are these reading ok for fish, it looks ok but

[discusjoe27]

ammonia .25
ph 7.2
nitrite 0
nitrate 5.0

can I add some of my discus back to the 135,or should everything read "O"
I read somewhere that there needs to be some ammonia for the tank to cycle is that true. I've forgot some of the stuff I have learned. (I didn't go to college, I guess learning stuff here I'll get a degree in fish keeping ;):) )

[Mr Wild]

Hi Joe

There should be zero ammonia before you put fish into the water especially discus. Nitrite should also be zero - as yours is and nitrate can be up to 20ppm although the lower the better - yours in 5 so that is ok too. But get the ammonia to zero before adding discus.

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

0.25ppm ammonia at a pH of 7.2 isn't much to worry about it. The amount of unionized ammonia present is not even hardly measurable (0.003mg/L ammonia given typical discus temp of 86 and 0ppt salinity). 0.003mg/L ammonia is waaayyy below any fishes lethal level that I know of, and I know discus are exposed to much higher levels than that at times. If the pH was higher or the total ammonia level was higher then it may be more of a concern, depending on the given conditions.

-Ryan

[Mr Wild]

Thanks Ryan, I give way to your experience!

[Jhhnn]

You may experience a nitrite spike, so be prepared to deal with it- water changes, salt, and water conditioner (Prime or similar).

How many fish of what size do you plan to introduce? It matters... although large tanks are pretty forgiving if the stocking levels are fairly low...

[discusjoe27]

8-10 wild greens. I have 5 on hold, and finely got my check yesterday.
my tank is a 135-140?(84x16x24), I have a fx5 with the foam pads,bio-max,
and eheim substrat in it. the bottom substrate is pool filter sand. the temp is 85. I'm using 2 - 250 watt eheim jager heaters to heat the water(plan to get a inline heater soon).

ok those readings I have you where from a api test kit.
now just 10 mins. ago here are the readings with my red sea test kit.
ammonia -0
nitrite- a light light purple couldn't figure out the reading
nitrate-0
ph-7.4
also there I forgot to put the air stone back in the tank plug in the airpump I just now did that. would not having air in the tank, make a differents in the water para readings?

[Don Trinko]

I would wait untill ammonia is zero, not because it will hurt the fish but because it indicates that the cycle is not complete or you have another problem. All of this IMO; Don T.

[Eddie]

8-10 fish in a 135, I think you will be alright Joe, that is alot of space. Just control the cycle with small waterchanges. It will take a long time for your filters to cycle performing waterchanges but what the 4ELL, you need the exercise. LOL Plus, keeps you on your toes with tank maintenance. Just track everything well and don't let anything go out of control. Your fish will also tell you when something is getting out of hand. With the nitrites though, don't mess around, just keep salt in the tank and add back any salt that is removed if you do waterchanges.

Oops, I almost forgot, try adding a bottle of Tetrasafe start to the tank when you add the fish. It will speed everything up. :)

Take care and all the best with your new ones,

Eddie

[discusjoe27]

salt? aquarium salt right. I got a whole carton of that. what I can't figure out is I left cycled aquarium water in the fx5, I just grabbed the carbon that was in the filter and throw it out. so shouldn't my fx5 be cycled? or is it because of the new water it is going though a mini cycle?

also now that I have sand. is there any bottom feeders like Corys or a pleco
I could keep. I did have some green corys in there when I had gravel.
they are now with the discus in the 55. would it be ok, to add back the corys in the tank once it gets under control? or should I not since I will have wilds in there. I have friends, buying my home grown discus, so they will have new homes.

I added some searchem stability to the tank. that should help right?, should I add some more?
my api tests kits are old so maybe I have faults readings. the only newish test kit is the red sea one and it's 4-6. the api's are a year to a little over a year. should I take some water to a good LFS and have it tested?

[Eddie]

Stability will help. There is no such thing as cycled aquarium water. I mean there are nitrates in the water if you want to say cycled water but there is no bacteria colony established in the water itself. The media holds the bacteria, along with gravel and other surfaces that the bacteria can colonize on.

Eddie

[discusjoe27]

Stability will help. There is no such thing as cycled aquarium water. I mean there are nitrates in the water if you want to say cycled water but there is no bacteria colony established in the water itself. The media holds the bacteria, along with gravel and other surfaces that the bacteria can colonize on.

Eddie

thanks, I left the filter the way it was. only differents is I took out the carbon.
only thing new is the pool filter stand,and dechloranated water. I added some more stability in the tank, and keep on testing it till every thing gets to "0" and
the ph goes down a little bit.

[Jhhnn]

If your fx5 came from an established tank, then it should really help in establishing the nitrogen cycle in the new tank. Aeration is very important, as well- the bacteria you want to culture are aerobic, meaning they need oxygen to thrive and multiply. It's why wet/dry reef filters work so well.

Progress in establishing the bio-filter can be really slow when you start from zero- none of the bacterial culture products I've ever tried really work very well, at all. But with your established fx5, you have a really good base to work from, lots of bacteria already present, waiting to multiply. Just pay attention (test the water daily) and be prepared to act as required...

It's easy to over-react, as well. My current discus tank spiked nitrites at 1ppm, controlled with water changes, 50% extra prime, and salt at 2 tbsp/50gal of change water. The fish were ducky the whole time... even though it drove me crazy...

[discusjoe27]

If your fx5 came from an established tank, then it should really help in establishing the nitrogen cycle in the new tank. Aeration is very important, as well- the bacteria you want to culture are aerobic, meaning they need oxygen to thrive and multiply. It's why wet/dry reef filters work so well.

Progress in establishing the bio-filter can be really slow when you start from zero- none of the bacterial culture products I've ever tried really work very well, at all. But with your established fx5, you have a really good base to work from, lots of bacteria already present, waiting to multiply. Just pay attention (test the water daily) and be prepared to act as required...

It's easy to over-react, as well. My current discus tank spiked nitrites at 1ppm, controlled with water changes, 50% extra prime, and salt at 2 tbsp/50gal of change water. The fish were ducky the whole time... even though it drove me crazy...

thanks so should I add a little bit of aquarium salt when I do water changes once it get's back to normal?

[Eddie]

thanks so should I add a little bit of aquarium salt when I do water changes once it get's back to normal?

Hey Joe, if your FX5 had an established bacteria colony, there wouldn't any cycling going on.

Stability will help, won't work any magic but it will help.

Why add salt if you are using an ESTABLISHED CYCLED FILTER?

Eddie

[Jhhnn]

You don't need to add salt unless you see a nitrite spike in your water testing, something at or above .5ppm.

It's not likely because of your established fx5 bacterial colony, but the only way to know for sure is to diligently test the water, establish a water change routine, take corrective action if necessary.

Just one guy's opinion.

[discusjoe27]

thanks, I'll keep checking it. :);) hopefully this mini cycle will be finish cycling soon.