It sounds like that bin saved you a serious flood. I need to start doing something like that but never think about doing it when my filters are out for cleaning. Actually I would need to get them a day or two ahead of a filter cleaning I guess.
Tropical_fish's Fishless Cycle - Complete
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Tropical_Fish
Fishaholic
The bins have been really good - I got two, one for the water changes (and I store the syphon pipes, dechlorinator, gravel vac, net etc in there when it's not being used - and one for the filter to sit in. Just had to cut a hole in the lid for the pipes to come out of, but it really quietens down the filter - I've also been thinking of surrounding the filter with foam to deaden the sound even further - It doesn't seem to give off any heat and there doesn't seem to be any vents to block etc.
Anyway
Tests this morning:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ish
The second water change and filter emptying hasn't effected the bateria
Fish going in tomorrow - less than a month after I started so not too bad
Anyway
Tests this morning:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ish
The second water change and filter emptying hasn't effected the bateria
Fish going in tomorrow - less than a month after I started so not too bad
Not bad at all TF. Congratulations.
Tropical_Fish
Fishaholic
We now have 5 male guppies in the tank
and here is a pic showing one of the guppies:
and here is a pic showing one of the guppies:
He sure is a pretty snake chest TF.
Tropical_Fish
Fishaholic
Checked water last night to make sure everything is OK.
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate - less than 40ppm
pH - 7.6
So my Nitrate has risen a little - what is the maximum safe value before a 25% water change is neccessary?
My pH has also risen - which seems odd with me having three pieces of bogwood in there. Is this pH ok for guppies?
When I went to them last night I was a little worried as they were all sitting still on the bottom, but turning on the light soon had them swimming around. I was only worried because they had been so active all day.
I have had to turn the filter output around to face the glass as it was too much for them when it pointed across the tank.
Finally how much should I feed them?
I gave them a single flake of Aquarian Tropical Fish food which I crumbled up. They ate every single bit of that.
I also have some frozen blood worm as a treat for once a week - that is split into cubes but they seem quite big - do I feed them a whole cube or do I try and cut that down into say quarters?
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate - less than 40ppm
pH - 7.6
So my Nitrate has risen a little - what is the maximum safe value before a 25% water change is neccessary?
My pH has also risen - which seems odd with me having three pieces of bogwood in there. Is this pH ok for guppies?
When I went to them last night I was a little worried as they were all sitting still on the bottom, but turning on the light soon had them swimming around. I was only worried because they had been so active all day.
I have had to turn the filter output around to face the glass as it was too much for them when it pointed across the tank.
Finally how much should I feed them?
I gave them a single flake of Aquarian Tropical Fish food which I crumbled up. They ate every single bit of that.
I also have some frozen blood worm as a treat for once a week - that is split into cubes but they seem quite big - do I feed them a whole cube or do I try and cut that down into say quarters?
Guppies will be fine up to at least 8.0 pH. The usual advice for nitrates is to try to keep them from climbing more than about 20 ppm above the value of your tap water. If your tap is at 60 that would mean a maximum of 80 but if your tap water is only 10 you would try to stay below 30 ppm. We really use the nitrates to judge how much of all kinds of poisons and impurities are building in the tank so it is more a case of knowing how much it is growing. For most fish, the actual toxic levels of nitrates are very high but the 20 ppm rise is a good indicator for all the things that we don't measure.
Tropical_Fish
Fishaholic
It must be edging towards needing a water change then.
My tap water is slightly lighter than 20ppm, my tank is a bit lighter than 40ppm. (and they say the API is accurate - I'd hate to use anything less accurate!!)
I'll leave them a few more days to make sure they are fully settled .
They seem very happy, been very active again today - I think I was just surprised at how they rest when the lights go out and it's dark in the room.
Just not 100% sure how much to feed them at the moment.
So far I gave them a single flake (crumbled) yesterday which they gobbled down between them. Then today I gave them a quarter of a cube of bloodworm. They ate all the blood worm none of it had any chance to get to the bottom. All the fish except the orange guppy ate bloodworm. The orange one tried to eat it but get spitting it back out.
My tap water is slightly lighter than 20ppm, my tank is a bit lighter than 40ppm. (and they say the API is accurate - I'd hate to use anything less accurate!!)
