Help Planning And Cycling My New Tank...roma 125

[KAISER]

Hi all, I got myself a Roma 125 yesterday and would like your help and opinions on all aspects of my new aquarium. This thread will also be my cycle diary. I warn you now, its highly unlikely to be a fishless cycle.

So far I have set it up and added 15kg of play sand as a substrate. I plan on keeping community fish.

First of all I would like ideas on plants and decor. At first I was just going to add fake plants, but have since changed my mind and would like to add real ones. So, any suggestions on plants which need minimum care (ie no special equipment, lighting or fertilisers etc) and will do well in the sand? Any good sites I can look at for natural decor? I dont want a pirate ship or anything like that, just ideas for something like rock caves and maybe a bit of wood too.

I'm going to need fish to shift the substrate to stop gas building up, any ideas? I'm not so sure I like the look of Corys, is there anything else out there up to the job?

Anyone own the Fluval U3 filter? Did you replace the poly/carbon media? What with and where did you buy it? I'm also using the venturi valve on the filter, is this enough to oxygenate the bottom of the tank?

For the cycle I was thinking about removing a Platie or two fom my daughters tank which is still cycling, to reduce the bioload a bit in her 35L tank. Then basically build up the stock in mine very slowly.

All ideas and comments will be greatly appreiciated!


The cycle diary....

For what its worth, the tank had no fish for the first seven days, but had 0.25 ppm ammonia from the tap water. Day 1 is from the first fish going in. I used Nutrafin Aquasafe dechlorinator up until Day 8 of the diary, then used API stresscoat plus up until day 16, then switched back to Aquasafe. Most, but not all water changes were recorded in the first 20 days.

Tap water stats:

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm



Day 1 two platies added.

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm


Day 2

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm


Day 3

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 4 50% water change using Nutrafin Aquasafe dechlorinator.

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 to 0.50 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 5

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 6

ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 7

ph 6.8
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 8 (afternoon) Water change that day so tested twice. Used API Stresscoat plus dechlorinator. One more platy added.

ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm

Day 8 (night)

ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 9 (afternoon)

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm

Day 9 (night)

ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 10

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 11

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm

Carried out 30% water change using API Stresscoat plus.


Day 12

ph 6.4
ammonia 0 ppm (might be a trace, hard to tell )
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 13

ph 6.4
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm


Day 14

ph 6.4 ?
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm

Although the ph is closest to 6.4 on the card, I think it might be below that


Day 15 (afternoon)

ph 6.0 or below. 50% water change using API stesscoat plus

Day 15 (night)

ph 6.4
ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 16

ph 6.0 or below
ammonia 0 ppm

The ph dropped down to 6.0 again, I carried out a 50% water change and switched back to Nutrafin Aquasafe.

Day 16 (12 hours after water change)

ph 6.2
ammonia 0 ppm


Day 17

ph 6.4
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm


Day 18

ph 6.4
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 19

ph 6.4
ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 20 40% water change.

ph 6.4
ammonia 0.25 ppm


Day 21

ph 6.4
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 22

Go-Karting and paintballing....


Day 23

ph 6.4
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm


Day 24 1 platy and 1 panda cory added.

ph 6.4
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 25

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 26

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 27 40% water change carried out.

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm


Day 28

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 29

ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 30 50% water change

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 31

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 ppm


Day 32

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 33

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 34

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 35

ph 6.6
ammonia 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 36

Work bbq....


Day 37 20% water change

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 to 5 ppm


Day 38

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 to 5 ppm


Day 39

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 to 5 ppm


Day 40 20% water change

ph 6.6
ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 41

ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 42 approx 6 fry found.

ammonia 0 to 0.25 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 43

ph 6.8
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 0 to 5 ppm


Day 44

ph 6.8
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 45

ph 6.8
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm


Day 46

ph 7.0
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 5 ppm


Day 47 25% water change


Day 48 & 49

not checked


Day 50

ph 6.8
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 5 ppm


Day 51

not checked


Day 52 Panda cory found dead 25% water change

ph 7.0
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrate 10 ppm

 

[PDSimon]

Check out the planted section for easy to grow plants

 

[KAISER]

Thanks Simon, I have started to read it a bit, but finding it overly complicated, if thats fair to say? Thats why I'm looking for suggestions for beginners plants which hopefully I can put in knowing they will take care of themselves, or at least need minimum care!

*EDIT* unless of course there is a topic called easy to grow plants, which I have missed?

 

[PDSimon]

Thanks Simon, I have started to read it a bit, but finding it overly complicated, if thats fair to say? Thats why I'm looking for suggestions for beginners plants which hopefully I can put in knowing they will take care of themselves, or at least need minimum care!

*EDIT* unless of course there is a topic called easy to grow plants, which I have missed?

You've missed an 'easy to grow' plants section in the plants and planted tanks forum yes

theres just a list of plants that are easy to grow... i think there are 2 lists actually

 

[PDSimon]

Edit: double post - oops

 

[KAISER]

Ok found it now Simon, thanks.
I have been looking for rock/cave decor at various web sites, but the selection seems pretty poor. I was hoping for more variety!

