Hello From Scotland

[cooltide]

Hello everyone - I'm a newcomer to the forum and to fish keeping. Thought I'd say hello as this site has already been a fabulous source of info and everyone seems genuinely helpful.

I have just bought a small fluval edge tank and followed the instructions religiously (using nutrafin cycle as per instructions)! Imagine my newbie-like stress when on day 3 I woke up to find it cloudy as a Scottish summers day - the forum put my mind at rest that this was likely to be bacterial bloom and would settle down. What a great resource.

I shall be persevering and testing for the next week or so prior to putting small numbers of live fish in at fortnightly intervals. Hoping all the great info I read here will stand me in good stead and the clouds will clear soon.

All advice welcome!

 

[fluttermoth]

to the forum.

My best advice to you, at the moment, would be to have a read of both the fish-in and fishless cycle threads in our beginner's resource centre (the link for that is in my sig).

Very few of us have any faith in these 'cycling' products, I'm afraid. We had a bottle when my son got his Edge, and it did absolutely nothing!

One other point, I do hope you realise how few fish you can have in an Edge; my lad has five male Endler's and a couple of ghost shrimp, and that's about the limit in there!

Oh, and one more, other last point, that I've just thought of! You should get yourself a good liquid or tablet based test kit. A 'master' kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH would be good, but the ammonia and nitrIte are the vital ones at the beginning.

More fish deaths are caused by poor water quality than anything else, so it really is vital that you can monitor that.

 

[cooltide]

Hi - thanks for the very quick advice. Test kit is coming later today and I am planning on having only a small number of very small fish as you've counselled. Interested in the benefits of having ghost shrimp though?

 

[fluttermoth]

I don't think there are any particular 'benefits' as such.

But they do help pick up little bits of food that the fish miss, and are peaceful and fascinating little creatures

They also produce very little ammonia, so you can stock a few of them in addition to fish, which in a tank as small as the Edge gives you a few more options (there are quite a few species of freshwater shrimps, of different colours and sizes) and a bit more interest

 

[cooltide]

Thanks for that info. What's your view on cherry red shrimps as they're very distinctive.

BTW - Water is still cloudy but I am convincing myself that it appears to be clearing slowly. I followed your advice and I tested for ammonia (0.25) and nitrite (0) - are these results expected at this stage? Would you suggest I change a proportion of the water also?

 

[colleen0309]

Yes, I would do a partial water change if it was me. You never want the ammonia to go above 0.25ppm. Do a 50%, or more, water change with temp matched dechlorinated water.

 

[cooltide]

Thanks - that's really helpful - how frequently would you expect to partially change the water?

 

[fluttermoth]

Do you have fish in, OP?

If you do, then yes, a water change as Colleen suggests. You need to do as many changes as it takes to never let your ammonia (or nitrite) get above 0.25ppm. As to how much, or how often, you need to be guided by your test results.

If you have no fish, then you should leave it as it is. You want to be growing the bacteria that eat ammonia, so if you take it out with water changes there won't be anything for them to feed on and they won't grow.

 

[cooltide]

Ok - I understand. I don't have fish in at the moment - I want to leave it a while until I am happy with the water. Thanks again.

 

[colleen0309]

Sorry, I missed the fact that you didn't have any fish yet. Fluttermoth is right, you need the ammonia to grow your bacteria colonies in your filter. Just curious, what is your ammonia source if you don't have any fish yet? Is the ammonia from the nutrafin? I don't use these additives, so I am clueless when it comes to them.

 

[cooltide]

Hi - yes - it is nutrafin cycle. I am conscious that this is a very emotive and frequently discussed topic but so far it seems to be doing the job - I'll keep testing until I am happy enough to put fish in.

 

[fluttermoth]

Hmm, as I've said, I tried Cycle and never got any ammonia readings from it, so it's very unlikely to be able to cycle a tank properly.

I'd very strongly advise you to get a bottle of household cleaning ammonia and do a proper fishless cycle.

 

[scotty]

where in scotland are you?

 

[cooltide]

East Lothian - basking in the sun tonite

 

[garyspence84]

Nice to see some more Scots on the forum

AweRite and welcome

G