Hi guys,
On my 2nd tank now, but never really "did it the correct way" with my first, so treating myself as a newbie and learning from scratch.
Had a 38gal tank running for 3 days now. No livestock, just plants. Added some Bio-start on day one, in the hopes of jump-starting the cycling process. Also added a few bits of food to start breaking down.
Did water tests last night, but didn't have time to wait the 20 mins for the Ammonia test to do its stuff, so checked the pH and nitrites. (Didn't get to do the nitrates before heading off to bed!)
Nitrites were at about 0.8, so is it safe to assume that my beneficial bacteria (seen an advert for those drinks on tv!) are doing their stuff with the ammonia, and that things are progressing nicely?
Reason for asking (you mean there is a reason?)...trying to keep tracks on what is happening in there, so that when I start adding fish I have some idea of what happens in that tank already - trying to play it safe with this tank as the other was more trial and error.
ALSO......once it has cycled once, should I start adding fish then? Or should I add some more food to cycle it again and build up the bacteria numbers before adding fish?
Cheers!
On my 2nd tank now, but never really "did it the correct way" with my first, so treating myself as a newbie and learning from scratch.
Had a 38gal tank running for 3 days now. No livestock, just plants. Added some Bio-start on day one, in the hopes of jump-starting the cycling process. Also added a few bits of food to start breaking down.
Did water tests last night, but didn't have time to wait the 20 mins for the Ammonia test to do its stuff, so checked the pH and nitrites. (Didn't get to do the nitrates before heading off to bed!)
Nitrites were at about 0.8, so is it safe to assume that my beneficial bacteria (seen an advert for those drinks on tv!) are doing their stuff with the ammonia, and that things are progressing nicely?
Reason for asking (you mean there is a reason?)...trying to keep tracks on what is happening in there, so that when I start adding fish I have some idea of what happens in that tank already - trying to play it safe with this tank as the other was more trial and error.
ALSO......once it has cycled once, should I start adding fish then? Or should I add some more food to cycle it again and build up the bacteria numbers before adding fish?
Cheers!
! If not hopefully it will answer some of your questions.
Sorry for the misunderstanding! I think I will leave this cycling business to the experts!
