56 Gallon Cycle With Seeded Media...

[KISSfn]

l had to because I had reached the end, the end of my rope!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I understand.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Just picked up some Mopani and a background - $37! Oh well, I think that they will look great when I have them in place. The Mopani is currently soaking. I'll be pouring boiling water over it a bunch of times... I'm hoping to be able to add it to the tank soon. I have two pieces that I am going to be tying together and setting up in the back right corner of the tank, it will add even more height to that section of that tank. I am thinking that I will put the first piece on top of the large stone to the right, and then the second piece will stick up almost straight from there. I'm hoping it looks as good in the tank, as it does in my head!


Now, I am going outside to beat up some pieces of slate that I have, in an effort to create small "caves" for the future apistogrammas I will add (probably). If not, then I've lost nothing but a few calories.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Evening update:

NH3: 0.5 ppm (good news), NO2: off the scale (bad news?)


In other news, I did add some slate to the tank. I've created a couple little caves in the back. Pics below:
Front view:

Side view:

Top View: (sorry for the quality - it was hard to get a clear picture without a flash, and with the water moving)

 

[CrazyAirborne]

its coming along! youre almost there!!! i read these logs and i cringe, thinking about how long it takes some people to cycle. I went the heavy planted route right off the bat, and had the plants keep my lvls in check until my filter "silent cycled". i let the plants grow in and settle for a couple weeks (like 2) and then added fish and havent had a problem since.


keep ur head up tho! its going to be worth it!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

thanks Airborne!

Morning update:

NH3: 0ppm, NO2: 5ppm, temp 82F, redosed to 2.5ppm.

I'm hoping to see the nitrite fall off soon.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

12 hour testing revealed something odd...


pH: jumped from its last reading at 7.2 to 7.8 or so.

NH3: 0ppm
NO2: 5ppm
NO3: N/A
temp: 83F


So, it might be possible that the large rocks I added to the tank might be adding something to the water to raise the pH. I just checked the kH and gH... They remain steady for now at kH: 3, gH: 5.




(The mopani is not currently in the tank... it is still soaking elsewhere.)

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Looks like your nearly there now!! Wooo hoo!! I don't think I would have had the patience to wait as long as you have to cycle a tank.

A++++++ for patience

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Thanks SABF,

There are some folks who have done them recently and they have taken far longer than my has. I'm at about 36 days total. Some have taken up to 100 days or so...


This morning's result is actually very good news though, the N-bacs are starting to catch up... finally!


pH: 7.6, NH3: 0ppm, NO2: 2-5ppm (I'm not sure which it is, but it definitely took longer to get to a not as dark a purple reading this morning. I am guessing it may be closer to 2 than 5. Hopefully this will continue and the 24 hour reading tomorrow will show 0 (or close to it) for nitrites!, NO3: N/A, temp 83F.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well nitrite seems to be catching up finally. I wouldn't be surprised to see my first double zero at 24 hours either tomorrow morning or the next day. Things should go fast from here, I think.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, I just got word from my fish store... My first batch of fish will be arriving at their store next Tuesday. Giving them a few days to settle in, and based on my work schedule (the store is a 4 hour drive - round trip), I will be heading out to pick them up next Thursday.

The first ones will be: Trigonostigma espei.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Updated my sig tonight. I just added a few plants... 2 Amazon swords - we'll see how they do with the lighting I have. And two anubias that I've tied on to the driftwood. I still need to put the backdrop on - that is going to be tricky, I don't have a lot of room between the wall and the tank.


12 hour test tonight indicated 0.50ppm NH3 and about 2ppm NO2. I have very high hopes for the morning that both NH3 and NO2 will be zero!

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Your tank is coming on great!! It looks totally different.

Good to see your finally getting some fish in

It shouldnt be too tricky to get the back drop in, the only thing I found tricky was to slide it behind the wires. But a second pair of hands makes light work of it. I really should put a pic of my tank on the sig. It's taking alot of work keeping parameters safe.

Have you decided on what your centre piece fish is going to be?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I've haven't really decided on a "center piece" fish. Each of the fish species I am planning on is awesome in its own right, but smallish. The T. espei (lambchop) that I have ordered only grow to about 1.5 inches. However, they are more colorful than the larger T. heteromorpha (harlequin rasbora) that are so much more popular. Look at the different coloration between the espei and heteromorpha. Big difference.

Lambchop (T. espei)

Harlequin (T. heteromorpha)

Next are the corydoras. Again, I worked really hard to find the perfect mix of size and coloring. I like the smaller species, because that allows me to get more individuals and the animals can show off more of their "natural" behavior (at least I as understand it). The dwarf cories are far more interesting looking than the other two smaller species of corys and spend far more time in the bottom of the tank. Notice that the habrosus has the traditional cory shape, while the others don't really have it quite the same. The others also spend much more time in the mid-water than the habrosus. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get the habrosus for several months. They aren't in at the fish store where I am getting the T. espei, nor are they available for that store to order just now.

Salt and Pepper corys (corydoras habrosus)

pygmy corys (corydoras pygmaeus)

corydoras hastatus

My next big decision is which of the other shoaling varieties I am going to go with. They have to be peaceful and calm enough not to spook the other fish. Five banded barbs might be a bit too low in the tank. Black Phantom Tetras might be a bit nippier than I need. Bloodfin tetras might be too big for the rasboras. I'm starting to think guppies, believe it or not.


Then there is the cichlids... They look so great, but I'm not sure if having them in my tank breeding would be dangerous to the corys or not. I've still got months to go before all this matters. I still could go with some honey gourami or something similar. Maybe even bleeding heart tetra, they are bigger, but aren't very active. Months from now, who knows what direction this will end up going. Maybe I don't need a "center piece" as long as each piece is interesting enough in its own right.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Oooo very interesting . I'm a little annoyed that I inherited some fish from a friend. It leaves very little stocking that I actually want.

I havn't yet tested my hardness of my water. My ph is 7.4 so I was looking for 6 yellow rainbow fish once my tank has cycled. However I'm not so sure whether my tank will be over stocked.

Once it has cycled I may ask the experienced hobbyist what they think.