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Hello! I'm at the end of week 3 for my new 15 gallon tank. The tank was definitely cycling but now it seems to have reached its end (at least I hope) but of course I just want confirmation as 3 weeks seem very fast (but I know its usually the minimum) and the 0 nitrates has given me doubts (but again I know its possible). Cyclig progress as follows: End of week 2 Am - 1.0-2.0 Nitrite - 0.25 Didn't test for nitrate End of week 3 (tested today) Am - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 0 (it seems, I tested it twice, just in-case I didn't shake the API bottles hard enough haha) Both time's I've tested it the day after doing an ~80 water change. Is this normal? Is the cycle finishing? or did I mess it up by doing too big of a water change? Its mainly the lack of nitrates that is concerning me, but my other tank, a 10 gallon cube that has been running for almost a year now also tests for 0 nitrates the past few months. Both tanks are heavily planted. I will test again tomorrow just to confirm and give it more time after a water change. Cheers

Ok cool, yep I'm using remineralised RO water.

I would give it a go with max. 10 to test it all out. Ensure you drip acclimate the new shrimps for as long as possible to give them the best chance! Pleased to hear getting the skimmer has solved one problem, make sure it is set up so no shrimp can get in to it though. I assume you have the RO water filter and are using that? Simon

Probably gonna get rid of it/clean it up and sell it. It’s an Aquaone lifestyle 29, one of those with built in filter, lights and hood. While it was a good beginner tank, I find It hard to maintain as the built-in features make it hard to get around the inside to clean and what not. Also the light doesn’t reach the back of the tank. Planning on getting a 5 gallon rimless tank in the future and starting a Caridina shrimp colony. Thinking Orange-eyed blue tigers.

It does sound and look like you have cycled the tank well. I imagine if there are lots of plants they are absorbing the nitrates. If you did the usual seeding from your other tank then it is quite possible to be cycled in less than the 3 weeks, possibly even a week. Did you seed from your other tank? What is your plan now? Do you know your parameters now? What will you then beusing the 7 gallon tank for? Simon

Ok so yesterday I tested the Ph at 12:45pm, it read 7.6. Then I did a water change (~20-30%). Today I tested the PH at 12:45pm , and it read 7.6. At 5pm I tested again to see if theres a difference, and this time I got 8.0/.1 Is this a problem? I've added a skimmer and it has solved the surface film issue ? Apart from my PH, the parameters are now: KH - 3 GH - 6 TDS - 160 Temp - 22/23 Should I reintroduce cherry shrimp and see how it goes?

Haha I sure hope so! I did not seed from another tank BUT I did use Aquaone Bio Starter which I forgot about and is what I'm thinking to be the probable the reason for the quick cycle. Just tested the rest of the parameters and they are as follows: Ph - 7.5 Am - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 0 GH - 7 Kh - 3 TDS - 171 My plan was to move in my 6 neons and 3 darwin algae shrimp from my small 7 gallon. I'm going to give it a couple more days first, testing for ammonia as I'm using some ADA Amazonia soil which I know should be leaching ammonia. But if its undetected, I am going to move my shrimp first, give it a week then move my neons in.

It does sound and look like you have cycled the tank well. I imagine if there are lots of plants they are absorbing the nitrates. If you did the usual seeding from your other tank then it is quite possible to be cycled in less than the 3 weeks, possibly even a week. Did you seed from your other tank? What is your plan now? Do you know your parameters now? Simon

Also Im an idiot and read my own dates wrong. This is the end of week 2 for the tank! So the first test results were the end of week 1 and the latest test results is end of week 2 (day 16 to be exact). So still even more speedy in this case!

Sorry to hear you only have 7 left. It may well end up they all die but at least then you can get everything sorted ready for a new batch. Be mentally preparing yorself for te fact that this batch probably will all die off but then you will have a chance to do it properly and don't feel too guilty as we all made mistakes at the start. Your TDS is way too high still and you really need to get the GH, KH and PH test kits so that you can get more of an overall picture of the water. It may also be that the tank wasn't cycled? When you change the water you should add the new water very slowly, usually the best method is to use a dripper of some kind! You can accelerate the rate of reducing the TDS by just using pure RO when you do the water change, but that could also prove too much for the shrimp if the new water is added too quickly and the shrimp may already be weakened from the time spent in the wrong water parameters. Are you still using RO filtered water using the filter that adds back minerals for drinking? I still think the zerowater jug would be your best bet as then you can still use the other RO water for drinking as well! Simon

Hello I have CRS shrimp tank and everyday 1 - 2 shrimp is dying I don't know why, my tds was high a bit but I'm getting lower tds slowy by change %15 every week now ( before add in tank put in water gh+ and make tds 140ppm) when I saw dead shrimp I think it's peace of shell on it, my tds is 260 ppm now, I will make it lower slowly. I did cycle my tank 2 week before add shrimps, I know it's very little, I didn't know. (sorry for my english btw) my paremeters now: tds: 260 temp: 24 degree I don't know other paremeters but I'm going to buy ph meter, what else can I do? I'm trying everyting, I don't want to my shrimps die anymore, I have left 7 shrimps. here is my shrimp photo after die: