Weird Readings!!!

[Feli11158]

Hello people!

I'm new to the forum and it's my first post but I've been reading and you guys have such amazing info.
I need a little help with both my tanks though....
My first tank is a 10 gallon, it has some 2 shrimp, 1 rubberlip pleco, 1 neon tetra (only one that survived), and 2 danios
I tested it today and it read 1-2ppm for ammonia, 0 nitrates, .50-1ppm nitrites, and PH likes to play around 6.4-7

My second tank has 4 shrimp, and 1 danio
It reads 0 for everything

Can you guys help me out on the situation and or stages of the cycle?

(I've been using Stability by Seachem for helping out feed the bacteria for the past 3 days)

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Feli11158 and welcome to Simply. Sounds like you have one tank cycling and one which is not. How long have both tanks been running with fish/shrimp etc.
Pat

[Feli11158]

I’ve had my 10 gallon running for about 2 weeks had fish in it for about a week.
The 5 gallon I’ve had run about a week with fish in it about 2 days after the set up.

[Filip]

Hi and welcome Feli
I guess you already know it but filters are considered cycled when Amonia and nitrite reads 0 Ppm and nitrates reads >1ppm .
Yours are yet to complete their Cycle so untill they do that , keep on changing +50% water on a daily level to prevent livestock losses from Amonia or Nitrite poisoning.
You can also add bacteria booster too speed up the cycling process.

[Feli11158]

Ok, good I performed a weekly change of water today of about 25% vaccummed a small section of tank that had lots of food debris. Did a follow up test a couple hours later and read
1ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates
I also tested the other 5 gallon tank and still read 0 for all.

[bluelagoon]

It takes 4-6 weeks to cycle a tank.It can be achieved pretty much right away with mulm from an established tank.

[Feli11158]

Gotcha, I added water from a local fish store it got really cloudy for about 3 days, then I added the Stability by Seachem to feed the bacteria. This was for both 10 gallon and 5 gallon, I should be seeing something for everything but I’m only seeing ammonia levels rise in the 10 gallon. Should I add supplement bacteria to clean the food and gunk in the gravel to keep ammonia down? For other bacteria to grow?

[bluelagoon]

Water from a lfs is not the best way to try and cycle a tank. In fact all you did was to cross contaminate your tank with probable dirty/pathogen water. The good bacteria is not in the water column but rather on all the objects in your tank and filter.

[fljones3]

If you want to add bacteria supplements to speed up the cycling, I would recommend Sera Bio Nitrivec Water Conditioner. In every case, I have found it to work. Stability, I have had positive and negative. Be aware that the Sera will cloud up your tank for several hours. Harmless to the fish, however.

I add it to the water column directly, and also seed my filter media with it.

[Feli11158]

I’ll try the Sera Bio Nitrivec, and I’m kinda new to the whole thing, I feel like such a rookie, I really appreciate and will take any advice you give, I’ll give updates on process with testing every day but post it every 3 days

[fljones3]

I’ll try the Sera Bio Nitrivec, and I’m kinda new to the whole thing, I feel like such a rookie, I really appreciate and will take any advice you give, I’ll give updates on process with testing every day but post it every 3 days

I still feel like a rookie even though I have kept fish and discus off and on. This forum is great. No question is counted as dumb. The search function works great also. :)