gallon on Friday and I'm cycling it with four fancy goldfish and a 1.5 inch pleco. (Getting the fish was a pleasant surprise)

I saved about 3 gallons of the original water and the kept the same filter. Kept the gravel and decorations as well. Except for the addition of some plants that I added last night, the tank is as she had it.

Tested the ph on Saturday and it was 7.2 (which she said is what they like it at)

I tested the ammonia yesterday and it was at 3ppm. I knew it was going to be higher than zero, I didn't expect it to be that high. I did a 20% water change and appologised profusely to the fish

The questions I have are....

1) Considering how many fish there are and how big they are, how often should I do an ammonia test and ph test?

2) Should I do *one *20% water change per week or _2_ per week at 10%. each?

3) All this math? Blech, Pass.

My guys thank you!


----------



## target (Apr 21, 2010)

First of all, deep breath. Relax a little. You are doing good.

1) If you are cycling the tank, test it daily. It will give you a better track of what is happening.

2) Do as many changes as needed to keep the ammonia levels down. I would do at least a 20% change daily if you are concerned.

3) It gets easier as you go along.

You mentioned you had a filter, did it come from another cycled tank? If so, it will have bacteria in it that will speed up the cycle. The gravel and decor as well. The old water wasn't needed but won't hurt anything. The plants will also help the cycle along.


----------



## Tarobot (Jun 27, 2010)

i heard that you cycle with goldfish only if you plan on keepin only goldfish in the future.


----------



## Sushifreak (Apr 14, 2011)

Thanks  I'm trying not to stress out but their is so much conflicting advice out there. I wanted to do more water changes BUT was told that it would only delay the cycling process?

AND, not to sound cheap but the ammonia strips are sooooooo expensive. I was hoping not to go through all of them in one month

I kept the same filter...gunk and all 



target said:


> First of all, deep breath. Relax a little. You are doing good.
> 
> 1) If you are cycling the tank, test it daily. It will give you a better track of what is happening.
> 
> ...


----------



## Sushifreak (Apr 14, 2011)

I'm planning on only keeping goldfish. With me as a mom, they are going to have to be hardy 



Tarobot said:


> i heard that you cycle with goldfish only if you plan on keepin only goldfish in the future.


----------



## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

Get rid of the Ammonia test strips, i'm assuming that they are the litmus paper type??, you'd be better off with a liquid test kit,I use the API master kit, it checks for Normal PH, High PH, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite..

All the instructions and test vials to keep you going.
try that you'll be happier.

Also don't stress out so much, it gets alot easier as you go

Rob..


----------



## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

Ohh yeah i forgot, the API master test kit i picked up at Petsmart in Langley for about 25.00 bucks and it does up to 800 tests..

Cheers.
Rob.


----------



## Sushifreak (Apr 14, 2011)

Thanks guys. I do feel a bit more confident but still ever vigilant.

The petstore guy sold me the API test stips. $28 dollars for 25 strips. He told me I needed a ph tester as well AND ph up AND ph down. He didn't say anythhing about a nitrate or nitrite test?

I checked out the price of lights and wow....this is an expensive hobby.

I'll go this weekend and look for this master kit you speak of  In the future, I think I'll be doing my shopping for parts and accessories on this site.

QUOTE=Slopster;131307]Get rid of the Ammonia test strips, i'm assuming that they are the litmus paper type??, you'd be better off with a liquid test kit,I use the API master kit, it checks for Normal PH, High PH, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite..

All the instructions and test vials to keep you going.
try that you'll be happier.

Also don't stress out so much, it gets alot easier as you go

Rob..[/QUOTE]


----------



## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

I would take the strips back and anything else you don't need and get your money back, Then head over to Rogers Aquatics on scott road, they have a huge assortment of new and Used equipment, i.e. lights at good prices and the staff are very knowledgeable..

Check it out
80th and Scott Road.

Cheers
Rob.


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

You're getting good advice here. 
Relax, you'll be just fine. Get yourself that API test kit and you'l be happy you did. Rogers is a great LFS as Slopster said - you can count on them. And we're all here to help you through this - ask as many questions as you want - we'll try to help you out every step of the way. A 33 gal is a nice sized tank to get going with - you can, and will, make it look real nice.


----------



## `GhostDogg´ (Apr 22, 2010)

Keep checking out our Classified section, there's always great deals to be had.
I saved a bunch of $$$ from getting sweet deals from other members who sell off stuff when they upgrade to bigger tanks.
Try to keep feeding to a min, Goldies + Pleco = lots of poop.  Make sure not to overfeed.
You're doing a great job, remember this is a hobby so have fun.


----------



## target (Apr 21, 2010)

You can spend a lot of money, but you don't always have to. If you brought in the filter with all the gunk you shouldn't have much of a cycle anyways. The majority of the bacteria will be there already. As for testing, yes get the liquid tests. Once everything is settled you won't have to test very often or at all. I haven't tested my tank in over 2 years.


