Just Starting Out And Completely Confused!

[stormy78]

Your tank is looking nice! I wouldnt worry about losing your first pet, the snail, give it a week or so and you will have hundreds of them! lol

 

[iankent]

I've had a look at some of those fish - I particularly like the Kribensis, but they're bottom dwellers so arent compatible with the frogs! There's so many fish to choose from, I think I'll need another few trips to the LFS before I stock my tank, and plenty of research!

thanks for the info about the cycle - I added more ammonia last night, and this morning the ammonia level is still reasonably high, so I assume most of the first lot went to the plants! There's still no trace of nitrites, and the nitrates havent changed since last night. Just seems a bit odd, but I'm sure I'll notice when the nitrites go up!

So next steps for now is just wait until the ammonia drops to 0, then add more ammonia and start checking the nitrite levels?

i'm also starting to get quite obsessed with these tiny snails - they're suprisingly active considering how small they are!!

This one is about 1mm long, maybe a little bit smaller - anyone know what they are?

thanks!

 

[stormy78]

I've had a look at some of those fish - I particularly like the Kribensis, but they're bottom dwellers so arent compatible with the frogs! There's so many fish to choose from, I think I'll need another few trips to the LFS before I stock my tank, and plenty of research!

thanks for the info about the cycle - I added more ammonia last night, and this morning the ammonia level is still reasonably high, so I assume most of the first lot went to the plants! There's still no trace of nitrites, and the nitrates havent changed since last night. Just seems a bit odd, but I'm sure I'll notice when the nitrites go up!

So next steps for now is just wait until the ammonia drops to 0, then add more ammonia and start checking the nitrite levels?

i'm also starting to get quite obsessed with these tiny snails - they're suprisingly active considering how small they are!!

This one is about 1mm long, maybe a little bit smaller - anyone know what they are?

thanks!

I dont know their names but you tend to get them on your plants if you dont treat the plants before placing them in the tank. My advice would be to remove them on site as they really do breed like crazy. I'm removing on average 10 a day at the moment!!!

 

[iankent]

thanks - have been trying to identify them - got a slightly better photo but it doesnt really help! i'm planning on removing most of them during the water change if I can - most of them are far too small to do anything about easily at the moment, especially at the bottom of the tank! other than that I'm hoping one of my fish will eat them lol!

 

[iankent]

Seen quite a change in my water test results today, which was a nice surprise! You can see the full info here http/aquarium.stormail.co.uk/water.php, but for a summary:

1. Ammonia dropped from 4ppm to 1ppm
2. Nitrites rose from 0.25ppm to 5ppm

There's also bright green spots on the glass, and the bright green patch on my rock has started to spread quite a bit - I assume this means all is looking good?

One last question - the snails are floating upside down on the surface of the water, occasionally sinking to the bottom to wander a little bit - is this just what snails do, or are the high ammonia/nitrite levels making them sick? (Would make me feel a bit guilty, but I wanted rid of them anyway!)

thanks!