Cycling 5 gallon and 10 gallon tanks

[Roemgie]

Originally Posted by callistra

Your nitrates are really high.. How long has this been set up?

5 drops of ace ammonia will bring a 10 gallon to 4-5ppm. I'd use 2-3 drops in a 5g. Since you are so so close I'd dose 1-2 drops and see how things look in 24 hours. That ammonia test looks pretty yellow to me..

Before you add fish you will need to do a 90% ish change - siphon all the way down to the gravel but don't' disturb the gravel. Then retest make sure nitrates are under control. I would have them low as possible for new fish who have never seen nitrates before.

Ok I'll do those two drops and look at the tank tomorrow.

So I'm guessing after I do that whole thing depending on the results do the 90% water change? Or just go ahead with the water change without the drops?

[AyalaCookiejar]

Make sure to test the water right after you add the drops. You want to see a dramatic drop in ammonia in 24 hours. If you don't... the tank isn't cycled. If the tank can phase out 1-4ppm ammonia in 24 hours thats a pretty good sign that it should be ready to add your girl to it (after the giant water change, of course.)

[Roemgie]

Originally Posted by callistra

Your nitrates are really high.. How long has this been set up?

5 drops of ace ammonia will bring a 10 gallon to 4-5ppm. I'd use 2-3 drops in a 5g. Since you are so so close I'd dose 1-2 drops and see how things look in 24 hours. That ammonia test looks pretty yellow to me..

Before you add fish you will need to do a 90% ish change - siphon all the way down to the gravel but don't' disturb the gravel. Then retest make sure nitrates are under control. I would have them low as possible for new fish who have never seen nitrates before.

It's been possibly 2-3 months actually now that I think about it. I've been kind of just letting it be (since I'd add the old water from my 2.5 gallon when I changed it into those two tanks to help the cycle).

So I just want to make sure I get this straight. For both tanks I need to add ammonia drops and wait 24 hours until I check the results, right? Also after do that I need to for both tanks do a 90% water change to bring down the Nitrates?

[Roemgie]

Originally Posted by AyalaCookiejar

Make sure to test the water right after you add the drops. You want to see a dramatic drop in ammonia in 24 hours. If you don't... the tank isn't cycled. If the tank can phase out 1-4ppm ammonia in 24 hours thats a pretty good sign that it should be ready to add your girl to it (after the giant water change, of course.)

Ok great I will at least do my 5 gallon now, and i have 'Ammonia Chloride Solution for Fishless cycling' from DrTim's Aquatics. Do I do the same amount of drops since it should be the same?

[callistra]

That ammonia.. should it say on the bottle how much to use?

Add the drop(s). Wait like an hour for it to circulate. Test.

Wait 24 hours test again.

If it's all gone do the large water change.

Test again to make sure nitrates are as close to zero as possible. Definitely needs to be under 10ppm imho.

Only then you can add fish.

[AyalaCookiejar]

The amount of drops really depends. The ammonia could be a higher concentration, the drop sizes could be different, and then of course the tank size... I would start with two, test it, and add more if necessary.

After you add it wait 24 hours and see if the ammonia drops. The reason you need to test to see how high it is right after adding the ammonia is because the ammount you add might not change your test results at all or it could be way over 4ppm which isn't good.

[Roemgie]

Originally Posted by callistra

That ammonia.. should it say on the bottle how much to use?

Add the drop(s). Wait like an hour for it to circulate. Test.

Wait 24 hours test again.

If it's all gone do the large water change.

Test again to make sure nitrates are as close to zero as possible. Definitely needs to be under 10ppm imho.

Only then you can add fish.

Ok awesome! Thank you so much for being patient with me! I just want whats best for these guys and I get so paranoid that I could potentially hurt them from my lack of knowledge!

Ok I added 3 drops (the 3rd one came out on accident) and I'm going to wait a few minutes to see if that did anything (I'm getting ready to leave so I'll be back in more like 3 hours rather than one).

Ok when reading the booklet it said under 40 ppm is good for a freshwater aquarium so I'm guessing even lower is better?

So regarding stress for the girl. Right now she's in a (supposedly) 25 gallon tank with a ton of neon large fish (I forgot their names) and neon frogs. There were 2 other females with her BUT I wasn't specific on which two I wanted SO she may have gone to a home already. I paid 3 dollars for both so I don't mind losing the 3 for not taking two but I was going to let them know that today so that they could find the other one a home. She was hiding under the little filter (I made sure it wasn't sucking her in and it wasn't because the sucking part was at the top away from where she was).

Long story short there was another girl who had bright stress strips and kept swimming back and forth (I could also see eggs so I figured she would go fast if someone wanted to breed her). I wanted to get the shier one so that I could bring her home and have he 'come out' of her shell here. I wanted to wait until next week because I'm leaving this weekend (someone will be here to feed them). BUT if you think she'll be less stress staying with me until my tank is cycled I can pick her up today rather than wait until I get back home next week.

[Roemgie]

Originally Posted by AyalaCookiejar

The amount of drops really depends. The ammonia could be a higher concentration, the drop sizes could be different, and then of course the tank size... I would start with two, test it, and add more if necessary.

After you add it wait 24 hours and see if the ammonia drops. The reason you need to test to see how high it is right after adding the ammonia is because the ammount you add might not change your test results at all or it could be way over 4ppm which isn't good.

Ok I accidentally put 3 instead of 2 but I'm getting ready to test the water to see what comes up.

Also I already wrote a super long comment (and thank you also for putting up with me!) but do you think it would be wise to go ahead and get the female now or should I just leave her at petland until next week? I would keep her in my 2.5 gallon tank until my 5 was ready

[Roemgie]

Originally Posted by callistra

That ammonia.. should it say on the bottle how much to use?

Add the drop(s). Wait like an hour for it to circulate. Test.

Wait 24 hours test again.

If it's all gone do the large water change.

Test again to make sure nitrates are as close to zero as possible. Definitely needs to be under 10ppm imho.

Only then you can add fish.

Wait i take that back. I have a heater from my friend who owns Umi and i found it looked really odd (also it needed to be on full power to actually heat up the 10 gallon so I think it was too small) it's the only one I have right now since she's borrowing my other one. So I'll test it in a fishless 2.5 gallon tank before I'd bring her home.

[Roemgie]

Originally Posted by AyalaCookiejar

Make sure to test the water right after you add the drops. You want to see a dramatic drop in ammonia in 24 hours. If you don't... the tank isn't cycled. If the tank can phase out 1-4ppm ammonia in 24 hours thats a pretty good sign that it should be ready to add your girl to it (after the giant water change, of course.)

Ok so I just tested the water and it's so far up to .5 ppms so I'll test it again one more time before I head out and I'll test it again when I get back. I will go to petland to at least tell them I can only take one and to make sure she is still there. I have a 2.5 gallon ready if I do decide to take her. Unless you suggest it be less stressful for her to stay where she is.