demodan
Member
Ok, this may be obvious to those more experienced, but I never thought of this until now. If you see 0ammo, 0nitrites, and some nitrates, it does not mean your tank is cycled. The question is how high did the ammonia level get. If the ammonia level was low, then even though it looks cycled, when you put fish in, the bio cannot handle the load, and you cycle again.
The LFS may tell you that it is a false reading due to you treating the water, this is a crock of s***. There is no such thing. If you read ammo, you have it. Period. I saw between .50 and 1.0 ammonia, and it went to nitrites, and finally nitrates. Put in fish, and disaster. My tank got up to 3.0 ammo, and the LFS said it couldn't be, the fish would die. Today, it started going over to nitrites, and the fish were stressed big time.
The fish are now in a friends tank, and my tank will cycle the rest of the way. So, if you are starting, make sure you have high ammo readings b4 you call it cycled. I know this is obvious to most of you, I am just trying to keep someone new to the hobby(read addiction) from making this mistake.
The LFS may tell you that it is a false reading due to you treating the water, this is a crock of s***. There is no such thing. If you read ammo, you have it. Period. I saw between .50 and 1.0 ammonia, and it went to nitrites, and finally nitrates. Put in fish, and disaster. My tank got up to 3.0 ammo, and the LFS said it couldn't be, the fish would die. Today, it started going over to nitrites, and the fish were stressed big time.
The fish are now in a friends tank, and my tank will cycle the rest of the way. So, if you are starting, make sure you have high ammo readings b4 you call it cycled. I know this is obvious to most of you, I am just trying to keep someone new to the hobby(read addiction) from making this mistake.
