Finished cycling??

[jennlegend]

I have a 55 gal, LFS said was finished cycling last Friday and all I needed to do was 50% water change and I should be good to go. I did this and tested water, Nitrites, Nitrates, and Ammonia were still very high (unfortunately, do not have the results). I changed 20 more gallons and my levels are still high...Nitrite-0.5, Nitrate-20, and Ammonia-.25. Should I do yet another water change or could it be possible tank was not finished cycling and I should wait another week or so?? Thanks!

 

[fshhub]

STOP! THE WATER CHANGES!!!!!
If your levels are high, or even existant, then the cycle is NOT OVER. Do no water changes until the cycle has finished and you then only need to do about 20%. At this point, yo are not doing a water change to reduce teh ammonia or nitrite, but maybe teh nitrate and to replenish elements and eliminate some things, but the water should already be showing ZERO trites and ammonia anyhow.
Find another lfs, these guys either A, dont knwo a thing,
or B, definitely do not care about anything, except the sale. THEY HAVE TERRIBLY MISGUIDED YOU, IF THIS IS WHAT THEY TOLD YOU.
DEFINITLEY, wait and not a week or so, wait until the readings are ZERO, and then wati another week or 2 and test to make sure they stay that way, then do the water change and then add one or maybe 2 small heartier fish. THEN , wait again.

 

[fshhub]

Oh yeah, I am just wondering HOW they came to the conclusion that it was done. What did they base this claim upon??

 

[jennlegend]

LFS said since the nitrates were high, it was done cycling. A water change should lower them and that was it! So, my nitrates and ammonia should go to zero by themselves with no water change?? Also, I have 20 lbs LR in the tank (I bought it under the impression that after the water change my tank was ready) and 8 damsels...
(Off the subject, do you know why the envelope next to my thread has a whole in it...I noticed none others do??)
Thanks!

 

[fshhub]

This is number 2, YOur lfs, really has me wondering esp after reading your post in agressive.
anyhow, you want the ammonia and nitrItes to go back to ZERO all by themselves.
then the nitrAtes, may or may not(probably not), a water change will help there some, but trAtes are not as big of a concern as teh other 2 are.And as I mentioned, you do not wnat the water changes to do it for you, b/c alll you would be doing is giving a false sense of cycle over.
The lr will be fine, in fact, it may(if cured) help to speed it up a bit, the damsels may or may not survive, but if they are not in your stocking plans, I would nto even keep them either. THey are difficult to remove from a tank with rock.

 

[jennlegend]

Again...LFS said damsels would aide in cycling. I have CC instead of LS since LFS (I am beginning to really dislike them) said either would be about the same. Will LR and CC work the same in cycling as LR and DSB??

 

[fshhub]

It wil work, but not the same, tehy are 2 different creatures.
damsels can be used to cycle wiht, but most do not want to keep them long term anyhow. So most of us choose not to get them to start with, since there are other ways of doing it, but yes tehy can be used(this is one thing they were correct on, so far)

 

[clarkiiboi]

(Off the subject, do you know why the envelope next to my thread has a whole in it...I noticed none others do??)
Anytime you post to a post (whether its your own or not) the dot will appear. Its really is useful IMO.
The cycling I will leave to fshhub---he knows what he's talking about and he'll guide ya.

 

[jennlegend]

Thank you, that was really driving me nuts!!

 

[sistrmary]

Is the lionfish for this tank, or do you have another saltwater tank? If that LFS suggested that you get a lionfish with a tank that isn't even out of its' cycle yet, I would take the lionfish back and have some horribly nasty words with them. Lions are very touchy with water perameters.
My distaste for the majority of LFS is bottomless. I understand that they can't afford to pay biologists, but at least pay someone who isn't going to give out horrible advice to people. I wish that law would require them to hire people who have half a clue.
Anyways, as long as there is ammonia in the tank, your tank is still mid-cycle. Keep testing it even after the ammonia levels drop to 0, if it's plateaued, (If the levels are still exsistant but not moving regularly) then do a water change.
And don't forget to thank your LFS for extending the tank cycle time. (I know that this post sounds irritated, but it's not directed towards you at all. LFS morons--not that all are, but there are quite a few--are a pet peeve of mine to such a point that I started a business to rescue some of their poor customers, myself included.)

 

[jennlegend]

The lionfish is in a seperate tank that really was finished cycling when the LFS told me it was(surprise ) ...I did a water change and all has been fine since--that was a few weeks ago.
The tank cycling now has had 0.25 ammonia for past week with Nitrates at 20 and Nitrites between 0.5-1...pH is 8.2.
I have some damsels in there...do you think I should take them out to help the levels go down or don't they really have an effect on the nitrite/trate levels??