# Cycling my tank



## audibell (Oct 1, 2013)

Hello everyone! This is my 1st tank and I am unsure about the cycling process. Had my tank set about about 3 weeks before adding fish. When I started it I put water conditioner and some stuff called quick start that's supposed to help start your cycle. I put 3 fish in about two weeks ago (it's a 65 gallon tank). How do I know if my tank is cycled? Or almost done cycling? My ammonia is at zero, my pH balance is at 7.6, but my nitrates are at 30 ppm and nitrites are very high at 4.0 ppm. I am about to do a 25% water change with prime.. I did a 50% yesterday and it dropped my nitrites from 6.0 ppm.


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Mainly do water changes to drop those nitrates and nitrites down. Keep the water changes up and they should start to drop.


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## audibell (Oct 1, 2013)

Cichlidman14 said:


> Mainly do water changes to drop those nitrates and nitrites down. Keep the water changes up and they should start to drop.


My nitrites are down to about 2.0 ppm and and nitrates are about 25 ppm. I did a 25% change today after doing a 50% yesterday... I will do another 25% tomorrow and so on until it's in check!! I'm still not seeing much of my fish though I am worried about them! Before I did the 50% water change the we're VERY active in the tank.. They didn't even come out to eat last night or this morning.


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## audibell (Oct 1, 2013)

Back to my main question though... How do I know if my tank has completed its cycle? Or if it's almost done?


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Ammonia will be at zero and nitrites and nitrates will be below 20 ppm. I'm pretty sure i may be wrong. I'll get back to you on it though. Test kits should tell you what is acceptible as well.


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Cycled means 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, a presence of Nitrates. (From one of Fishlores's Post) Lets see if other members on the forum will join this thread and speak out about the tank being cycled.


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## audibell (Oct 1, 2013)

K thanks


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

No problem


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## Tomagorn (Apr 5, 2013)

I'm not an expert, but isn't "cycling" about bacteria rather than water changes? If you're having to do water changes to keep nitrites (which should be zero) low, then I would say your tank is not cycled.


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## audibell (Oct 1, 2013)

Tomagorn said:


> I'm not an expert, but isn't "cycling" about bacteria rather than water changes? If you're having to do water changes to keep nitrites (which should be zero) low, then I would say your tank is not cycled.


That's what I'm asking. How do I know if it is or when it's close to being done.. I'm new to this!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

If your Ammonia and Nitrite are Zero and you have a measurable Nitrate reading between 10 ppm and 30 ppm, your tank should be cycled.

You can also check the link in my signature for Fishless Cycling and scroll down the pages to see exactly what to expect whether your are doing a fishless cycle or a fish in cycle.


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## audibell (Oct 1, 2013)

Deeda said:


> If your Ammonia and Nitrite are Zero and you have a measurable Nitrate reading between 10 ppm and 30 ppm, your tank should be cycled.
> 
> You can also check the link in my signature for Fishless Cycling and scroll down the pages to see exactly what to expect whether your are doing a fishless cycle or a fish in cycle.


My nitrites are down to about 2.0 ppm and and nitrates are about 25 ppm. Ammonia is at zero. I did a 25% change today after doing a 50% yesterday... I will do another 25% tomorrow and so on until it's in check!! Maybe it's close to being done?!?! Idk


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## Tomagorn (Apr 5, 2013)

Cycling means letting the bacteria drop the ammonia and nitrites to zero, which means that the bacterial colonies need to grow large enough to do the job. By doing such frequent water changes you may be interfering with the growth process. As I noted earlier, if you are doing water changes to reduce ammonia or nitrite, your tank is not cycled.


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## audibell (Oct 1, 2013)

Tomagorn said:


> Cycling means letting the bacteria drop the ammonia and nitrites to zero, which means that the bacterial colonies need to grow large enough to do the job. By doing such frequent water changes you may be interfering with the growth process. As I noted earlier, if you are doing water changes to reduce ammonia or nitrite, your tank is not cycled.


Ok, what can I do to get the bacteria to grow large enough to take care of this problem without killing my fish from nitrites in the process?


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

It's mostly a waiting game. The bacteria will establish themselves eventually. Options to speed up the process include adding mature filter media from a healthy tank to your filter(s) and adding a bottled product such as Dr. Tim's One and Only or Tetra SafeStart.
Be careful when dosing Prime during water changes as this can prolong the cycling process. However, you do need to dose it, not only to remove chlorine and other additives, but also to detoxify any ammonia and nitrite present in the water. Each dose is effective for 24-36 hours.


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