Am I Doing Things Right?

[DukeMagnum]

Ok, I got a tank in march of last year. It's a 30 gallon tank and I posted here about it shortly after getting it. Almost a year later, I'm ready to start getting it up. At the time, I wanted to grow some live plants in the tank. Now I don't think I do. Figuring out lighting and stuff was giving me a headache, and it sounded costly. When I read that some plants would have to be trimmed, and some would do a ton of growing and spread from the initial planting, I gave that idea up for now. That's a bit much for me. A few days ago I ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon and a couple other sites so I could get started. Here is what I am working with:

30 gallon tank w/hood and lighting
AquaClear 70 Power Filter -- it's rated for tanks 40 - 70 gallons (300GPH)
150 watt heater w/thermostat
Freshwater Master Test Kit (tests pH, high range pH, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite)
Digital thermometer (w/probe for reading temperature remotely)
Tetra Whisper Air Pump (rated for a 40 gallon tank)
Silicon Tubing
Air Stone
Tetra AquaSafe Water conditioner w/BioExtract

I got some other stuff too, but it isn't really important stuff as far as figuring out whether I'm doing things properly (a sinking piece of African wood, play sand for a substrate, black background, a few silk plants).

Now, the stuff should be here on Monday or Tuesday, and I plan on doing a fishless cycle... so, if I understand correctly I need to do the following:

-Set up the tank
-Add water
-Add water conditioner
-Add enough ammonia to raise the ammonia levels in the water to 5ppm
-Test to verify that the levels are at 5ppm
-Wait till the ammonia level goes to 0 then boost it to 4ppm
-Begin testing the nitrite level
-Wait for the ammonia to drop to 0, then boost it back to 4ppm
-Repeat this till it drops to 0 in around 12 hours
-Test for nitrates to verify that the nitrites are being processed
-When the nitrites are gone within 12 hours of adding more ammonia the tank is cycled
-Clean the algae from the tank walls and do a 90% water change (this time adding the water conditioner before adding the water to the tank)
-Keep adding ammonia till I get the fish so the bacteria I've built doesn't die

Is that about it? I thought I'd leave the plants, wood, and rock out at first and then add them during the water change. After I have the tank cycled, can I remove the air stone? Or will I still need to to provide more oxygen to the tank?

I've also been thinking about fish... and I thought that I would get something along the lines of this:

-two relatively small species of fish that swim in schools (1-2 inches)
-two slightly larger fish of the same species (3-4 inches)
-one single fish from another species (3-4 inches)
-another single fish from another species (3-4 inches)
-possibly a lobster (I saw a few different species that didn't get larger than 4-5 inches)

Is that too much?

 

[kporteo]

As for your fishless cycle, i think you've summarised it pretty well! Once you have your first 5-0ppm drop in ammonia, youl need to start testing for nitrite, youl get a spike of this,literally off the chart, once this happens you only need to raise your ammonia to 2-3ppm, once your nitrite drops to 0 the first time, raise your ammonia back up to 4ppm each time...then its just testing till you get 12 hr turn around on both.

When I did my cycle, i put all my decor in the tank, apart from plants, very little, but some bacteria do grow on them, and the more bacs the better!

As for your fish, normally small shoaling fish eg Tetras, like to be in groups of 6 or more, so id maybe research this a little. And, the general rule of thumb is 1 inch of adult size fish per gallon of water. So you may be overstocking going on your suggestions.

K

 

[Skins]

Hello DM,
have a good read of this well written thread on fishless cycling, will also be good for you to fall back on whilst cycling.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/352862-your-fishless-cycle-the-do-and-do-not-list/

Keith.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with K and Keith. Have a read of the various guides and writeups we have and also read some real fishless cycling logs (easy to find hundreds of them as most have the words fishless cycle in their title and you can search our section on that.) The process has enough pitfalls that it helps to have feedback from others as you go along, not to mention encouragement since it can take a month or two and is very unpredictable on an individual basis.

Welcome back to the beginners section!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gvilleguy]

As for your fishless cycle, i think you've summarised it pretty well! Once you have your first 5-0ppm drop in ammonia, youl need to start testing for nitrite, youl get a spike of this,literally off the chart, once this happens you only need to raise your ammonia to 2-3ppm, once your nitrite drops to 0 the first time, raise your ammonia back up to 4ppm each time...then its just testing till you get 12 hr turn around on both.

K

Thanks for this, K. That is the clearest explanation I have seen of when to drop ammonia dosing and raise it back up. I just modified a fishless cycle guide I've been working on to reflect your recommendation.

 

[DukeMagnum]

Thank you guys for the help, but I have a couple more questions...

So I got the tank set up, the sand cleaned up super nicely so when I filled the tank everything was crystal clear. However, I couldn't find any ammonia that I could use to start my cycle. It all has surfacants listed. I found one that didn't list that and I shook it and it foamed, so I didn't get that either. I was going to look for some again today, but I've already had a setback.

My filter arrived with what is apparently shipping damage, although the box was undamaged. Anyway, the filter case is cracked pretty good... beyond the point of just using it anyway. Hagen, the manufacturer, won't do anything about shipping damage, which is pretty disappointing considering there's about a dollar worth of plastic in the piece I need. So I'll have to ship it back to Amazon and then get another shipped out.

But what I was wondering is this: will the dechlorinated water sitting in the tank be ok just kind of sitting there for a few days? Or will I have to change the water and start over?

 

[Aqua Tom]

The water will be fine.