Fishless Cycle Diary

[waterdrop]

Thanks for that Oldman47, thats great news . That means i better finalise my stock then huh. Are dwarf gouramis and bn plecks ok to add to a freshly cycled tank? And possibly either, a nice shoul of copper harlequins or a type of tetra, maybe glowlight or cardinal and some corrys. Any recommendations? Bearing in mind i wouldnt mind a pair of angels.

- Dj -

A tank like that will be really nice for a pair of angels! A great way to do it would be to introduce a nice big shoal of harlequins right after the fishless cycle. In my opinion they can be even hardier than zebra danios for this and a nice shoal of 8 or 10 at least would be great in your tank. It may be that a glowlight shoal would also be good, I'm not sure of their toughness, perhaps someone else will know but of course the cards/neons should wait and not be among the first. Depending on the species, the corys might also be among the first. Pandas and the pygmy ones should not, but many others would be fine. Corys really become fun starting at quantity 6. OK, so harlequins, corys and possibly one other shoal for after-fishless starters. Then wait a month or two (two filter cleanings that would be let's say) and by then you may have located some nice Dwarf Gouramis, perhaps getting the ideal 1 male, 2 females. Then another couple months goes by and if the water stats are great its time to start introducing the cardinal or neon shoal. Consider getting one or two more cardinals on each bring-home as often one or two is lost in transition, they are just that sensitive! Meanwhile you can have been looking around to find the phenotype/look of angels you want and a source and finally introduce them way at this later time when the tank will be even more stable. Its not that they're so sensitive, just that they are one of your centerpiece fish and you'd just like extra insurance as their cost may be greater.

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[djl08]

Thats cleared it up somewhat.
I was thinking of sterbai corrys, do they need a mature tank or would they be ok?
Would i be able to house more than one male dwarf gourami? If i provide lots of places for them to hide.

Also, what are your thoughts on yesterdays test results?

Thanks again,

- Dj -

 

[djl08]

Just carried out todays tests and i have 0's across the board, does this mean i start my 12 hour tests?

- Dj -

 

[waterdrop]

Don't know about Sterbai. I think one of the mods is a really good cory person and may monitor the cory subforum, so post up there and hopefully she will see it.

I don't recommend more than the trio of one male Dwarf with two females. Perhaps more of a gourami expert will come along and override that but I think most of the advice I've seen says the two males would fight, even with 4 females there.

Yes, I'd start logging 12-hour tests in addition to 24-hour ones and generalize the posting to tell us its one or the other rather than any time of day details or such. You can save yourself a lot of shaking by not doing nitrate(NO3) except occasionally. Just NH3, NO2 and pH will be fine most of the time. Looks like things are going ok!

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[djl08]

ok, i will post in the species specfic forums and see what they say.

How do you mean generalise your posts. Do you mean report and update every 2 days or so?

- Dj -

 

[djl08]

ok, i will post in the species specfic forums and see what they say.

How do you mean generalise your posts. Do you mean report and update every 2 days or so?

- Dj -

 

[waterdrop]

No, by "generalize" I meant just to post it literally as "12Hr test"/"24Hr test", rather than giving times of day (by the way, this is me talking in general, not even thinking at the moment about what you've posted)... one of the things that drives you crazy after a while if you're tracking dozens of different cyclers is that little irritation of figuring out hours when all you want to know is this general thing of whether the test was roughly 12 hours after adding ammonia or 24 hours after. Its mostly laziness on my part, lol. There's really no need to worry about it -really- being 12 hours until the very end.

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[djl08]

Ok cool, added todays test results, AM and PM. And i think im heading for another Ph crash. God i hope not, takes me like an hour cos i have to use a small bucket and it takes me about 8 trips each way to do a 90% water change.

Dj

 

[OldMan47]

If you are getting really close, maybe you could use a bit of baking soda to prevent the pH drop and see if you can ride this one out. You already know what a water change can do for you so the target right now is to complete the cycle. Once you have done that, you must do a very large water change before any fish go into the tank. IMO that would be soon enough for the next large water change. The small bucket is really only needed at the finish line before adding in your first fish. Congrats, it looks like you are probably getting close to fish time, yay.

As WD said, it can be a bit difficult keeping track of 20 different people's cycle experiences so a simple 12 hours / 24 hours lets me look, give reasonable answers and move on. As much as I would like to concentrate on getting your cycle right, the next person also needs the help. A simple statement of what you are seeing makes it ultimately easier for me or WD to get the advice right to help you the most.

 

[djl08]

OK thanks, my Ph HAS crashed again to 6.8. How much baking soda would i have to add to raise it to the optimal 8.4? I really dont want to do another water change.

thanks,

Dj

 

[waterdrop]

I'd use 3 tablespoons for your 160L. Dj, a 160L is a pretty big tank. You really need to be thinking about working out a "hose" system for your water changes. Water changes are such important things that its much better if you don't think of them as such a burden. Working out a good hose system could reduce your water change to a little over a half hour of activity and no actual hauling.

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[djl08]

All done, i added 7 tea spoons last nite and when i tested this morning i got a reading of 8.3

Updated with todays test results by the way!

- Dj -

 

[waterdrop]

 

[djl08]

Didnt have chance to test this morning as i was on work, but i had double zero's on this evenings tests. WHOOP!

- Dj -

 

[djl08]

Updated with todays results. Im getting quite confused as to why im left with 5+ ppm of nitrite at 12 hrs, but buy the time i get to do the 24 hr test it reads as 0.


- Dj -