Back In The Game!

[Harlequins]

Carbon lasts for on average around 3 days in your filter,the only use it may have is to remove medication out of the tank (if you ever treat the fish with meds) and to remove tannins if you use bogwood that hasn't been pre soak,so in in all you better off using more media in the filter instead.
nitrate remover isn't necessary had regular weekly water changes will remove this when you do tank maintainance

 

[mata]

Cool another question cleared up so I think my filter would originally be; think white wool on top, then carbon, nitrate layer, course layer then fine layer. Think I will go for white layer on top (which will be replaced now and again when clogged) then 2 layers course then 2 fine...sound like a plan?

 

[OldMan47]

Plants are indeed controversial in some respects. A plant can remove some of the ammonia as food and can easily make good use of nitrates. That means that the chemical measurements can be a bit harder to interpret when plants are present. The plants may also bring some of the beneficial bacteria in on them so all about them is not negative, plants have surfaces after all. Another factor that makes people not like plants during a fishless cycle is the lighting needs of the plants. Since plants demand lots of light, you may have a problem controlling algae. High light and nitrogen really encourages algae to grow. The low levels of ammonia that we use in our tanks, at only 5 ppm, will not harm plants.
Lots of factors to consider when deciding on using plants or not, the simple answer of use them or don't is just that, it is too simple and misses the fact that you and I may have very different opinions on the value of plants and the negative aspects of dealing with algae growth. For me the algae control may be too much work to even consider while for you the pleasant appearance of a planted tank may make the work seem worthwhile. Plants are a personal choice, there is no right and wrong.

 

[mata]

Thanks for that, well I have decided i won't be putting the plants in until the end of the cycle. That also gives me time to read up and study them a bit more before I commit to them. If I did it would hopefully be low maintenance plants (not sure what yet)

Wife just phoned sand ordered should be with me Tuesday night, and two packages came today, so just one more to come.

Will hopefully order the filters tomorrow, as its payday lol blew my extra end of the month money on all this stuff...oops

Thinking of buying this as the filter material Full Juwel Set Or This, This,
And This Instead, cheaper and more of what I want, but its not official Juwel, does that matter really?

So should hopefully have the tank up and running mid week next week... Delighted.

 

[mata]

Picked up some slate from a family members roof thats getting redone, so plan to make some caves at the weekend similar to the ones made by chrisbassist Picutre However, should I worry about sharp edges on the slate? and what type of silicone should I use? Does it matter?

Payday today aswell so will order my filters later on

Edit: Never mind about the silicone found some

 

[Harlequins]

I would try to smooth any jagged or sharp edges just in case any aquarium silicone will be fine

 

[mata]

Right this is where im at now.... Received: Sand, Filters including Cirax, Ammonia, Test Kit, Aquarium Sealant (for ornament) and got the slate. So alls good. Only waiting on a replacement part for my pump but could still go ahead with everything.

Got the tank set up in the flat, washed out sand and put in, theres about 2inces of water in it just now tho, its really yellowy and cloudy, so gona fill up and empty a few times I think. Will the filters take care of this cloudyness?

Will probably start my cycl on Saturday

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, new tank fills often result in cloudy or otherwise imperfect looking water but in most cases it doesn't matter. About the only thing to worry about at this early stage is just if you didn't really clean the gravel/sand sufficiently. Ideally at this stage you are preparing your glass box to be a container for "bacterial growing soup." You should not be preparing it to look good in the way it will later when its a running tank. The fishless cycling process can be messy and result in lots of algae if tank lights are turned on. The process can take a couple of months. Its after that couple of months that you'll be ready to drain the soup and set up a beautiful aquarium.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mata]

Well Tank is now filled sand has settled looking pretty clear, so I'm happy with that.

Now I'm putting my filter sponges together, not sure what order to put them in... Ive got 5 of the ccourse and 5 of the fine, and a CIRAX basket. Then for the top one of the white wool ones.

But how many and where of the blues?

these are a few variations i thought.

Thanks again for help!

 

[mata]

Well I bit the bullet and went ahead with the following, lower basket has the two fine layers then the cirax on top, the the upper has two of the course layers then the white ontop.

Are you supposed to was the cirax before you put it in? The water was pretty clear before I put it in, now I can see some white very fine dust flying out the exit of the pump.

I will be making my first Ammonia addition tomorrow once the water has settled in, and tap water has been lying for a day.

Heres the tank

Thanks again all.

 

[waterdrop]

Nice pics, I like the location!