Getting Started With A Second Hand Tank

I'd use the time to give the kids an impromptu science lesson ;)

If your kids are old enough they could help you with the tests; at the very least they could count the drops for you. Mine love messing around with test tubes; makes them feel like scientists!

And the more involved they are and the more they understand what's going on, the less they'll nag you to get fish; they will at least gain some understanding of why they have to wait :)

get them to make a cart to measure the progress.....

Yes! Great idea; they can colour it in and everything, matching their pens to the test results :)
 
Agree, the younger the kids are, the more they like the different colors for the ammonia, nitrite, pH and nitrate lines on the graph/chart and the older they are, the more interested they get in exactly what these single celled creatures are, how they live and what they must look like, what's inside their cells etc.... I used it like crazy.

~~waterdrop~~
 
Agree, the younger the kids are, the more they like the different colors for the ammonia, nitrite, pH and nitrate lines on the graph/chart and the older they are, the more interested they get in exactly what these single celled creatures are, how they live and what they must look like, what's inside their cells etc.... I used it like crazy.

~~waterdrop~~

cool ideas, thanks! Actually they just accepted it, we can't have fish for a while, but then my youngest is only 5 and her older brother, although 10, doesn't question much in life!

They will love learning about the fish though! They adore their chickens and know all about where their eggs come from !!
 
Yes, I feel you are doing the right thing. The reason I suggested the fishless cycling procedures was because of your observation of 1 to 3ppm of nitrite 12 hours after adding an ammonia dose. When filters go through any kind of transfer of use and/or ownership, especially if the whole transfer process wasn't watched or understood by both parties, there is the chance of a setback in the productivity of the beneficial bacterial colonies.

Still, we'd expect a quick comeback, ideally in a day or two, if the filter really was mature and really didn't get dried out. And no matter what the situation, putting a filter through the process until its proven it can achieve double-zeros (ammonia and nitrite) at 12 hours for a week really lets you know all should be well.

~~waterdrop~~
 
Yes, I feel you are doing the right thing. The reason I suggested the fishless cycling procedures was because of your observation of 1 to 3ppm of nitrite 12 hours after adding an ammonia dose. When filters go through any kind of transfer of use and/or ownership, especially if the whole transfer process wasn't watched or understood by both parties, there is the chance of a setback in the productivity of the beneficial bacterial colonies.

Still, we'd expect a quick comeback, ideally in a day or two, if the filter really was mature and really didn't get dried out. And no matter what the situation, putting a filter through the process until its proven it can achieve double-zeros (ammonia and nitrite) at 12 hours for a week really lets you know all should be well.

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks for your help. I am doing the add and wait cycle and recording levels daily. I know for definite that the filter media were transferred as well as we could, using water from the tank, and replaced back into the new tank within a couple of hours, but I am not sure the tank they came from had fish in it for the few days before we got hold of it. Anyway now into fishless cycle mode and see what happens over the next few days
 
Not having fish for a couple of days wouldn't be much loss of bacteria. Having only a couple of fish over time would mean smaller bacterial colonies overall, such that 5ppm fishless cycling would equate to a much larger bioload of fish than the tank previously had. However, be aware that the reason we try to finish up a fishless cycle meeting a 5ppm virtual bioload is not to match a particular fish loading but rather to reach a particular robustness of colonies, such that we've learned that they will "drop back down" to match the real bioload and will not experience mini-cycles after the fish are added.

~~waterdrop~~
 
You are doing fine Pingu.
The fact that you do not see a fully cycled tank and filter does not mean that there is something wrong with your arrangement. If you merely dose to about 2 ppm in the fishless cycle mode and fairly quickly find that you are fully cycled, believe it. A properly preserved filter will recover at a rate that you may find hard to believe. When you see such a recovery, do not hesitate to take advantage of it.
 
You are doing fine Pingu.
The fact that you do not see a fully cycled tank and filter does not mean that there is something wrong with your arrangement. If you merely dose to about 2 ppm in the fishless cycle mode and fairly quickly find that you are fully cycled, believe it. A properly preserved filter will recover at a rate that you may find hard to believe. When you see such a recovery, do not hesitate to take advantage of it.

I;m going to buy a proper testing kit because I can't tell from those stupid strips what the reading is accurately

Edit... ordered it off Ebay!
 
You are doing fine Pingu.
The fact that you do not see a fully cycled tank and filter does not mean that there is something wrong with your arrangement. If you merely dose to about 2 ppm in the fishless cycle mode and fairly quickly find that you are fully cycled, believe it. A properly preserved filter will recover at a rate that you may find hard to believe. When you see such a recovery, do not hesitate to take advantage of it.

I;m going to buy a proper testing kit because I can't tell from those stupid strips what the reading is accurately

Edit... ordered it off Ebay!


Sorry for double post, but got my kit and following readings, ammonia last added on Sunday but didn't have an accurate reading then, but going by test strips it was quite high Monday morning

Today's readings

Ammonia 0.5ppm
PH 7.6
Nitrite greater than 5.0ppm
Nitrate difficult to tell really, maybe about 80ppm?

This is fun, I feel like a scientist. but what now?
 
keep the ammonia near 5ppm, and sit and wait.......
 
keep the ammonia near 5ppm, and sit and wait.......

this morning ammonia around 0.25ppm
added some more, level now at approx 4ppm

this is such fun

cant wait for my fish, and I feel really good about doing it the nice way !!
 
tested this morning, 22 hours after adding ammonia to get the level to 4ppm

ammonia - vitually nil
nitrite - 0.25ppm

I thought the nitrites would be high for ages and then start to fall? Or am I getting a weird reading? Or is the whole process happening quickly due to it being a second hand tank and transferring the filter media over from the old tank?

Thanks in advance for any replies?

Corinne
 
If the filter had some alive bacteria that survived the change of ownership of the tank to you, they will multiply rapidly once they are in warm water with a plentiful source of food (the ammonia which feeds one type directly, the resulting nitrites feeding the other type). It is quite feasible that you could see your first "double zero" reading within a couple of weeks.

Once you get that first "double zero" (no ammonia or nitrite), continue to add ammonia upto 5ppm for a "qualifying week" and if all is still good, your tank will be ready for its first scaley friends!
good.gif


Have you and your family thought about what sort of fish you want in your 180l? As a very general rule, your "must have" fish can be anything upto ~8cm excluding the tail (known as "SL"). Once you know your "must have" and know what temperature; amount of current it likes; its aggression level; if it usually stays at a certain level in the tank etc. , you can then research other fish that will suit that environment that are available in your local fish stores.

Its well worth visiting as many Local Fish Shops (LFS) as you can, to get a feel for which hold the healthiest looking fish and helpful staff (but always try and find further sources of information for anything they say, after all, they are there to try and sell you fish and equipment). This might also open your eyes to fish you did not even exist, it certainly did for me and is why I chose riverine fish of an oddball or not usually stocked nature.

Once you think you have decided on the "must have" and suitable tankmates, you can then plan which order to add to the tank every two weeks (as long as water tests and current fish are good, ideally using a seperate quarantine tank for at least two weeks), taking account of the sensitivity and aggression of the fish.

But first and foremost, keep the "fishless cycle" ticking over nicely and I suspect you may have your qualifying week done by October ;)
 
Hello there Corinne....its your friendly internet friend here. Hows that "new" tank doing. From what I read it certainly isnt behaving like a fully cycled tank, as your ammonia isnt shifting like it should, however some bacteria can go into a sleeping state when nutrition isnt available, the new environment you are providing will wake them up if there are any in there.
Spk to you soon JD
 

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