My First Attempt At Fishless Cycling... Help!

[EmilyC]

Thanks Waterdrop... feeling better after reading your post

I've been fairly good at doing water changes on my biorb, the longest I've ever left it without a change was two weeks, so I'm not too concerned now about OTS, I'll keep doing the water changes until the results are prefect! and will then check more regularly to make sure they don't get out of hand again. Hopefully my larger tank will cycle soon and they can all be swimming in their beautiful new surrondings.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the plants marked up below are non aquatic. If they are what the LFS has just sold you, you should take them back and ask for a refund.

The other plants on the left are hard to identify, but are not doing too well. My best advice to you would be to leave the planted aspect of the tank until you have finished cycling. Carry on cycling the tank without any lights, and have a hunt around for planted tank forums.

You could read up on the best fertilisers around such as TPN+, for ease of use. With a product such as this, you won`t need to mess around with root tabs.

Dave.

 

[waterdrop]

Emily, I do defer to Dave, he's one of our planted gurus and knows his stuff. I did think that tall one looked suspicious and was not something I'd seen in planted tanks. Its very common to be sold plants that are either meant to be "emerged" (coming out of surface) instead of submerged, or are entirely terrestrial and not meant for water.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[EmilyC]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the plants marked up below are non aquatic. If they are what the LFS has just sold you, you should take them back and ask for a refund.

The other plants on the left are hard to identify, but are not doing too well. My best advice to you would be to leave the planted aspect of the tank until you have finished cycling. Carry on cycling the tank without any lights, and have a hunt around for planted tank forums.

You could read up on the best fertilisers around such as TPN+, for ease of use. With a product such as this, you won`t need to mess around with root tabs.

Dave.

OH no I was thinking my tank was looking all pretty... yes my LFS did sell them to me.... How can I tell what an aquatic plant is and what isn't... thanks

 

[EmilyC]

Aside from the planting issue... got my first BLUE and YELLOW results this morning!!!! Am VERY VERY VERY HAPPY

I think I remember reading somewhere on someone else's post about a "qualifying week"?? I had a look over the beginners resources and couldn't see anything in there about it??

Also these are the fish I currently have in my biorb, should I move them all over at once, or wait and do them a few days apart and in what order??

5 Cardinal Tetras
3 Corys
3 Cherry Shrimps
2 Chain loaches
2 Small fishes that suck on the side of the tank!! (sorry I forget what they are called)

THANKS

PS Waterdrop... i tested the biorb water and all is fine once more!!! Am happy my fishies are living in the nice clean water they deserve!

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Emily,

If you got your first double-zero at 24 hours after adding ammonia then congratulations, you've reached a milestone! Next you want to watch for when the colonies can process 5ppm of ammonia down to double-zeros within 12 hours. As soon as you hit a day when they do that then that starts your "qualifying week," the idea of which was ideally just to finish out the week verifying that you keep dropping to zeros in 12 hours without a glitch and meanwhile making the final plans for your big water change and fish add on the following weekend.

If you've only just reached the zeros happening at 24 hours, be aware that getting the nitrite(NO2) to drop within 12 hours is often a bit slow for people, but eventually it happens and is very solid after that.

Once your fishless cycle is finished, I'd consider moving all but the cardinals and if you are planning to add other species that are hardy at tank startups I might add that to the list. The cardinals are usually less risky if you allow the tank to mature for about 6 months. Depending on how much of a hardship this feels like to you, you might consider whether the tank stats have remained very good through about 4 months and possibly move them then.

Glad things are going well, you seem to be getting the hang of it nicely,
~~waterdrop~~

 

[EmilyC]

Thanks WD

I've been checking the Nitrites- it's taking about 20 hours to process down to 0, so I guess I still have a bit of a ways to go.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what other fish I could add to my take, I've seen some lovely looking golden rams in my LFS and I'm thinking about those, and I LOVE jet black mollies, so I was thinking about those as well... would these live happily together? Anyone have any other favourites I should consider? I've got a 65l tank, so can't really have too big! All suggestions appreciated