CathyG
Fishaholic
Hi there! 
Many years ago I used to keep tropical tanks (one 120 litre, and one 200 litres) Back then (some 15 years) I knew nothing about cycling, testing water parameters or even fish compatibility, but somehow it all worked fine, with little to no incidents. About all I did was a regular water change, heat it and filter it. I wasn't even up on how beneficial bacteria was! I wonder whether some stocks were hardier then? *shrugs* btw, that was not an arrogant shrug, just a newbie at the time not knowing, and being badly advised, yet it somehow worked back then...or at least no disasters. I had even been known to put my fish in a bath of luke warm, untreated water whilst I scrubbed the tank!! (there goes the bacteria too!)) Eventually I learned to treat for chlorine and chloromide, but this was by reading, not by suffering fatalities....now there is PH and KH and amonia and nitrites and nitrates and all other poisons! Again, I do not smile arrogantly, only to accept my ignorance and thank my luck.
Over this last seven years, I was forced to buy a larger and then larger tank to accommodate two wonderful goldfish my kids won at a fair, that defied rumours of short life span (lol!) Alongside those goldfish, our visitors were (not all at the same time!) ghost koi, common koi, shubunkin, ornamental goldfish, Mirror Carp and what turned out to be a CAE (another story completely, proceed with these fish with caution!)
One by one, as each fish grew to great sizes in amazingly short periods of time, we relocated them to various friends' ponds (one a Koi breeder was well impressed with our ghosts - one had such marvellous red colouring to his fins, and they fed from your hand!)
A few months ago we finally relocated the remaining bruisers (having waited for the weather to warm up) By this time the Mirrors were a good 18 inches. The size of these fish, and the amount of waste they produce (not just Mirrors, but Koi and goldfish too) forced regular water changes, usually about 40% bi-weekly, to keep up with them.
With the tank now empty, I was tempted to return to keeping tropical fish. Having done a bit of research I discovered you could cycle the tank without fish!! So I proceeded this way (The web can be a wonderful place! A great source for up to date information!)
I now have my 120 litre tank matured, and it has been running for 5 months now, stocked for the last 3. I am loving being back with tropicals, though have been amazed by the "sudden" technicalities I have to consider lol! Though much of it is common sense, really, once you know
My current tank is overstocked, by a very large margin, I am very aware of this (also bearing in mind potential growth of some of the inhabitants) I am thus maintaining my habitual large bi-weekly water changes, and constantly monitoring water parameters. I intend to invest in a much larger tank within the next few months (400-500 litres) and share the bioload. In the meantime, my community is fairing well, very well in fact so far, and even those with a sensitive disposition are happy and feeding well and displaying beautiful colouration.
Yes, I know, overstocking is a very bad idea for a number of reasons...everything could be running hunky dory until disaster hits, and then it could be big time. Fingers crossed on no power outages...(I guess this might start a debate *eek*)
So, I have a 120 litre tank
sand substrate
well planted
rock formations and driftwood providing lots of hiding places
Eheim 2213 external canister filter (cycles the volume twice per hour)
Inhabitants (all juvenile):
3 Boesemons Rainbow
5 zebra danio
8 Rasbora
6 Cardinal tetra
3 white fin tetra
2 Blue Ram
2 honey gourami
3 platy
1 male betta
3 small clown loach
3 khuli loach
2 ottos
2 peppered corys
Anyway, nice to meet you all, look forward to sharing your ideas and discussion!
Cathy
Many years ago I used to keep tropical tanks (one 120 litre, and one 200 litres) Back then (some 15 years) I knew nothing about cycling, testing water parameters or even fish compatibility, but somehow it all worked fine, with little to no incidents. About all I did was a regular water change, heat it and filter it. I wasn't even up on how beneficial bacteria was! I wonder whether some stocks were hardier then? *shrugs* btw, that was not an arrogant shrug, just a newbie at the time not knowing, and being badly advised, yet it somehow worked back then...or at least no disasters. I had even been known to put my fish in a bath of luke warm, untreated water whilst I scrubbed the tank!! (there goes the bacteria too!)) Eventually I learned to treat for chlorine and chloromide, but this was by reading, not by suffering fatalities....now there is PH and KH and amonia and nitrites and nitrates and all other poisons! Again, I do not smile arrogantly, only to accept my ignorance and thank my luck.
Over this last seven years, I was forced to buy a larger and then larger tank to accommodate two wonderful goldfish my kids won at a fair, that defied rumours of short life span (lol!) Alongside those goldfish, our visitors were (not all at the same time!) ghost koi, common koi, shubunkin, ornamental goldfish, Mirror Carp and what turned out to be a CAE (another story completely, proceed with these fish with caution!)
One by one, as each fish grew to great sizes in amazingly short periods of time, we relocated them to various friends' ponds (one a Koi breeder was well impressed with our ghosts - one had such marvellous red colouring to his fins, and they fed from your hand!)
A few months ago we finally relocated the remaining bruisers (having waited for the weather to warm up) By this time the Mirrors were a good 18 inches. The size of these fish, and the amount of waste they produce (not just Mirrors, but Koi and goldfish too) forced regular water changes, usually about 40% bi-weekly, to keep up with them.
With the tank now empty, I was tempted to return to keeping tropical fish. Having done a bit of research I discovered you could cycle the tank without fish!! So I proceeded this way
(The web can be a wonderful place! A great source for up to date information!)I now have my 120 litre tank matured, and it has been running for 5 months now, stocked for the last 3. I am loving being back with tropicals, though have been amazed by the "sudden" technicalities I have to consider lol! Though much of it is common sense, really, once you know
My current tank is overstocked, by a very large margin, I am very aware of this (also bearing in mind potential growth of some of the inhabitants) I am thus maintaining my habitual large bi-weekly water changes, and constantly monitoring water parameters. I intend to invest in a much larger tank within the next few months (400-500 litres) and share the bioload. In the meantime, my community is fairing well, very well in fact so far, and even those with a sensitive disposition are happy and feeding well and displaying beautiful colouration.
Yes, I know, overstocking is a very bad idea for a number of reasons...everything could be running hunky dory until disaster hits, and then it could be big time. Fingers crossed on no power outages...(I guess this might start a debate *eek*)
So, I have a 120 litre tank
sand substrate
well planted
rock formations and driftwood providing lots of hiding places
Eheim 2213 external canister filter (cycles the volume twice per hour)
Inhabitants (all juvenile):
3 Boesemons Rainbow
5 zebra danio
8 Rasbora
6 Cardinal tetra
3 white fin tetra
2 Blue Ram
2 honey gourami
3 platy
1 male betta
3 small clown loach
3 khuli loach
2 ottos
2 peppered corys
Anyway, nice to meet you all, look forward to sharing your ideas and discussion!
Cathy
From one cathy to another 
fish are much better. 
