BobbyBray
Fish Fanatic
Before I get into the numbers, here's my current setup:
29 gallon Aquaculture Kit (30 x 12 x 18), with the kit filter and heater. I'm not at home, but I can find that if someone needs the info. I believe its a 100w heater, and the Aquaculture 20-40 filter. I've got a large piece of bogwood, a few random plastic plants, plain gravel for the bottom, and some medium sized rocks to decorate the tank. Some of you may chastise me for this, but the rocks were found outside, rather than specially bought or anything. I did clean, scrub (without soap), and finally boil them all in a pot for an hour or two before placing them in the tank.
I've been running the tank for 2 or 3 weeks now without any progress on my ammonia, so I took some advice and cut half of the filter media out of my cycled 10 gallon tank and added it to the 29. For the purposes of not boring anyone, I will start by posting the stats since I added the pre-colonized filter.
One last tid bit of info to share, I found out too late that the ammonia I'm using has substrates in it, and after running around town I couldn't find anyone that sold just pure / raw ammonia.
I checked with some of the guys in the scientific section, and it sounds like the tank will cycle fine, but I'll plan to flush the tank out multiple times before adding any fish, and start with just a few fish to make sure its ok. By flush, I mean filling and draining the tank multiple times to try and remove as much substrate as possible from the gravel and plants. The filter I'll leave soaking in tank water, and not clean that. I'm willing to take a chance, and would rather leave the bacteria alone than try to remove any excess substrate from the filter. Any other advice on that?
Day "1"
Ammonia - 5ppm
Nitirte - N/A
Nitrate - N/A
pH - 7.6
Day 2 (24 hours later)
Ammonia - 1ppm <--
Hurray!
Nitrite - 1ppm
Nitrate - N/A
pH - N/A
Day 3 (Morning)
Ammonia - 1ppm
Nitrite - (Didn't have time to check this morning)
Nirate - N/A
pH - N/A
Day 3 (Evening)
Ammonia - .25 ppm
Nitrite - 5 ppm
Nitrate - N/A
pH - 7.2
**Added Ammonia, raised the level back up to 3 or 4**
Day 4 (Morning)
Ammonia - .25 ppm
Nitrite - 5(+?) ppm
pH - N/A
Looks like the ammonia bacteria are growing fast and strong now, but as usual the nitrite bacteria are lagging behind, hopefully they'll start to grow soon!
29 gallon Aquaculture Kit (30 x 12 x 18), with the kit filter and heater. I'm not at home, but I can find that if someone needs the info. I believe its a 100w heater, and the Aquaculture 20-40 filter. I've got a large piece of bogwood, a few random plastic plants, plain gravel for the bottom, and some medium sized rocks to decorate the tank. Some of you may chastise me for this, but the rocks were found outside, rather than specially bought or anything. I did clean, scrub (without soap), and finally boil them all in a pot for an hour or two before placing them in the tank.
I've been running the tank for 2 or 3 weeks now without any progress on my ammonia, so I took some advice and cut half of the filter media out of my cycled 10 gallon tank and added it to the 29. For the purposes of not boring anyone, I will start by posting the stats since I added the pre-colonized filter.
One last tid bit of info to share, I found out too late that the ammonia I'm using has substrates in it, and after running around town I couldn't find anyone that sold just pure / raw ammonia.
I checked with some of the guys in the scientific section, and it sounds like the tank will cycle fine, but I'll plan to flush the tank out multiple times before adding any fish, and start with just a few fish to make sure its ok. By flush, I mean filling and draining the tank multiple times to try and remove as much substrate as possible from the gravel and plants. The filter I'll leave soaking in tank water, and not clean that. I'm willing to take a chance, and would rather leave the bacteria alone than try to remove any excess substrate from the filter. Any other advice on that?
Day "1"
Ammonia - 5ppm
Nitirte - N/A
Nitrate - N/A
pH - 7.6
Day 2 (24 hours later)
Ammonia - 1ppm <--
Hurray!Nitrite - 1ppm
Nitrate - N/A
pH - N/A
Day 3 (Morning)
Ammonia - 1ppm
Nitrite - (Didn't have time to check this morning)
Nirate - N/A
pH - N/A
Day 3 (Evening)
Ammonia - .25 ppm
Nitrite - 5 ppm
Nitrate - N/A
pH - 7.2
**Added Ammonia, raised the level back up to 3 or 4**
Day 4 (Morning)
Ammonia - .25 ppm
Nitrite - 5(+?) ppm
pH - N/A
Looks like the ammonia bacteria are growing fast and strong now, but as usual the nitrite bacteria are lagging behind, hopefully they'll start to grow soon!