----------



## Sushifreak (Apr 14, 2011)

I just wanted to say thanks again for all the encouragement and advice. Its been a week now and I'm just starting to relax. I wasn't expecting to adopt these fancy goldfish (had my newbie hands full with the 2 rescue comets)

Besides the water quality issues, the hardest part was NOT to overfeed them. (thanks Ghostdogg:0)
They greet me like a returning war hero every single time I walk by the tank! I'm down to 2 very small feedings per day. The biggest Orando (Bruno) had the beginning of swim bladder disease (headstands in the corner of the tank) so I gave him some peas and he's been swimming normally. 

I like the idea of not having to test my tank water so often (thanks Target for giving me something to look forward to ...but I know I have to earn that position by putting in my time.

Have a great day


----------



## Sushifreak (Apr 14, 2011)

Morning 

I was hoping to get some more advice during this cycling process. I'm on week two and have a very high nitrite reading.

Tested on Friday... 0 ammonia, 5 ppm nitrite and 5 ppm nitrate. 

Did a 35% water change. Next day did another 50% water change(had to move tank)

Today......0 ammonia, 2ppm nitrate and 5 ppm nitrate.

Nitrate DID go down but what level is safe untill the tank is cycled? 

Thanks for the help


----------



## Sushifreak (Apr 14, 2011)

* I also want to mention that I read tetragirls thread on the same problem. However I have 4 fancy goldfish going through this cycling**.


----------



## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

Hey, you are doing well for doing a cycle with live fish, but I am an advocate of fishless cycle, but you are doing good with what you are working with. 

To keep the fish as healthy as possible, you will need to do 50% water changes daily. 0ppm Ammonia and 0ppm Nitrite are the only safe number for fish, and up to 20ppm nitrate is acceptable. Once the ammonia and nitrite consistently read 0ppm then you know your cycle is complete. Nitrate is the end of the cycle (ammonia-> nitrite-> nitrate). Once that happens, usually a 25% weekly water change will keep your nitrates in check. 

To be honest, a 33g tank for 4 goldfish and a pleco is not a large enough tank, but it is possible you will have a death due to cycling with goldfish, they are not the hardiest fish out there. 2 fish in that size of tank would be plenty, so consider either a larger tank or rehoming the fish if necessary in the future. They really do grow very large. 

Otherwise, keep up those water changes and you will be ok! and yes.. less food is good! and goldfish do well with extra vegetable matter, personally I like to take a block of frozen spinach and scrape a little with a knife into the tank every other day in replacement of flake food (so flake one day, spinach the second day). it helps their digestive system clear and from having swim bladder issues.


----------



## Sushifreak (Apr 14, 2011)

Thanks Katie 

I've moved the pleco to his own 10 gallon tank so there is one less piggy in a 33 gallon. I gave the 2 rescue comets to Mikeike so pleco has plenty of space to grow.

I'm MUCH better with feeding, only 2 small feeding a day. One protein feed in the morning and veggies for the second, ( peas 2X per week. )

I don't mind doing water changes daily, I just thought it would screw up the cycling and stress the fish. Yesterdays big 50% change I tried Seachem Prime and now I'm reading that it could give a false nitrite reading? 

I'll do the daily changes but just make them smaller ones. Thanks so much for the verbal valium:bigsmile:


----------



## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

yeah im not sure about the seachem, I dont use it, i use Nutrafin Aqua Plus for my water conditioner. Best check with seachem directly to see if their product can give a false nitrite reading. I would hope not, because then their product wouldnt be very valuable for fishkeepers trying to monitor their water quality.


----------



## punchbuggy (Apr 21, 2010)

Yes Prime will give false positives with SOME test kits. I usually check just before I use prime and then at least 24 hours if ou are worried about levels. As well, Seachem sells their own branded test kits which are compatible with Prime (Surprise, Surprise )


----------



## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. i am fairly new to this but here is my 2 cents. i had high nitrate and ammonia, and water changes only minimized the levels. so my LFS sold me some nitrate and ammonia pads, you just cut to size and place in filter. worked great i finally got the water just right 0 ppm 0 ppm and 0 ppm yeah 
Hope that helps, good luck cheers


----------



## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

Scherb said:


> Hello. i am fairly new to this but here is my 2 cents. i had high nitrate and ammonia, and water changes only minimized the levels. so my LFS sold me some nitrate and ammonia pads, you just cut to size and place in filter. worked great i finally got the water just right 0 ppm 0 ppm and 0 ppm yeah
> Hope that helps, good luck cheers


Putting additives to remove these things this late in the game will likely interrupt the cycle and crash the tank.

You should only have a couple days to go if you already have nitrates. Almost there!


----------

