125 Litre Fluval Roma Newbie

[SteveJH]

Hi There,

I have been running the above mentioned tank on a fishless cycle with several different live plants in the tank from the start, it has been going for 10 days now and I have added the water safe (from the start) some nutrafin cycle and now some plant food. I would like to start adding some fish but I don't want to be adding them too early, I haven't added any ammonia or any pH changing supplements.

These are my test results from earlier this week,
PH - 7.8
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm

Now is this an ok stage to add some hardy fish or do I need to stick with the fishless cycle for a bit longer, sorry I'm a bit new to this and didn't go this in depth with my previous tank a 35 litre in which we had a single betta.

Also just noticed what I thought was bits of plant floating in the tank is infact ALOT of snails which must have come on the plants! Is this a good or a bad thing??

Thanks in advance,
Steve

 

[The Taffy Apple]

I would continue a fishless cycle..but try and use household ammonia (have a look at the great link in my signature below). Using fish food could work, but difficult to do. A liquid based test kit is also a must at this stage.
You haven't bought any fish yet and seem to have the patience not to do so... well done. Use this to your advantage.
Great sized tank you have there, look forward to pictures when it's complete

 
Terry.
 
#Edit# Don't worry about the snails, they came in with any real plant/s you may had added.
           Any product that states it can help your PH are practically useless. Maintaining a good PH by getting it as near as your tapwater is the key here.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

I suggest you take a look here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/ paying particular attention to the cycling section which explains the process.

Generally the cycle bottles you can buy are considered to be a bit of a waste of time and money but the cycling section explains all you need to do. If you follow this you can't go too far wrong.

 

[KirkyArcher]

Started my fish introduction to the tank (also a 125 Roma) after a week using the water treatments you have used, was advised to select a hardy species like Cherry barb, I got 5 and also put 4 amano shrimp in at the same time, all are still with me and doing well! I hate snails in my tank, their existence in your tank is not a big problem, I just don't like them clagged onto my glass, it's always worth while paying special attention to newly acquired plants, I always leave mine in tap water for about 4 hours remove all material that the plants are potted in / wrapped up with, and finally give them a good swirl around in the water before removing any leaves that are showing signs of being in a poor state of health!

 

[RCA]

Lovely looking set up, well done, look forward to seeing it complete.
Are all of your plants real?
 
Re: snails, I got some Assassin Snails and now I never see any pest snails in my planted aquariums.  They do breed, very slowly, but to be honest spend most of their time buried in the substrate, especially during the day.  If you ever feel you get too many of the Assassins your LFS will usually take them from you.  I found them beneficial as I stocked all my tanks with the initial batch so am not bothered about the newbies.  Of course the other way is just get one, but it would take awhile for them to work through your pest snails.

 

[Atsy]

I have snails in my tank on purpose to help with algae and detritus.  Lots of people don't like them though.  They are fine with me but if you want to get rid of them w/o getting assassin snails you could put some lettuce in a small plastic soda bottle with a hole in the lid (big enough for the snails to get in) and leave it over night.  The snails should go into the bottle to eat the lettuce and you can remove them that way.
 
I'd add enough ammonia to bring your tank water up to 4 ppm and then test again in 24 hours and go from there as the cycling threads suggest, IMO.
 
Edit:  You can find some driftwood on aquabid.com; since I don't know where you are located!  I like the look of your tank!  What are you going to put in it?