Hello And Greetings From Australia.

[MarcoPereira]

Hello there. Long time reader, first time poster (is that the word?)
Love the way everyone helps out here and the vast knowledge that abounds. I have to be honest in that I am a new aquarium owner and although I would have prefered a larger tank I was given a Fluval Edge 46 litre version and am now facing the dreaded fishless cycling (which is a problem).
I hope it is ok to ask a few questions on how to go about this start up as we do not have pure ammonia available to us here as you may in the U.S so hence my issues.
Looking forward to getting to know you all and hope I don't ask to many silly questions.
Cheers.
 

 

[fluttermoth]

to the forum.

As we're fond of saying here, the only silly question is one you don't ask! We have a few other Australian members who can probably help you with your cycling

 

[Baccus]

G'day and Welcome

Nice to see another Aussie venturing into the fish keeping world.
There is no silly question except the one not asked

 

[Ch4rlie]

 
The Fluval Edge 46l tank is a great looking tank ( I have one myself )
 
Even though its not the best designed tank in terms of maintenance and getting to tricky corners for cleaning, but you'll find a way and quickly get into a routine
 
Not sure if youre aware we havea  fishless cycle article thats great for follwoing to do these cyles, though you will need ammonia and unsure if you can get of this in Australia. If you can, then you're good to go to get started :
 
Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

 

[AmtotheBurr]

Welcome

 

[MarcoPereira]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. I am not sure where to post my question regarding the "non starting" of my little aquarium... is there a dedicated area where one can post a question and perhaps get a little advice?
Again thank you, am sure this is going to be a major learning curve! ha ha ha

 

[MarcoPereira]

G'day and Welcome

Nice to see another Aussie venturing into the fish keeping world.
There is no silly question except the one not asked

Thank you Baccus. As another Aussie, how do I cycle my Fluval Edge without ammonia or live fish? I have had the tank for 2 weeks and all is looking nice. The substrate is a sort of light golden sand and have one piece of Malaysian drift wood in there and another more spindly wood piece that we just loved at the LFS ...we have a few large pieces of petrified wood as hardscape and it is planted quite heavily with live plants.
We are keeping it at 27 C to help bacteria out but as of yet, no cycle started even after adding powdered pinches of food to generate ammonia.
The biggest puzzle is, our tap water in Melbourne is around 7-7.4 Ph and after adding it to aquarium it drops to 6.4-6.5 Ph! and last night it dropped even further to 6 if not lower as test kit only shows down to 6....I added a small level teaspoon of bi carb soda to raise it and it did to nearly 7.4.
As of this morning it is still holding that Ph which is a relief as I have read that too acid and vacteria wont start to grow.
So? any likely chance of the cycle starting? I have added stability from seachem and of course add water fixed with prime.
As of this morning, 0 ammo, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. Water is crystal clear and no tannins in water from wood.
We would like to create an amazon soft water aquarium so the Ph is likely to be allowed to drop eventually and hopefully stabilised without using bi carb.
Thank you to anyone that can offer some advice on this, it is very confusing.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Welcome!

 

[NickAu]

Hi Marco
 
Welcome to the forum, Where in Australia are you?
 
Word of advice, As a lot of the guys here are Pom's it is best not to mention the Rugby, or  Cricket LOL.
 
Q: What's the difference between England and a tea bag?  A: The tea bag stays in the cup longer.

 

[MarcoPereira]

Hi Nick
 

Hi Marco
 
Welcome to the forum, Where in Australia are you?
 
Word of advice, As a lot of the guys here are Pom's it is best not to mention the Rugby, or  Cricket LOL.
 
Q: What's the difference between England and a tea bag?  A: The tea bag stays in the cup longer.

Hi there. In Melbourne here...and no, will not bring up politics, rugby, cricket or religion.....the latter may have covered the former three...ha ha.
Thank you and I hope I can get some advice on what to do with my Fluval Edge....at a loss right now...thinking of tearing it down and starting from scratch with no bog wood....maybe a stylish white sand and grey rocks look....may be a bit odd but we will see what the folks here advise.
Cheers and good to hear from so many lovely people.

 

[Baccus]

Sorry for missing your question.
 
When you say a "pinch" of fish food, I am guessing you mean only that a tiny miniscule amount. With live plants in the tank they are probably converting any ammonia into low level nitrates and nitrites very quickly that the test kit cant even detect.
You could try adding larger amounts of food and see it that then really kicks in the filter bacteria, or you could try the old trick of adding either a dead prawn or two in a stocking to really pack a punch of ammonia. Warning this is not for the weak of stomach, dead prawns can really stink  at the best of times let alone left in water for a few days.
I would set the tank temp at the intended end temp rather than having it high and then dropping it later. Otherwise there is some chance that the filter and tank will be colonised by beneficial bacteria that handle or are better suited too the warm temperature, but could die off once a cooler water temp is attempted.
The pH could be fluctuating at night because of the changes in live plant respiration when the lights are turned out.