I'll leave them a few more days to make sure they are fully settled .
They seem very happy, been very active again today - I think I was just surprised at how they rest when the lights go out and it's dark in the room.
Just not 100% sure how much to feed them at the moment.
So far I gave them a single flake (crumbled) yesterday which they gobbled down between them. Then today I gave them a quarter of a cube of bloodworm. They ate all the blood worm none of it had any chance to get to the bottom. All the fish except the orange guppy ate bloodworm. The orange one tried to eat it but get spitting it back out.
Tropical_Fish
Fishaholic
Well everything seems to be stable and going well!
I ended up getting more fish, I now have
The 5 original male guppies,
1 New Lyretail male guppy
1 male mickey mouse platy
1 male red wag platy
1 female red wag platy
1 female white platy
So by the measurements it's not fully stocked yet, I would like some kind of bottom feeder but will have to research first. From advice on the forums I can't find any suitable bottom feeder! (suggestions welcome) I have very smooth rounded gravel but some of it gets large - largest being about 10mm most more like 5mm. I'm not keen on the look of sand so would prefer to find a fish suited to gravel rather than change the gravel. The fish shop told me they'd all be fine!
I've continued to monitor my levels in the water, I've only seen 0 for ammonia and nitrite. My pH hasn't budged - it's on the top of the low range and the bottom of the high range. So that should make it around 7.5 somewhere. My Nitrate is sticking at between 15 and 20 (15 after partial water change - 20ish at the end of the week)
So to me all looks good.
I'm feeding the fish twice a day. They get defrosted bloodworm once a week in place of one of the feeds - the rest of the time they get tropical fish flakes. For the 10 fish they get 7 or 8 flakes cushed smaller and sprinkled over the tank surface (twice a day) They always eat all the food.
Temperature wise - I'm not quite sure what the temp is set at! I've set the heater to 24 degrees, the thermometer says 27 degrees. The thermometer never seems to fluctuate and is at the other end of the tank to the heater (I have moved it around and get the same value everywhere). The heater comes on and off as expected.
I've got no signs of algae and never did (even during the fishless cycle)
Does everything sound correct
I ended up getting more fish, I now have
The 5 original male guppies,
1 New Lyretail male guppy
1 male mickey mouse platy
1 male red wag platy
1 female red wag platy
1 female white platy
So by the measurements it's not fully stocked yet, I would like some kind of bottom feeder but will have to research first. From advice on the forums I can't find any suitable bottom feeder! (suggestions welcome) I have very smooth rounded gravel but some of it gets large - largest being about 10mm most more like 5mm. I'm not keen on the look of sand so would prefer to find a fish suited to gravel rather than change the gravel. The fish shop told me they'd all be fine!
I've continued to monitor my levels in the water, I've only seen 0 for ammonia and nitrite. My pH hasn't budged - it's on the top of the low range and the bottom of the high range. So that should make it around 7.5 somewhere. My Nitrate is sticking at between 15 and 20 (15 after partial water change - 20ish at the end of the week)
So to me all looks good.
I'm feeding the fish twice a day. They get defrosted bloodworm once a week in place of one of the feeds - the rest of the time they get tropical fish flakes. For the 10 fish they get 7 or 8 flakes cushed smaller and sprinkled over the tank surface (twice a day) They always eat all the food.
Temperature wise - I'm not quite sure what the temp is set at! I've set the heater to 24 degrees, the thermometer says 27 degrees. The thermometer never seems to fluctuate and is at the other end of the tank to the heater (I have moved it around and get the same value everywhere). The heater comes on and off as expected.
I've got no signs of algae and never did (even during the fishless cycle)
Does everything sound correct
Lampshade444
New Member
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I've really enjoyed reading sofar! Congrats on your new Fish!
I would ease the temperature down a degree or two for those fish. 27 is a bit on the high side really, especially for the bottom dwellers that you are looking for. Your stocking looks like all that I would want in the tank for a couple of weeks until I had the chance to monitor the nitrate build. If you can control nitrates easily with 20 or 30% water changes, you could get a few nice cories or something similar. Bristle nose plecs, another popular bottom dweller, really need some wood in their diet so unless you are ready to place bog wood in the tank I would hold off on them.
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