CYCLING?!?!?!

[FlareBettaGuy]

Gee, thanks! So you're saying that if I just get a couple of handfulls of gravel from an established tank and a bit of water and put it into my tank, it will be cycled? Gee, that's easy! Alright! Oh, and I already have gravel. I just said that I was going to get some MORE gravel from an established tank. But that doesn't mean that I don't have any gravel to begin with. How do you think I hold my plants down?? Scotch tape? Okay, i'll do daily water changes until I can get my hands on the matured gravel. Thanks everyone!

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

My friend cleans the gravel every week, though. Seriously, he cleans it very hard, running through the gravel vigorously with a net. All the poo and debris would all rise and fly out cause it's not clean, and the bacteria must go with it too. So the bacteria must be in the filter, but they change the filter sponge every week too. So I don't know if the tank is cycled or not, nor how they keep the fish alive when they clean the gravel like that, but I do know that their gravel is likely of no use. Another option is the pet store. But then again, I don't know if THIER tanks are cycled either. Their tanks only have a small part of gravel filled in an uncovered plastic box. The gravel is in the tank, just not everywhere and spread out, but in an uncovered box. And they seem to use the gravel in the uncovered box as the gravel they sell. So the bacteria there could be gone too. I hate all this unsureness...I want to feel secure and be sure that the gravel will help, but I just don't know. I'll have to try to find out...

 

[mashimaro_0000]

you friends sure have plenty of time to clean up the gravel.... it's a one hour job for me. hummm no.... don't ever take out your gravel of a weekly cleaning.... it does not help any thing. if you want to celan your gravle. try those gravel vaccum. those stuff readys "sucks" up your crap. go for all size of tanks. the only time your clean your gravel is when your tank is about 2-3 months old.

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

Okay, here's the update. The guppies are still doing fine, but i'm getting the feeling that they don't get enough food. I put a bunch of grains in, but most of them will just drop into the gravel. These guppies seem to prefer to eat in mid water, which is very hard to make sure they eat everything. I never really saw them eat a lot before, just a few grains in mid water. And a lot of the food is getting stuck in the filter sponge, so i'm going to have to clean the filter tomorrow. Today, I did a water change. Whenever I stir up the gravel a little, I see some poop strings and some grains of food. Like I said before, I will go to the LFS soon to get some matured gravel, but until then, the best I could do is daily water changes. The guppies have a weird habit of swimming up and down repeatedly, mostly in the right corner of the tank. Well, that's it for now, I guess...

 

[mashimaro_0000]

you feed them flakes or pallets flakes will stay on top of the water , which they love it. when you sitr the grave and you see a sort of crap... thats normal to me, your tank still needing some good decomposing bacteria? they swim is alost a good sign, it will be bad when they don't. they like to stick at the right corner... is your sponge filter is at the left of the tank?

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

It's not pellets OR flakes...it's kinda like different colored sand, except not as fine. Still pretty small, though. I just put a few pinches of it in. It even says guppy food on the container and also has a picture of a fancy guppy on it. When I put it in, it will stay at the top for a few seconds, then suddenly drop down, fast. I sure hope that the guppies are willing to look on the bottom for food, too...

The filter is on the left, but in the back. The guppies swim up and down on the right front side. But they just do that sometimes. The filter doesn't seem to be bothering them, cause they go near the filter, too, and swim everywhere. I'm just saying that they will occationally go to the right front corner and swim up and down for a while. They are still doing fine, no signs of ammonia bothering them...YET.....hope they they can hang in there until Saturday...

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

Well accually, the filter does have a sort of a current. A very small one. You can't really see it, but you can see little ripples on the top of the water where the water pours down from te filter. And when the guppies go near it, they seem to be drived back a little by the current. When I put it on the right side for a while, they swam against the current, and they were slow, and then they would swiw with the current and go fast. They would do that a lot of times. They are usually on the right side of the tank. The current isn't that much of a problem, is it? Do guppies hate currents?

 

[mashimaro_0000]

possibly you had food in that corner?? cuz they can remember differents spot that can store food. well try flakes, the sandy stuff you gave them seems the ones i feed my fry.... those very sandy stuff once it touches water. try to get something that they can have a bit on.

current? nah~ i even use power head in my tank with guppies ( only twice perday, 1 hr each cycle)

 

[FlareBettaGuy]

Thanks. Guppies are still fine. Just did another water change. And I might also do a filter sponge change the day before I put the matured gravel in. First one's getting very dirty. These guppies sleep on the ground, not on the leaves of plants or on a rock or anything. Whenever I look in the room at night, I see them sitting right on the gravel, and I thought there was something wrong, but they were just sleeping. That's about it for now, I guess. Nothing more important to say at the moment...

 

[bgraber]

Flare, I have to say we told you so.. When you first posted about about your new tank, everyone said about cycling. And I'm sure even before that you read about cycling on here.. A little impatient are we?