1St Topic And After Advice

[Miles_hot]

The ammonia is probably coming from the dead bits of the plants?
I would change the u1 filter for a u2 because:
It has two chambers for media so if you ever have to replace some you can stagger it rather than facing a new cycle
It is more powerful meaning that your chances of algae are reduced
Why cycle one filter and then have to upgrade?

I'm terms of the plants you should be aware that some plants don't enjoy the elevated doses of ammonia used in the fishes cycle- so be prepared for this.

 

[Brett_dale]

well we returned from todays shopping trip with some java moss, a small root to attach the moss to, some more cabomba and java fern.

all planted up and looking as nice as a fresh plant can i guess.

We also returned with an API ammonia testing kit, our tanks between the 4 and the 8 ppl closer to the 8, this is despite cleaning out the plants as much as possible (hitchhiking snails have remained). i guess at least i know we have ammonia in the tank

 

[coldcazzie]

Is that between 4 and 8 with ammonia dosing or just with plants decaying?

If you want to be very heavily planted eventually, then I would recommend splashing out on lots of plants now and doing a silent cycle instead of phaffing about with a fishless cycle. Have a read up and see what you think. There's a link to PARC in my sig

 

[Brett_dale]

4-8 without ammonia dosing.
we just had a full test done at the local P@H.

ph 7.5
ammonia as we said 4-8 closer to 8
nitrite was around the 2 mark
nitrate was around the 5 mark.

seems to be were getting started, but they didnt seem to understand the concept of a fishless cycle there and recommended restarting with fresh water as they thought it would take months for the ammonia to drop down. my thinking was to change 50% to bring it down to 4ppm, thanks for the link cazzie ill read up on that now.

 

[coldcazzie]

No, they wouldn't. Unless you're a member of a forum like this then its pretty much unheard of. Ignore them.

Although it might be better if you got your own test kits. Going down to the store every time you want your water testing is a little impractical. Yes a 50% change would probably be good

 

[Brett_dale]

water change done, down to 4ppm now.

Full test kit will be purchased, we just started of with ammonia one.

 

[Brett_dale]

and were back up to 8ppm

will do another plant clean up and 50% water change, on the plus side my plants have started to pick up and show new growth so im hoping the water wont jump back up to 8ppm to much more.

Stocking wise iv been taking on the advice iv been recieving and ill be looking at 1 or 2 dwarf cichlids and 5 or so threadfin rainbows

 

[Brett_dale]

I have a question



The wife has decided that she would now like a sand substrate , this i guess would mean a 50% or so drain (for ease), stripping the plants out, removing gravel, placing sand, replanting and then semi restarting my cycle as i will have lost bacteria from the gravel.

Is this going to affect my plants, i originally wanted to go with sand as from what i understand its better for planting, just concerned that removing the plants so soon after planting might cause problems.

now we come to the topic of gas pockets in the sand, searched the site a little and im wondering will cheapo play sand really be a worse choice than aquarium sand, also my planned stock list includes the cockatoo apisto, the shoaling fish is undecided atm, possibly threadfins or black widow tetras (all in appropriate numbers to not overstock) do you think these will disturb the sand enough if not is it a simple case of disturbing the sand once or twice a wk.

Many thanks Brett

 

[fluttermoth]

You won't have to restart your cycle; 99% of all the beneficial bacteria lives in the filter, not in the tank. At most you'll get a tiny blip.

I have playsand in my tanks and it's perfectly alright. If the sand is massively thick (like over four or five inches) it can suffer from anaerobic pockets, but they're harmless anyway.

Your apistos would love the sand, and you can always get some Malaysian trumpet snails which will turn it over for you.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Your plants will not have established a good root system yet so now IS the time if you want to change substrate. Dont panic about loosing bacteria, the majority of those are in your filter NOT in the gravel or tank water.

Make sure you wash the sand realy realy well before using it. You wont regret it as sand looks so cool.

Tom

 

[Brett_dale]

any idea how much sand it would take for 24l*12d and is argos play sand acceptable stuff at £2.99 per 15kg, might have an afternoon project approaching.

 

[Blubble37]

just remember that with tapwater you wont cut it down to half by doing a 50% change because the tapwater often has ammonia in (ours has 0.1 ppm in) so you will probably get a result like 4.5 ppm or summat

 

[fluttermoth]

I have the Argos playsand and it's fine. Just do really, really wash it, as the other members have mentioned. One bag will do your tank easily.

 

[Brett_dale]

wow your right it looks so much better with the sand, also managed to scape my plants n root system a lot better, well pleased with it now

 

[Brett_dale]

ammonia is back up to 8 ppm again, seems i do a water change to get down to 4ppm and 4 days or so later im back up at 8ppm. The tiny adult snails have been removed, but i have noticed there are a few baby ones in there today.


From talking to a few ppl it appears that hitting 8ppm with no fish in the tank isnt right?
heres how the tank is looking atm (requested to see how many plants are in there), will do another change today possibly change all the water and see what happens.

(excuse the reflections and glare its a quick snap)

(edit:hosted pic at different site, appears it wasnt working)