I'm doing the cycle and you told me to get the tetra safe start but the lad from pet store told me to put a fish the tank to get the cycle going but I don't wanna just in case it harms the fish am I just best waiting till the tank cycled ? It just doing my head coz I'm getting told different things n what did you do with the tetra safe start did you put it all in or how did u do it
Cycle a new tank
- Thread starter Kazaw92
- Start date
April FOTM Photo Contest Starts Now!
🏆 Click to enter! 🏆
you can use the whole bottle of safe start. Don't put fish in until the tank is cycled. Ammonia and nitrite are very harmful to fish and you will end up doing big water changes every day or two just to keep the water safe.
See the link below for more details.
www.fishforums.net
See the link below for more details.
Cycle your Tank
Cycling a tank is vital to keeping your fish alive. This section is where you can read about cycling (the nitrogen cycle) and ask questions about how to do it properly.
www.fishforums.net
Yet more poor advice from a fish shop. Yes, it can be done this way but you have to do daily water changes and the fish will probably be harmed.
You need to be patient. The ammonia will drop when there are enough bacteria.
Can I check with you - what is the pH of your tap water after it has stood overnight; and what is the hardness of your tap water? [If your water company is Yorkshire Water, type your postcode in here https://www.yorkshirewater.com/water-quality/check-your-water-hardness/ and use the middle section ('check your water')]
We need a number and the unit.
The reason I ask is because the bacteria grow better with high pH and harder water, and with soft acidic water the cycle takes longer.
The reason we always ask for numbers is that words can be very misleading. Your water is right at the top end of soft as far as fish keeping is concerned.
There are 2 harness units used in fish keeping; some fish profiles use one while others use the other. This is why it is important to know your water's value in both of them.
57.6 mg/l calcium converts to 8 dH and 144 ppm. When choosing fish you need to select from those species which have your water hardness near the middle of their ranges; the best place for researching fish is https://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
With a GH of 8 dH, your KH should not be too low, it should be high enough for cycling. Check by testing pH whenever you test for the others. If it starts to fall, the KH is being used up. The filter bacteria need carbonate to help them multiply which is why I suggest keeping an eye on pH as an indicator of KH levels.
There are 2 harness units used in fish keeping; some fish profiles use one while others use the other. This is why it is important to know your water's value in both of them.
57.6 mg/l calcium converts to 8 dH and 144 ppm. When choosing fish you need to select from those species which have your water hardness near the middle of their ranges; the best place for researching fish is https://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
With a GH of 8 dH, your KH should not be too low, it should be high enough for cycling. Check by testing pH whenever you test for the others. If it starts to fall, the KH is being used up. The filter bacteria need carbonate to help them multiply which is why I suggest keeping an eye on pH as an indicator of KH levels.
Can I just check - what size is the tank?
Keep an eye on the pH and if it starts to fall at any point, do a water change. This will boost the KH back to tap water levels (and the pH will rise back again as well)
Keep an eye on the pH and if it starts to fall at any point, do a water change. This will boost the KH back to tap water levels (and the pH will rise back again as well)
That's fine. A lot of people out there think it's OK to keep goldfish in 25 litre tanks. Deanasue keeps goldfish, she'll be able to tell you how many orandas would be suitable for 130 litres/34 gallons.
I'm just worried if ive not done it right that's all about the cycle I've declorniated my water then added Dr Tim's ammonia but didn't use the one and only , but I've added the tetra safe start and the ammonia still same from day 1 or 2 and nearly 3 weeks now
Tttay89
Fish Fanatic
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2019
- Messages
- 153
- Reaction score
- 19
Yeah when I asked the fish shop if they done bottles of ammonia he just looked at me in discust or like I was a criminal and said why on earth do you want ammonia in your tank. Its pretty obvious what I wanted it for. I have lost many fish over the past years due to false advice from shops rather than this forum.
My tank took 7 weeks to cycle, a friend of mine took 9 weeks using the same method.
1.I added ammonia to result in 3ppm
2. Tested ammonia every 2 days until Nitrite showed and ammonia dropped.... This took 17 days for me
3. Checked ammonia daily and 'fed' the tank with ammonia to top up to 3ppm (only if it had dropped)
4. Tested daily ammonia and nitrite waiting for nitrite level to drop (it should have raised).. This took 2 weeks.
5. Then I topped the ammonia level to 2ppm daily untill exactly 24 hours later ammonia read 0
6. Water changes untill ammonia and nitrite are on 0 and nitrate is as low as you can (below 40ppm)
My tank took 7 weeks to cycle, a friend of mine took 9 weeks using the same method.
1.I added ammonia to result in 3ppm
2. Tested ammonia every 2 days until Nitrite showed and ammonia dropped.... This took 17 days for me
3. Checked ammonia daily and 'fed' the tank with ammonia to top up to 3ppm (only if it had dropped)
4. Tested daily ammonia and nitrite waiting for nitrite level to drop (it should have raised).. This took 2 weeks.
5. Then I topped the ammonia level to 2ppm daily untill exactly 24 hours later ammonia read 0
6. Water changes untill ammonia and nitrite are on 0 and nitrate is as low as you can (below 40ppm)
Most reactions
-
356 -
203 -
151 -
143 -
120 -
120 -
115 -
109 -
109 -
91 -
82 -
76 -
75 -
70 -
61
