Too Good To Be True

[SpaceCakeGirl]

Tank Stats:

29 gallon

2 2.5" goldies

penguin biowheel 200 and whisper 10 (combined 29 gph)

feed the fishies three times a day (I want to Pump Them Up )

My tank JUST cycled a few weeks ago and I'm still figuring out what kind of water change schedule I need to be on. So I'm looking through my fish diary (yes, I'm a geek) and this is what it says:

2/6 - tank cycled

2/12 - nitrites at .5, changed 40% water

2/16 - 2 gallon gravel vac cleanup

2/21 - 2 gallon gravel vac cleanup

2/26 - 4 gallon gravel vac cleanup

Since the 12th, my ammonia and nitrites have been reading 0. I use the dropper test tubey testers.

Can this be right? I realize I'm just coming off an uncycled overstocked small tank but it still seems crazy that I only changed 8 gallons of water in two weeks.

[Zelanie]

What are your nitrates reading?

[SpaceCakeGirl]

between 5 and 10

[Trinket]

Biowheels are wonderful things !

Also you are not officially overstocked with 2 small fish in a 29. What this means is you have created a balance with your regualar feeding schedule-ammonia produced and broken down by the beneficial bacteria growing in the biowheel. This is not permanent however, because various factors for example fluctuating pH and temperature can affect the life of your beneficial bacteria family.You need to keep checking and you will also need to increase your filtration later as the fish grow, to a gph 3 x what it is now. Also changing water is not just to remove nitrites and ammonia but also as Nenn suggests to bring down nitrates, and to introduce new freshly oxygenated water.

Anyway congratulations on cycling, that is a memorable hurdle to jump .