just set up a new aquarium...

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TAZZ

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hi all just managed to set up the33 gallon tank i bought yesterday heh looks awesome =)

anyway i added the water treatment to it, and started the water heater/water filter. everything is running fine

but when i did the nitrite and ammonia tests, the water in the test tubes didnt even change color, not even slightly LOL. what does this mean?

also what pH should i b looking for, if im setting up a tropical tank?

thanks

tazz
 
that means you have no ammonia or nitrite in the tank... which is kinda to be expected when you have no fish.

pH should be close to 7, but i feel it's better to make your fish get used to your normal pH than to try to change it; when you start changing it it gets unstable.
 
kewl! okay so when is it safe to add in fish? LOL i read that u should wait like a week or so - after testing...

tazz
 
i guess so lol... well i just got the tank yesterday, set it u ptoday... havnt really had a chance to get any fish. but from what i read, in order to cycle the tank, once its set up, i run the tests every few days??

heh im all confused now =

tazz
 
hmm can anyone give me advice on a fishless cycle plz? do i just add the "cycle" solution or what??

tazz
 
well reading the lil pamphlet, i was to add 2 capfulls of cycle solution per 10 gallons to a newly developed tank, and repeat after 7 days. hope im doin this right LOL

tazz
 
More recently, products containing colonies of nitrifying bacteria have become available at pet shops (e.g., ``Fritz'', ``Bio-zyme'', ``Cycle''). In theory, adding the bacteria jump-starts the colonization process
So.... all i do, is add in some cycle, monitor the lvls of ammonia and nitrite and nitrate. once ammonia and nitrite lvls are low, and nitrate is higher, the cycle is complete and i can add fish..?

also, i did read about cycling b4, i got a few books out from the library, just want to ask advice first b4 i do anythign heh. like the pet store told me to add in fish after ive added in some chemicals... and i dont have to bother with cycling. but that web site is very informative =) thanks for it

tazz
 
Tazz,
First, congrats on your new tank...

Secondly....A few quick pointers to help get ya going in the right direction...

IMO the products on the market for establishing a new tank (such as cycle, bio-zyme ect) are pure crap. They may help stabalize a seasoned tank, but does nothing to get the cycle up and running.

There are several ways to do this...here are a few...

1. See if your lfs (or a friend who has a tank that has been running for awhile) will give you some aged filter material from one of there filters. If so, place this in your filter (along side the filters own material). This will have a lot of bacteria in it and will help establish your filter.

2. Buy a few hardy fish like zebra danios or the such and place them in your tank. You will have to monitor your water conditions regularly while doing this.

3. Fishless cycle. You will have to buy some plain ammonia with no additives such as perfumes. If you look throughout this site you should find several posts/articles on "fishless cycling". I personally don't use this method so can't really advise on the correct amount of ammonia to add.

Keep in mind this is a pretty basic post. Please look through some of the posts on this site and read up on the best ways for cycling a new tank.

HTH
 
I'm with CM on using fish for cycling it does take a bit longer though but in my opinion its much nicer to have fish in tank even if its only a couple its also nice slowly building it all up (imo) so you can see the interactions of individual fish as you add them in my view it adds to the excitement as after cycling you can get a lot more fish but need to build them up quite slowly prolonging hte exicitement.

For Fish Cycling
Basically 33 gallon tank - I'd reccomend 6 zebra danios or 6 platies being the toughest. You can add to the fish to your tank now. 6 fish should be plenty to cycle your tank with - check the temperature is just right on your tank before you add the fish though :) The cycle usually take 2-4 weeks and during that time don't add any more fish. Don't add more fish until the ammonia and nitrate levels are once again 0, 0. To speed up the cycle as CM says try and get filter squeezings or gravel from another tank which is set up to help bring over some bacteria to your tank to get the cycle going ;) You should probably test after adding your fish on the 2nd day for ammonia and nitrite post the results here as you get them and we'll let you know how its going ;)

Good luck and enjoy- nice big tank you got too what fish do u plan on keeping eventually?
 
For the water to cycle you need to have bacteria in the filter (bacteria convert Ammonia (fish waste) which is highly toxic into NitrIte (also highly toxic!) then another lot of bacteria convert NitrIte into nitrAte (untoxic (well slightly but only in really high concentrations which is why you do water changes))which is why there are two stages of cycling - one for the ammonia converting bacteria to build up and one for the nitrite converting bacteria to build up.

These bacteria will be there naturally in very small numbers, as soon as you add your fish you will start to get fish poop - Ammonia! The bacteria numbers will begin to build up and the cycle will have started then you just have to wait for the bacteria to build up enough that they convert all the ammonia and future ammonia into nitrIte thats why you need the test kit to see how the cycles progressing The same happens with the bacteria which converts nitrIte to nitrAte and only when both the ammonia levels and the nitrITe levels are 0 is it safe for you to add more fish - the tank is said to be cycled now you can add now the fish that you really want .

Thats what I posted on a previous post- do a search for "cycling" on the forum you'll find loads of information .

You can also try this extremlely good article: http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html
 
Fishless cycling is best - imho - here's how:
you need to get pure amonia - add a few drops and do a check - the amonia level has to be high - as high as your chart goes. Add more amonia if necessary. Leave everything as it is, check water after 3 days. Keep checking amonia levels in the water until clear and note how many days it took. Once clear add pure amonia again and go through the whole procedure again - noting how long it takes till no amonia - each time you do this the time between high and no amonia levels will decrease. Keep this up until the amonia level drops within a day. When you get to this stage, check nitrites - they should also show zero levels. Do a 50% water change - check water next day and if clear go and buy as many fish as your tank will take. Believe me, it works, I've done it and never lost a fish through amonia or nitrite poisoning. Good luck :p :) :thumbs:
 
well just bought some zebra danios =) like 6 but the dude at teh store gave me a 7th for free - cause i waited for him =P

they zippy lil fish eh =) love em hehe will prolly test the water when i come home from work in about 11 hrs from now... (11pm est) will post all results from those tests in this post =)

tazz
 

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