Need help with water test results

[Donny Brasco]

Hi guys I need some advice with my water test results. To start with I'll give you the specs it's a 165lt tank with coral sand base and some nice big rocks so probably about 140 lt of water or so.

Using a aqua one nautilus 800 pump, heater ect all working fine.

Just set it all up 2 days ago and used the api new start and decorator as well as some of the cichlids 8.2ph mineral powder or what ever it is.

Anyway I did a test this morning and these are my results.

Gh/kh

5-8

89.5-143.2

Nitrite 0 ppm

Nitrate 0 ppm

Ammonia .15 ppm

Ph 8.2

I will also note I put about 15 or so feeder fish in there when I set it up to help kick start everything.

I would like to know how lower the ammonia if that's bad and also how to lower the Gh and kh if that's bad as the specs I found on the Gh kh chart said it's supposed to be around 3-6 and 50-100 ppm so mines a bit high.

Any help would be great.

Also not sure if it's worth mention but the water is still a bit cloudy I washed all the sand very well and boiled the rocks to

[Donny Brasco]

http://rs1284.pbsrc.com/albums/a561/forcedmotorworx/Mobile%20Uploads/20150215_114644_zps8o7jddxm.jpg~320x480

That's how it looks now notice it's a bit cloudy

This is a pic of my turtle tank the water in that is crystal clear

http://rs1284.pbsrc.com/albums/a561/forcedmotorworx/Mobile%20Uploads/20150215_114652_zpst5eiajoz.jpg~320x480

[Buccal]

Google nitrogen cycle in aquariums,, and study for a solid hour,,, that normally gets you there.

Everything is perfectly normal there, considering your actions.

Your GH and KH is in the ballpark and fine if you have Malawi cichlids,,, so your tap water is fine to not add any additives.

You should have set up and put cheap feeders in and wait for 3 weeks,,, not 2 days.

The ammonia is a product of your fishes waiste.

You don't have beneficial bacteria established in your filters yet,, (it takes 3 weeks roughly to colonize minimally).

Soooo,,, when your filters are established with beneficial bacteria (bb) they will instantly convert the ammonia into nitrite and further convert to nitrate which then the process has ended and you keep nitrate levels diluted at low concentration via weekly water changes.

You have no beneficial bacteria in filters so the lingering ammonia will make your fish die or sick.

Having the ammonia in there is great and Definetely wanted because its food for the beneficial bacteria hence being called the cycle.

Your (bb) can't evolve without ammonia.

(bb) needs the fish poo and rotten material (ammonia) for food and fish need the (bb) to deplete the toxins (ammonia and nitrite).

This is why you need to wait so long for the (bb) to colonize getting started out with ammonia presence.

Thats why you use sacrificial feeder fish to generate ammonia to start of the (bb).

If you don't remove your cichlids,,, buy seachem prime,,, this detoxifies ammonia,, but the ammonia is still there for (bb) to establish but the ammonia no longer harms the fish because it's molecular structure is changed by seachem prime.

Your turtle tank is fine because it's mature and nitrogen cycle Is balanced,

Read what I've written here many times as it takes a while to grab the concept.

[Donny Brasco]

Oh I think you read my post wrong I don't have cichlids in there yet there is about 10 feeder fish which are there in to help kick start the cycle as you where saying.

I guess I'll just leave it going for now and check it every few days to make sure it's going ok.

Straight out of the tap my ph was 7.5 but I still put some teaspoons of that ph 8 stuff.

I had someone explain to me the cycle of a tank so I understand it perfect now I was more so worried that my Gh and kh levels where to high for cichlids

[Buccal]

Yes I did read wrong sorry,, but the info still stands on the nitrogen cycle.

Best to let it go for 2 weeks then start testing.

The GH and KH are two independent readings with KH being a part of the total hardness (GH).

KH of 6-8 is fine I keep mine at 12 there abouts so you can go higher than 8 as higher KH supports stronger number of (bb).

