So to try it out I tested both tanks. The 20gal is quite under stocked so it didn't surprise me that both ammonia and nitrites were at 0ppm, nitrates were between 10-20ppm. For that tank I used the black sponge thing from one of my old filters and new media and an old filter with it's biowheel to jump start cycling. With just the betta and a snail in there I'm guessing I won't be needing to do water changes often.
Now the 55, with it's three goldfish and bristlenose pleco, is another story. I got a larger filter (although not large enough, I plan to add a second one soon sweatdrop ) but used both carbon pads from the old filters. Everything else is the same. Ammonia and nitrites were .25ppm and nitrates were 40-80ppm. The ammonia and nitrites were a bit too high for my liking so I added in some Prime conditioner (the kind that temporarily detoxifies ammonia for like, 24hrs?) and got five gallons ready to change out. I've been feeling rather tired and in some physical pain so I've not been able to do the normal 10-15 gallons I usually change out. So I did five gallons tonight.
Here are my questions:
question Am I okay to just do one five gallon change every other day for right now? 40lb buckets are heavy and I physically can't do it. If I have to I can just take longer to do changes by filling the bucket up half as much. But if I don't have to do a whole bunch of it in one day I really don't want to until I'm feeling well. Unfortunately I'm one of the only people that can do this stuff that I trust (I trust hubby but it's not his responsibility, it's mine).
question At what point is too high? I hear .50ppm for ammonia is too high but I've heard nothing of nitrites. Is .25ppm okay to leave for now or definitely not okay?
question I bought what I thought were aquatic plants but they were not. I have two of them in my filter that I just put in today. Should I add more? I have one amazon sword in the tank itself, maybe I should buy more? I really want to minimize how much ammonia/nitrites there are after cycling completes.
question Do you suppose the tank is somewhat cycled? After all, when the 55 was set up the only thing new was the tank itself. It was still using the same filters that were on the 10 and 20 gallons and the media has never been changed since like May. I thought a new filter might throw it into a mini-cycle but seems good so far.
question After doing a water change, how long should I wait to retest and expect different readings? I've been told that while Prime conditioner will temporarily detoxify ammonia into ammonia for about 24 hours it will still show up on the ammonia test.
So that's what it looks like now. I'm soaking some Mopani wood for the pleco so I'll probably have to take a couple of the larger plants out so it doesn't look too crowded.
[EDIT] I ended up rechecking the ammonia and nitrites and they were a bit higher than eariler so I guess I'll need to do at least 50% ;; Wah.
