amonia 0.50, nitrite 2.0-5.0, nitrate> 5.0 from tap

stephenhelsel

I am in the middle of cycling my tank and my numbers kept moving around weird so I stopped doing water changes but kept testing. Then today on the 16th I tested and everything looked great. Amonia .25, nitrite 0, nitrate 0.

So that lead me to test my tapnthe readingsni got are in the title. Reasons for all the weird readings.

So im gonna keep testing daily to keep an eye and just do a once weeklyWC 25% and my question is once everything is cycled are these readings gonna mess with anything or should it be fine since a small amount is getting added in which will allownthe tank to quickly cycle it.

And yes I do have live plants. All my aquarium info is up todate with whats in the tank now if any other info is needed.
Up to date photo. 20gal
Thanks!

Attached Images

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rjordan390

Your nitrate level is ok but being as the tank is about in the middle of its cycling, I would hold off on water changes and use a product called "Prime". It will remove ammonia by changing it to a safer form called ammonium. It also removes chlorine and chlorimines and detoxifys nitrite and nitrate and heavy metals. You should have waited for the tank to cycle before you added your fish. Your plants will help do this. The fish exposed to ammonia and nitrite may be injured. So use the "Prime" product immediantly or any other tap water conditioner that performs as well. Then after the tank has cycled, continue to use it at every water change.
If you are using dipstick type test procedures, be advised that they are not reliable.

Byron

My only addition would be to wonder what may happen once the tank is established, considering the high nitrite in the tap water. The nitrate is not significant, and the ammonia should not pose problems either, in a planted tank.

At the water change there will be an initial influx of all three, and a conditioner like Prime will handle these. But Prime is effective for 24-48 hours. The test will be to see what the nitrite especially does during this period. Smaller rather than larger-volume water changes will reduce this some too.

Remember that all will still show in tests after using Prime, even though they are detoxified (for the 24-48 hours).

Byron.