Habitat - Indoor :: Tank Cycling

[Mom2RES]

So on average how long does it take a tank to cycle? Angelina has been in her new home two weeks and three days. I'm pretty sure the tank has already cycled. Just tested and ammonia is somewhere between 0 and .25 ppm. Nitrite is 0 ppm. Nitrate is 5 to 10 ppm. Is it possible the tank has already cycled?

Also my PH is about 7.8 to 8.0. Should I do something to bring that down?

[PridgNYC]

If you didn't use any filter media from an already cycled tank, it can take 4-6 weeks to fully cycle. A fully cycled tank should have both ammonia and nitrites at 0

[Mom2RES]

I did use the bio media out of my old filter, although that was not alot. I'm not sure why, but in my old tank the ammonia was never at 0. It was always what appeared to be in between 0 and .25 ppm. IDK... maybe I'm color blind and it is really 0 ppm.

[PridgNYC]

Could be just the light you are using to judge the color, it doesn't make sense for there to be that small amount of ammonia but no nitrites, the bacteria that digest ammonia produce nitrites in the process. That is why you usually see a spike in ammonia, then a spike in nitrites, then they both go back to 0.

[Mom2RES]

Maybe it is the light. I go into the bathroom to look at the colors, because it is very bright in there. So since my ammonia is low to none and I have no nitrites, could that mean my tank hasn't even began to cycle yet?

[VeipaCray]

What are you using to measure ammonia and nitrates?

[Mom2RES]

API test kit. This one http://www.amazon.com/API-FRESHWATER-MA ... 096&sr=8-1

[VeipaCray]

API test kit - perfect.

Your PH is normal. 7.8-8.0 is in the normal range for freshwater PH. There's not much we can do about PH in an aquarium so we measure this one out of curiosity. The PH test is the extra test included in your kit that we really don't need. All we need for PH is stability. It doesn't matter so much what the exact number is as long as it stays the same. PH will balance itself naturally. PH up and PH down chemicals - a toxic waste of money. You'd be better off just putting dollar bills in the tank.

As PridgNYC mentioned, it could be the light in the room affecting the color. Holding the vile up to a bright white piece of paper sometimes helps.

Remember this isn't an exact science... it's a $20 kit. What we're looking for is an idea of what's going on in the tank not an exact scientific measurement. If you had a huge ammonia spike the color would be WAY different and we would want to see that. If the color is matching the 0 ammonia or just ever so slightly off from having a perfectly matched color.... good enough.

If you want EXACT numbers (which we don't need) this is the place: http://www.aqua-medic.com/aquariumwater ... index.html

[Mom2RES]

Thanks guys. I don't know if you visit the general discuss much or not. I put pics up the other night of Angelina, because something is up with her shell. I first thought fungus, but Steve and Diamond suspect hard water deposits. I've order the test to be able to test my water for hardness. Then I saw on the Water Condition page that high PH could help bacteria and fungus grow. So I was afraid my high levels of PH could actually be causing a fungus.

Here's my biggest questions. If it is hard water, why didn't I have this in the old tank. It was the same water, just in a much smaller volume. She did not get this on her shell until just after two weeks of being in the new tank.

UGH... who knew being a turtle owner could be so hard. I adore the little thing and DO NOT want anything to happen to her (as I'm sure all people here feel the same way about their turtles).

[steve]

I doubt it's the PH causing the fungus. It's an extremely pesky problem that has been spreading over the last few years. We see it all the time now, on RES all over the world.

Hard water stains take time to accumulate, so it could just be building up over the months.