is my cycle done?

[swfishfan]

i have a 15g tank and the readings today came out at.......
nitrates 40
nitrites 0
alk 300
ph 8.8
am 0
82 degrees
salinity 1.024
i have been cycling for about 3 weeks now and am i done?

 

[tuningvis]

your trates are still high

 

[swfishfan]

so will they go away by themselfs or do i have to do a water change for them to go down?

 

[bigarn]

Originally Posted by SWFISHFAN
so will they go away by themselfs or do i have to do a water change for them to go down?
Do a 10% waterchange and check the levels again. If you get the nitrates to 20 or less you should be fine.

 

[swfishfan]

so for a 15g tank what would be 10% change ?

 

[bigarn]

Do a galllon or a gallon and a half.

 

[swfishfan]

i did 1 and 1/4 gallons (because i had a bit til the top) and i did my readings again and they came out like this.....
nitrite 0
nitrate 20
ph 8.2-8.4
amm 0
alk 300
82 degree
salinity 1.024
so was this what you were talking about? i also had a question... nitrates are not bad for fish right? they only produce algea... so why is it such a big deal to lower them?

 

[dskidmore]

Nitrates are not nearly as bad for fish as nitrite or ammonia, but at very high concentrations it can be bad for fish.

 

[swfishfan]

ok, so when i test my water what should i be looking for in nitrates, what i mean is range wise, from what i have read it is that anything above 40ppm and below is good, so what would ideal be and reasonable for a new tank?

 

[dskidmore]

Reasonalble for right after cycle: 20
Short term goal: 10
Goal before adding corals: how low can you go?

 

[swfishfan]

ok i got it thankyou alot.....

 

[feixjai]

nitrates are pretty high just wait until it drops. remember in this hobby patiences is the key to a successful tank

 

[swfishfan]

Confused, Some People Say 20 Or Less And Some Say Its Still To High At 20.... So Whats The Scoop?

 

[feixjai]

in my tank my nitrates are 0. its just me because i dont like anything that can be harmful even though its natural i try to prevent it anyways. so i like to keep it at 0.

 

[dskidmore]

0 is the ideal goal for experienced or lucky hobbiests. I think it's an unreasonable goal for a newly cycled tank. The tank in question does not have a refugium, so it would take an incredable amount of water changes to bring nitrates down to an undetectable level.

 

[laddy]

I guess it's all relative. It depends on what you are going to be taking care of; fish only? softies? SPS? It's unreasonable to think you can bring your nitrates down to 0, because you can't. You can only hope to get a zero reading off of hobby grade test kits. People attempt to bring their nitrates down by adding LR, LS, skimming and/or adding a refugium--all will aid in this quest. But if you were thinking of adding a fish with 20 mg/L of nitrates, and you consistently get this reading, then I'd add a fish and take readings every week. Your levels will drop given time and the "right" filtration for your system.
Good luck