 

[PDSimon]

Yeah personally I would prefer being able to see it in person before I bought it

To answer your other question of gas build up in the substrate, you can just stir the substrate weekly. You can also get snails and loaches that do it too.

I've done the same thing as you and gone out and bought a roma 125. I'm currently cycling it!

I don't see anything wrong with the filter and for o2 in the water you just need to agitate the water surface. If you want to use a venturi valve(which I do) it will certainly do the job.

I would recommend doing a fishless cycle, i have a fishless cycling blog on here if you're interested. Up to you but I definately think you should read up on fishless cycling

 

[KAISER]

Did you remove the carbon media?
I have been to all my LFS and have seen a couple of fake rock decorations which are ok, but thought I would find something better online. Apparently not...
I want bottom dwellers to agitate the substrate so I can forget about it, but I thought loaches got quite big? Not really read a lot about them to be fair. But whatever I decide on for the bottom, I want to make sure they get the oxygen they need
My daughter got a 35 litre tank for her birthday a couple of weeks ago which has 5 platies in it, (before I knew about cycling) so I was planning on reducing the bioload of her tank if I can.

 

[kaivalagi]

The snails to get the sand moving are Malaysian Trumpet Snails or MTS for short, you should be able to find some in the livestock section for postage only as members like to offload them as they breed and multiply quite quickly. Most of the time you wont see them though as they hide in the substrate itself. I'll be getting a batch shortly for P&P only

Cory sift the sand quite well too and you can get small ones or larger (only 3" max normally though), but you ought to have 5 minimum really, they like to be in groups

Plant wise, java fern, vallis (my favourite) and java moss are a good choice. There are others but I can't remember thier names...one beginning with A but I just can't think of it right now

You probably want to get wood soonish as you'll want to soak it for quite some time and maybe boil it first too, if you don't it might not sink (then you have to weigh it down with something) and it may also release lots of tannins into the water which isn't bad for the fish but most people don't like the water colour (tea like).

Rocks, whatever you get make sure it won't up the pH, unless you want a high pH that is, which depends on the fish. I think some people say if the rock doesn't react to vinegar it will be okay for a tank too.

It is also a misconception that you need a venturi valve and bubbles in the water to oxygenate it, what you need is surface aggitation to get gas exchange happening (as PDSimon has mentioned)...you can use the top outlet of your U3 with the venturi valve all the way in...so long as you have all the surface water rippling and moving...no still spots is the key.


When I first started I did a fish in cycle with 5 danios, which worked well and the danios are fine, now rehomed in a friends tank...I did have to do lots of water changes though. If I did it all over again and had no mature media I would have gone fishless as you'll be able to add 1/2 - 2/3rd's of your stocking wants in one go...if you go fish-in you have to be gradual right from the start when adding fish, a small percentage of existing numbers added every couple of weeks to make sure the bio-load on the filter isn't too much for it.

Hope that helps and gives you some guidance, I'm fairly new to it all too (6 months in) but like to think I've done my research

Cheers and welcome!

 

[PDSimon]

I didn't remove the carbon media no. I suppose you can but I've never read a good benefit from it although I'm new so its best to double check

 

[kaivalagi]

I didn't remove the carbon media no. I suppose you can but I've never read a good benefit from it although I'm new so its best to double check

Hi PDSimon

The carbon sleeves in the U3 also hold the other media in so removing them sort of removes an integral part of the filter...they aren't all that effective anyway really, they'll not do anything after a few weeks to be fair and as long as your not adding any fish medication early on they won't cause any issues.

p.s. Kaiser, if you go fish-less look at PDSimons page on his cycling so far, it's very detailed (he even has graphs ) and theirs lots of other talk in there about fish etc which will probably help too.

 

[KAISER]

Thats great, thanks guys, that gives me some good stuff to think about

 

[kaivalagi]

No worries, just come back with any questions you have, between us we'll set you straight

Sorry PDSimon, I hijacked a little there, I know you want to pass on your wisdom now! When Kaiser does a fish-less cycle I'll be no good for any of it!

 

[PDSimon]

I prefer it when the more experienced support/add on to what I've said. I'm still a newbie


Best of luck KAISER

 

[emmettbaby]

If you do get cories simply as a way to stir the sand, I've been told pygmies are very fragile, so it wouldn't be a good idea to get those. I have 5 trilineatus (odds are the store will say julii... and they're probably not julii) and they are very hardy.

My first cory (just got one because I didn't know they needed shoals) is still alive after surviving a fish-less cycle and appears to be doing fine. So these fish would be a good choice for fish-in cycles. But it would be a better idea to do a fishless cycle, more work and I'm not sure how sensitive you are to animal pain, but I hated seeing Ed (yeah, I named it... so what? And if I find it's a female when it grows up, the name is switching to Edna) suffer in the tank. His gills turned red n stuff and he didn't swim at like all, really thought he was going to die... several times.

And if you get the cories, but don't have any intention on breeding them, just leave any eggs in the tank so your other fish can eat them as a little added protein.