Hello

I have just joined the forum.

I bought my son a 240ltr tank for Christmas.

We set it up in Boxing Day. I have been adding micro lift special blend followIng the recommendations on the bottle. Product was recommended to me by staff in the store.

I have also been adding flakes of food every other day.

I have taken reading yesterday and today using an API test kit.

Readings are the same for both days
PH - 7.2
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrites and Nitrates - 0

So I am 8 days in to the cycle and to be honest I’m not sure if it’s going well, if I should be doing more?

Should I do a water change during the cycle?

I should say that there are no fish in the tank yet.

Any advice would be great

Many thanks

Hi

Your cycle hasn't really got going as you only have 0.25ppm of ammonia. This is because fish food resists breaking down so it's hard to get to a decent level with it, and almost impossible to dose accurately when it drops. I suggest you buy a bottle of household ammonia and follow the cycling guide here: https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... hless-cycling-article.htm You can get the ammonia on Amazon here: https://amazon.co.uk/Knock-Out-Househo ... nia&qid=1609786564&sr=8-2 You wouldn't normally do any water changes during the cycle, although there are some exceptions such as if the cycle stalls.

Hi FishLady

Thank you for replying.

I have ordered some of the ammonia and will follow the guide you posted.

Really appreciate your help, I had a feeling that I wasn’t doing it properly

Hi again

Quick question

I have been keeping the ammonia levels up as instructed. Roughly when will I see nitrites, it’s been approx 9 days now and no reading of nitrites?

Many thanks

It's early days, but check to see if nitrate has risen (compare the level in the tank to the level in your tap water) as the cycling product you added may have had some effect and converted the nitrite as soon as it was produced. This is assuming you have seen ammonia drop.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

The ammonia has been dropping as I have needed to top it up (not every day)

I will check the nitrate levels in the tank and tap water

Thanks again

Hi

So today I have check my tap water

It’s coming up with the same reading as the tank, 0 nitrates,

0 nitrites and the ammonia is steady at 3-4ppm.

Shall I just continue doing what I’m doing?

Many thanks

Also the wood in my tank has white fuzzy stuff growing in it.

I’m not sure if this is a sign of anything?

Just a quick update and a couple of questions.

5 days ago I started getting readings of nitrites, the last couple of days I have also had readings for nitrates.

Over the last 2 days the ammonia has taken quit a big dive down to 0.5ppm, I have topped it up tonight.

When shall I stop adding ammonia?

Carry on topping up ammonia until the cycle is complete, which is when both ammonia and nitrite are 0, 24 hours after a dose of ammonia. Then do a very large water change to reduce nitrate and you can get your fish.