Water Cycling Check In

[koincidenskis]

5.5 Gallon tank - Fishless
Filtered
Heated
Gravel
Plants - Java, water sprite, and hornwort.
Days in Cycle - 8

Tap water:
Ammonia -About .25ppm on the lower side
pH - 6.8

Tested Tank water for today:
Ammonia - 2ppm
Nitrite - 2ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm
pH - 7.6


I feel like the ammonia is to high. Should I do a water change?

[callistra]

No it's fine. I actually keep my ammonia ant 4ppm throughout my cycling process. 2ppm is minimum. You should maintain at least that. One day you'll find that the 2ppm will be totally gone by the next day, redose, continue until you see nitrites just fall away over night. I'd continue another week just to be sure. Then do a 90%+ change right down to the gravel, but don't disturb the gravel, before adding your fish.

[koincidenskis]

Thank you call. Is the pH ok? or will that go down as well?

[shellieca]

Keep an eye on the Ph if it drops into the mid to low 6's you'll want to do a water change to bring it back up. Too low Ph can crash a cycle.