Should I do a water change when cycling new tank for fish health?

[jcarson]

Hey gang I am finally reading ammonia after a couple weeks of having fish in my tank. Reading 1ppm.
Should I do a water change?

 

[Jhay3513]

Hey gang I am finally reading ammonia after a couple weeks of having fish in my tank. Reading 1ppm.
Should I do a water change?

Yes I would do a water change. Ammonia is toxic to your fish. I have used seachem stability with much success doing a fish in cycle. I do fishless for now tanks now tho. It’s less work

 

[jcarson]

Thank you Jeff!

 

[Jhay3513]

Thank you Jeff!

No problem boss. When i was doing a fish in cycle I fed maybe 3 times per week and did water changes every 2-3 days. It cycles much slower this way but you at least keep your fish healthy

 

[Matteus]

Also keep in mind that the beneficial bacteria is not planktonik, so it isn’t in the water itself, it resides on surfaces of rocks, plants filter media etc.

 

[jcarson]

No problem boss. When i was doing a fish in cycle I fed maybe 3 times per week and did water changes every 2-3 days. It cycles much slower this way but you at least keep your fish healthy

So are you saying if I didnt care too much about these fish (just bought them to cycle) that I could feed them more to speed up the ammonia production?

Also keep in mind that the beneficial bacteria is not planktonik, so it isn’t in the water itself, it resides on surfaces of rocks, plants filter media etc.

Thank you Mathew.

 

[Matteus]

I would suggest a typical feeding regimen, more so than over feeding in regards to speeding it up. Best is to be as patient as possible (really hard when there is so many fish to put in the new tank), but if you are starting from scratch, ask your lfs is they can give you some of their filter floss to throw in your filter to help you seed the bacteria. Only do this if the store is reputable and the fish are healthy. Obviously not if they are sick or loaded with parasites and whatnot. Also some stores sell bacteria loaded bio media.

I did both of these when I was cycling my first tank, and it still took a few weeks to balance out.

 

[jcarson]

I would suggest a typical feeding regimen, more so than over feeding in regards to speeding it up. Best is to be as patient as possible (really hard when there is so many fish to put in the new tank), but if you are starting from scratch, ask your lfs is they can give you some of their filter floss to throw in your filter to help you seed the bacteria. Only do this if the store is reputable and the fish are healthy. Obviously not if they are sick or loaded with parasites and whatnot. Also some stores sell bacteria loaded bio media.

I did both of these when I was cycling my first tank, and it still took a few weeks to balance out.

Gotcha, and yeah its hard to be patient.
I'm like a kid again, but I know your right.
This is my first tank in almost 15 years and I already feel myself wanting another one.

 

[Matteus]

Gotcha, and yeah its hard to be patient.
I'm like a kid again, but I know your right.
This is my first tank in almost 15 years and I already feel myself wanting another one.

I know the feeling all to well. I just got started back up after 12-15 years of no tanks last December.

You are in good hands being on this forum.

What size of tank are you cycling, what are you planning to house?

 

[jcarson]

I know the feeling all to well. I just got started back up after 12-15 years of no tanks last December.

You are in good hands being on this forum.

What size of tank are you cycling, what are you planning to house?

55 gallon corner tank and for now Im going to keep some less aggressive mbuna like
Labidochromis caeruleus.

I also want to keep some peacocks in the tank also but I know given my tanks dimensions this might be a stretch.

I will definitely be breaking a few rules when it comes to stocking.