Just Started Cycling My 29 Gallon Tank! Recommendations/tips Pleas

[gdoggy1678]

Hey guys i just started my new 29 gallon tank. It has a aqua clear 50 filter, a 100W aqueon heater, a hood with a 8000 light.
The first two days the tank ran with nothing added except de-chlorinizer. I tested my Tap water with the API master kit and it comes up just around a Ph of 8. Also today on day 3 i put about 4~5 ppm of pure ammonia from ace hardware to begin my fish less cycling.

Does all seem well so far? any tips or anything i may have missed?

So far the things i have on my list for fish are:
1x Powder blue dwarf gourami
5x Columbian Tetra
and maybe some bamboo/ ghost shrimp

Any one have any recommendations that will go well with these fish?

             ammonia             nitrite        nitrate
Day 1       ~4ppm                0.25ppm       ----
Day 2       ~4ppm                0.25ppm       ----
Day 3       ~4ppm                0.25ppm       ----
Day 4       ~4ppm                0.25ppm       ----
Day 5       ~4ppm                0.50ppm       ----
Day 10     ~4ppm                2.00ppm       ----
Day 12     ~.5-.25ppm           2-5ppm        40-80ppm 
Day 13     0.00ppm                -                 -        + ~3.5 ml of ammonia  
Day 14     0.00ppm            Off chart        80-160            +5ml ammonia
Day 15     0.00ppm            off chart        80-160              +5ml ammonia

 

[eaglesaquarium]

So far so good.


Some bottom dwellers would go nicely with that... corys are an excellent choice, IMHO.

 

[onidrase]

Could definitely up the numbers on your tetras, there. probably up to like 8 or 10. Bamboo shrimp need to have water flow in order to feed, so keep that in mind.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Could definitely up the numbers on your tetras, there. probably up to like 8 or 10. Bamboo shrimp need to have water flow in order to feed, so keep that in mind.

Opps ment to put red claw shrimp. The bleeding heart tetras are also starting to grow on me a little bit.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Just checked everything on the first official day and the Ammonia reading was ~4ppm, Nirites were about ~ .25ppm, and nitrates were 0ppm

Water is starting to form a nice whitish tint to it.

 

[onidrase]

Could definitely up the numbers on your tetras, there. probably up to like 8 or 10. Bamboo shrimp need to have water flow in order to feed, so keep that in mind.

Opps ment to put red claw shrimp. The bleeding heart tetras are also starting to grow on me a little bit.

I would stick to 1 large school of 1 species rather than 2 small schools of different species with a 29 gallon tank. I tried having multiple schools in mine, but it ended up looking way to cluttered. it does look a lot better with larger schools, and the fish will like it more too.

Bleeding heart tetras are my favorite of the tetra species, honestly, I love their pirate flaglike dorsal fin and the striking red dot on their body, they get bigger than most others of their species, as well.

Here's a suggestion in regards to stocking:

8 bleeding heart tetras
1 gourami
6 corydoras (might want smaller ones to keep them from potentially eating your shrimp)
x shrimp (never kept shrimp)

 

[gdoggy1678]

^ Thank you very much! That stock looks pretty awesome, I never really thought about the corydoras before.
I will definitely keep that stock in mind.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Been researching the corydoras and noticed that they prefer sand as there substrate, but I have already set mine up with rocks and don't really want to change it out. Will they be fine with the rocks or is there a different type of bottom dweller I should keep in mind? preferably something similar and that stay in groups.

 

[onidrase]

Been researching the corydoras and noticed that they prefer sand as there substrate, but I have already set mine up with rocks and don't really want to change it out. Will they be fine with the rocks or is there a different type of bottom dweller I should keep in mind? preferably something similar and that stay in groups.

I wouldn't suggest gravel for cories. I've always preferred sand, it costs the same or less, looks natural, and the fish tend to like it more.

I'm not sure what to put for bottom feeders with gravel, they all really do like sand more.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Allright so today has been just a little over a week, and it seems like almost all the readings are the same. Looks like ammonia is a little under 4.00ppm and nitrite is is just about 1.0ppm. Also the cloudiness in the water has disappeared and on the bottom of my intake tube it seems like there is a little bit of black debris forming. Is this a good or a bad sign?

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Allright so today has been just a little over a week, and it seems like almost all the readings are the same. Looks like ammonia is a little under 4.00ppm and nitrite is is just about 1.0ppm. Also the cloudiness in the water has disappeared and on the bottom of my intake tube it seems like there is a little bit of black debris forming. Is this a good or a bad sign?

You may not see anything for a couple of weeks, but keep at it, it WILL happen

With regards to your "black debris", ensure that it is not something man made that shouldn't be in there and it is not blocking your filter intake. Failing that, it's probably some sort of algae.. the conditions you are trying to create can and will cause all sorts of different algae and growths to form, perfectly natural and not normally something to worry about.

Terry.

 

[HayzH]

just to double check...you cycle with the light off

 

[gdoggy1678]

Thanks for the response guys ill just keep at it!

Also should I keep my bubble bar on? or should i not have it on during the cycle?

 

[gdoggy1678]

Allright just test today which I believe is day 10 and the tests are getting kind of confusing. It seems like ammonia is just a little under 4ppm but now my nitrite is just about 2ppm. Were is the nitrite coming from if it dosent seem like any ammonia is being processed. Im guessing the ammonia is processing but my eyes are just deceiving me.

 

[gdoggy1678]

Allright todays readings (Day 12) are in. Ammonia is in between .50ppm and .25 ppm so i would expect to maybe be able to redose ammonia within the next two days. Both nitrite and nitrate are hard to read but it seems like nitirite is between 2-5ppm and ammonia is very red it doesn't even really appear on the nitrate chart maybe between 40-80ppm. Does it seem like things are fine so far?