Hello and thankyou

[Shadowpearl]

Hello there,
Such a brilliant web-site and populated by some amazingly helpful, friendly and experienced people. Unfortunately, I found this site a little too late. I confess, I haven't cycled properly. I knew nothing of it. Now, after 8 hours of reading the forums I am a little more enlightened. I should have been a little more enquiring, a little less eager, and a whole lot smarter than to believe what I was told when waving cash around.

Anyway, you're at the top of my Favourites tree.

Cheers!

 

[jams.alaskan]

Shadowpearl - you're going to do very well on this forum! There is so much information on this forum, try the search button at the top of your page to go to areas of interest. I've found it is very quick to give me the information I'm looking for.

Welcome friend

ALASKA

 

[Shadowpearl]

Thanks there Alaska,
I'm in a bit of a quandry at the moment -where to start?

I bought a Bi-Orb a week ago -no excuse, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I filled it with water, added the sachet of Stress Zyme, plugged in the light and the therm, (78 degrees) , added a lump of bogwood, a small laval rock and water. Four days later, because it wasn't clear, I changed the water leaving an inch covering the ceramic media for no other reason than I couldn't suck the stuff out without a stone blocking the pipe.

Anyway, I changed the water added more Stress Zyme and then sank 10 strands of Densa in two clumps (6/4) and popped in a mossball. 24 hours later I came home with four Black Widow tetras, squirted a liberal dose of Stress coat and felt chuffed.

Twelve hours later I discover this site, learn about cycling, curse the Bi-Orb marketing department; white wine in general, my own stupidity and haste, and the internet specifically.

Now I feel crashed.

I'm panicking about the longevity and general welfare of said creatures.

They're all alive, perky even, but water changes to control the nitrites and ammonias not withstanding, I fear the worse, (a testing kit will be mine tomorrow as soon as I can get to the shop).

The bogwood was from an aquarium that was in use 8 months ago, the Densa I bought because, like the Bi-Orb, it said 'easy' on the label.

I have access to a small amount of gravel from an established aquarium, will it help? I'm considering bagging it up and sinking it into the tank.

Perceived wisdom is that I have been a bit of a numb-nuts but practical advice would help.

The plus side, imminent fish-killing notwithstanding, I'm hooked.

Cheers all.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

to the forum. We'll help you avoid mistakes like this.

I would suggest returning those fish or giving them to a friend or lfs to keep until the cycling is over, which would take some time.

How big's your tank? If it's small, your fish will have a harder time surviving. Just do more frequent water changes and they shouldn't be too bad.

The gravel from another aquarium is definitely a good idea.

I hope you solve your problem without losing any fish. With good care this shouldn't be a problem.

 

[babyfish]

Hiya and welcome

 

[lucky62]

 

[HeatherSweetness]

Welcome to TFF!

 

[Shadowpearl]

Thanks all!

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Shadowpearl

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, many of our members have come to this forum with exactly the same problem you have.

 

[Shadowpearl]

Alas that is the case.

Unfortunately the concept of cycling a tank seems not to be known/explained by LFS or large-scale tank suppliers-mine's depressmart btw, and they offer a 7 day guarantee with the fish, go figure. As regards cycling, I only learned because I was noodling away on the web.

Perceived wisdom is fish+water+food = ease

The order of cognitive thought, at least in my case was:

Young son, (five and a squidge)
Paternal idea of development of social responsibility and fun for the above
Payday
Fishtank
Water
Fish
Internet to expand paternal knowledge
Duh!

I've started to log progress of the Bubble Brothers and our development under the Beginner's Forum, subbed 'Bi-Orb Blues'. I think we got ourselves a fulltime hobby.

Thanks for the welcome.



I like it here

 

[William]

Hi SP, I sorted out that validation for ya Welcome to the site!

 

[rollntider]

here is what I would do if you cant find someone to take the fish until you cycle. I did this for a friend since he did the same thing you did. I scraped some stuff from my filter media witht he benificial bacteria in that glob of mess and had him put it in his filter media. His ammonia did drop over night and eventually his tank cycled. He bought a 55 gallon tank and after I told him what to do, buy 1 fish wait 3 weeks and then after the water levels are right add a few fish at a time. He went out and bout 20 guppys tetras and Platys(the next day). Fortunately he only lost 2 due to ammonia. I would suggest if you havea friend with trhe same type of filter ask for their filter pad (assuming toy have a whisper or Penguin type filter). I hope that does help some, we saved a lot of fish this way, but i wouldnt recomend it by any means....

 

[sunbot]

yes i agrewe it is a good website

 

[sunbot]

hi

 

[Joviella]

and hello