GH of 10-12 is fine there abouts.

GH will slightly help stabilize KH.

KH will stabilize PH.

Minerals and trace elements are beneficial and may raise ph to where you need it, but ph will still likely drop.

But buffer salts will raise your KH to stabilize your ph.

Don't get confused with lake minerals salts and buffer salts.

Buffer salts are a little more important.

Google seachem Malawi additives and their product discriptive ranges gives you the idea.

More expensive products usually are not costing you more because they are more concentrated.

[Donny Brasco]

See the Gh and kh test got me because the only info I got was on a small instruction paper but didn't explain it all very well only how to do the test but not so much what the results are.

So the Gh I think was 5 drops and the kh was 8 drops (I'm using api drip test kit)

On the chart 5 drips was on the line of 5kh deg? And 89.5gh ppm and the 8 drips said 8 kh deg and 143.2gh ppm

Am I reading that correctly? I might have to take a photo of it

[Donny Brasco]

Can anyone tell me what level of ppm of ammonia I should try to stabilize the first step of my cycle at?

I'm getting mixed opinions some say between 4 and 5 some say .5 some say 3.

Although I think the .5 and 1 people where talking about wasn't ppm but was ml per litre or something?

Can anyone please confirm a safe level to keep it at during my cycle

[Buccal]

Sorry, yeah your reading it right, because it looks roughly common for out the tap.

Your GH is a little low and should be roughly 8 also even 10 as its best to have GH a tad higher than KH.

Just a little bit of Epsom salt found on a supermarket shelf would steer your GH up.

Start out with two teaspoons at a time.

Dissolve in cup of warm water and add to tank then test ten minutes later.

Continue this till you get it correct.

Re-calculate for epsoms amount after each water change,,, if you water change 25%, then add 25% of Epsom from your initial start dose.

[Buccal]

The more ammonia present, the faster the cycle will finish.

Ammonia is food for beneficial bacteria, so more food = more rapid multiplication growth of beneficial bacteria.

Don't bother about trying to read ammonia like you have.

You want your water to go crappy and milky,,, this way you know the food/ammonia has built up.

As you notice your water start to clear more and more day by day,,, you'll know that your beneficial bacteria is slowly colonizing and slowly converting/consuming the ammonia.

If your asking how to check it to see when it's ready,,, you keep testing for nitrates,,, when nitrates appear that is the substance that beneficial bacteria produces after converting the nasty ammonia and nitrites into a almost harmless nitrate when at low levels.

Nitrate is kept at low levels via weekly water changes.

But once nitrates appear on your test kit,,, just test one last time or two on the ammonia.

If ammonia is not at all present, then your tank is ready.

Never add new fish to a new tank if ammonia is still present because cycle isn't finished and you are likely to end up back to square one and dead fish.

Like I said patience, it takes to weeks minimum, usually three weeks.

When tank is ready slowly add numbers of fish to let the beneficial catch up before a new load.

Don't get over excited and jump the gun,,,, remember this,, YOU CAN'T BEAT MOTHER NATURE,,,,, YOU HAVE TO WORK WITH IT.

[Donny Brasco]

Yeah tank went cloudy and milky with in the first few days but it's cleared up now. I was just wondering if I should add ammonia or maybe even some more feeder fish to boost ammonia because even after a week it was still very low considering everyone else is saying it will go up to 4 or 5 ppm or to add ammonia to keep it at 4 or 5 ppm until the nitrites start to increase. The most I have seen so far is only .25ppm

[Buccal]

As long as you wait 3 weeks,, then slowly add stock you will be fine.

As a safety net,, buy a small bottle of seachem prime and use it as per instructions till the bottle is gone.

Start using it when you begin to add fish.

If you really want spike up your tank with ammo to get beneficial bacteria raging, throw in a tablespoon of fish food.

Watch your water mank up again then go clear.