Fresh (Re)Start On My Tropical Fish Experience

[rcampbel04]

Some of you may recognize me from my recent post in the introduction section. I had purchased a 10 gallon tank with a blood parrot and an angelfish. As of yesterday, i have returned the ten gallon tank and fish and purchased a 40 gallon tank. I also bought a 45 gallon rated pump,  a 55 gallon rated 150W heater, and a dual-bulb 36" overhead light (i put a floral bulb and a daylight bulb in, looks nice as a combo!) and an API master test kit to monitor whats happening when i start my cycling (today!!). I just got back from my local dollar tree store with some 100% ammonia. Picked up a quart for 1 dollar. Not bad! i stopped at a few other places, but could only find some scented or perfumed and color ammonia. Luckily, i found some. Anyways, ill be keeping you all updated on how it goes. A lot of very helpful information and helpful people on this forum! thank you all and ill keep everyone posted.

 Going to add some ammonia after checking to make sure the tap water additive worked that i put in last night.

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

Oh wow! Great start! You should start a journal! I cant wait to see it all come through!

 

[Ninjouzata]

Ellie this is a journal Following!

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

lol! Sorry. I just clicked on it from the side thingy! Didnt look at the area it was in. Following as well!

 

[rcampbel04]

Here is a picture of my tank as it is now. Two small decorations in there (fake plant), a small air bubbler and my overhead light. If it's hard to see im sorry im still learning about uploading pictures! 

 

[rcampbel04]

Day 1 - 1/25/14
 
Did my first ammonia test after adding 3 capfuls. Got the level just right! Inbetween 2-4 ppm of ammonia. Going to leave it be and retest in two days and probably end up adding more ammonia. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

Thats good! Cant wait until you plant this tank out! (if you do, of course)

 

[rcampbel04]

thats one thing i havent done research on!

 

[Ninjouzata]

Make sure you're following the article at the top of the page! I think you are but just want to make sure.
 
May I recommend a background? Black usually does well.

 

[ReMz]

Awesome Ryan. Glad you are doing things the right way. You have plenty of time to browse other members' tanks and figure out what you want to do.

 

[Xzavier247]

Subbed. Awesome cycling process

 

[rcampbel04]

Day 2 - Didn't really do anything today. Getting anxious and its only day 2 lol. Going to add some pictures so you guys that are following have an idea of the tank im using. Doing some plant research today and also thinking about some more deco to add. Keeping the temp at a steady 80 degrees. The pics below show the lightbar im using. Two of the pictures are with the "daylight" bulb on only, and one of them is with the "floral" light on only (which is apparently supposed to support live plant growth? ). Enjoy and thanks for reading!! 

 

[Ninjouzata]

Looks better with the background.
 
I know it feels like forever but it'll be worth it in the end.
 
Not sure what kind of decor you like, do you mean like ornaments or wood?

 

[rcampbel04]

Looks better with the background.

 
I know it feels like forever but it'll be worth it in the end.
 
Not sure what kind of decor you like, do you mean like ornaments or wood?

I'm not sure either lol. I do want at least one decent size piece of wood in there, and i want some more bright plants and some rocks also

 

[rcampbel04]

Day 4 - 1/28/14.
 
Not much has changed since my update. I forgot to mention that i decided to give the API quick start a try. Now i know there are mixed reviews and i couldn't really find anything definitively negative or positive on the product, so i figured id give it a try. I cranked up my tank temp to about 84 degrees yesterday. So today, these are my tank readings;
pH: 8.1
Ammonia level: 2.0 ppm ( i added another capful to bring it up to roughly 4 ppm again
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0-5ppm? ----I am not sure if this is a misreading from my test kit, BUT the test seemed like it wasn't exactly zero. There was bit of an orange-ish tint to the water. Who knows if this is a misread, but only time and more tests will tell. 
 
So, like i said i added a bit more ammonia to bring the ppm up to about 4 again. More testing to come in the upcoming days!!
Thanks for following! I'm doing a lot of research on which fish i want to add to my tank