Question: Tank cycling, water changes and aging

Hi All

The only stupid question is the question not asked......

I set up my 3ft / 150L tank a week ago. Cannister filter. Sand substrate with some 25-30mm river pebbles. A sandstone slab cave and a resin tunnel. Some plants are in too. No aeration.

A few mini 2cm fish were in for a few days as the canary in the mines type trick. Axies went in last night. 2 x 5 month old 10-11cm. One of my mini fish went missing last night...I suspect a murder.

I'm testing for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily. Everything is zero except nitrite at 0.2. pH=7. The axies seem ok, mostly just hanging out in the tunnel ornament.

So my question is this: some advice on this forum says 20-30% daily water changes to reduce the poisonous stuff until all readings are zero. They say do this even if the tank isn't properly cycled as yet. Other posts say don't change the water early on as it just ruins the cycling process. So I'm confused but the mixed messages. Do I split the difference and change just a little or the water?

Next question is aging the water and possibly the really stupid question but, heck, i don't understand the science. If I fill up some bottles, put the lids on tightly so little kids don't knock them over in the house, then leave it 2-3 days, is that ok? There is a lot of talk about buckets, thats all. Does putting the aging drops in my bottles mean the water doesn't need to be aged for any time at all?

Cheers
Dave

Water changes are to reduce the Ammonia and Nitrite levels as the bacteria are not yet established to remove them by changing ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate. Later on after the cycling is finished, the water changes are to remove the less harmful Nitrate so they don't build up to levels where they can be harmful.

When cycling with an empty tank and food there to form ammonia, the recommendations are generally to leave everything alone without water changes until Ammonia and Nitrite are a constant 0 while Nitrate climbs.

With Axies in the tank, the regular water changes are to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels low enough to not harm the axolotls, but leave enough there to keep feeding the growing populations of friendly bacteria.

The mixed messages are, I think, related to whether the tank is occupied or empty at the time of cycling. Also while Ammonia is needed to promote the bacteria growth, too much can apparently poison things too, so ammonia levels should stay under 5-7 in an empty tank anyway, so even an empty tank might need water changes while cycling if the cycler was too generous with the ammonia source.


As to ageing, the water needs to be able to outgas the chlorine, closed bottles won't do that since there needs to be open surface exposed to the air, shallow pans would outgas quicker than tall narrow vases with less surface area exposed to the air. in bottles, the air volume is too small.

I'm not a user of chemical agers myself, but from the blurbs, they sound to be fast acting, just add the recommended amount to the bucket of water after filling from the tap, stir, and by the time you have carried it to the tank and filled the tank up the ager has done it's job.

Thanks Kiwi303. I'm happy now with the plan to keep checking the water balances and keep doing daily 15-20% water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite modest until my nitrate starts building. My little axies seem happy enough so I'm hoping I'm useful enough to look after them well and keep it that way. Thanks again for the help. This forum is really amazing with the level of advice.

Hopefully by the time I get home I'm not going to discover huge increases in the bad stuff. Fingers crossed.

I would highly recommend using a dechlorinator instead of messing around with aging pans of water. I use Novaqua and have never had an issue with it. I even use it when making water changes for the 100 baby axies I am raising. It will simplify your life dramatically. : )

Guys, thanks for the intel.

I'm now into twice daily 20% PWCs, AM and PM. My water is aged only half a day but it gets the special drops to condition it.

Nitrites are up to 1ppm and steady. Axies seem unperterbed

A couple of days ago I added aeration as supposedly that helps with nitrites. And I've put in a bit of freshwater aquarium salt too.

I'm blogging my daily diary in this forum while the cycling goes on and I'm continuing to learn stuff and experiment. I'm finding it therapeutic to write my thoughts for the day......