# Is my tank ready for fish



## cumbrianewbie (Jul 25, 2013)

I have been running my new tank for about a month now. I started with fish less cycling (adding food) then put in two young bristlenose pleco to help it along.

I tested my water today and found:
Ammonia - zero
Nitrite - zero
Nitrate - 5ppm

The test kit says that a partial water change is needed if nitrate is above 50. As mine is a tenth of that, I'm assuming I'm good to go and buy my new cichlids now ?

Can anyone confirm if this is right please ?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It might be but it can be difficult to be sure unless you had taken readings prior to today. Your fish-less cycling with food procedure is not an ideal method to properly cycle a tank though some people swear by it. Also, 2 BN plecos don't really provide enough bio-load to fully cycle the tank.

What size is the tank and how many and what size cichlids were you planning on adding?


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## cumbrianewbie (Jul 25, 2013)

Oh I have been taking readings before now.

I have previously had high ammonia readings, which have now tailed off to nothing. About a week ago I had high nitrite readings, which have now fallen as well.

I had not really been testing the nitrate until now as the literature with the test kit says that the readings would be misleading until nitrite readings had fallen.

I maybe didn't make it very clear, but I was just unsure whether 5ppm was low enough or not. Again, the kit says less than 50ppm requires no water change but doesn't make it clear if that means it is ok for fish or not.

It's a 200L tank with an Eheim Ecco Pro 300 canister attached to it. As far as I'm aware it has been running about a month now.


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## Kalost (Feb 27, 2013)

you are good to go my friend!


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## cumbrianewbie (Jul 25, 2013)

Cheers, that's great news !

I thought it was all done, but I just wanted to check with the people who have a lot more experience of doing these things.


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