luckywood
New member
So I've been cycling my 54L, 60cm x 30cm tank for 3-4 weeks now. Initially I added some frozen shrimp as an ammonia source to kick the whole thing off. Unfortunately, I did this before the test kit I ordered had arrived, and then a postage snarl-up meant I didn't receive the test kit for about two weeks after I first added the ammonia.
I've tested twice in the last week and got identical results both times:
Ph: 8.0
Ammonia: 1ppm
Nitrite: 0.5ppm
Nitrate: 100+
Since I didn't have the test kit initially, I don't know whether I missed an ammonia spike at the beginning of the cycle. The high nitrates suggest to me that there must be some bacteria working, but equally, they haven't brought the ammonia down to 0. So I'm a little confused as to what to do.
My current plan is to add another frozen shrimp and try to get the ammonia up to 4ppm, then see if that goes down. Should I also do a water change to get rid of the nitrates? Should I worry about the high Ph and if so, how do I go about lowering it?
Any help appreciated.
I've tested twice in the last week and got identical results both times:
Ph: 8.0
Ammonia: 1ppm
Nitrite: 0.5ppm
Nitrate: 100+
Since I didn't have the test kit initially, I don't know whether I missed an ammonia spike at the beginning of the cycle. The high nitrates suggest to me that there must be some bacteria working, but equally, they haven't brought the ammonia down to 0. So I'm a little confused as to what to do.
My current plan is to add another frozen shrimp and try to get the ammonia up to 4ppm, then see if that goes down. Should I also do a water change to get rid of the nitrates? Should I worry about the high Ph and if so, how do I go about lowering it?
Any help appreciated.