My Fishless Cycle

[Twinklecaz]

I got an email yesterday saying my plants had been posted so I'm hoping they'll come tomorrow


Oh I see what you're doing (I think)....you're leaving some decaying plants in your tank so there's still more ammonia being produced so that more fish won't be a shock to the filter. Does that work? Coz I might do it too until I'm fully stocked (well until I have the pandas - 6 neons in 6 months time I don't think will make much difference to it).

 

[PDSimon]

twinkle, you could probably add 100% stock with no worry, so stop worrying!

I have had no problems with ammonia or nitrite and I didn't have 1 double 0. my stocking is less than 50% but you have had a lot of double 0's, ok, there not all in one go but they're going to be smaller fish for you too remember!

its not the end of the world if you have to do a couple of waterchanges either, the fish would be fine.

your stocking 75% ish so don't worry about it

 

[JoshuaA]

Does that work?

No idea, it has been 0.0 since the day I added the fish though!

Great the plants! If you did a custom order mine came out great so if you just put them in a bowl of water quickly when you get them then I sorted mine out into plastic bags. Then when I went to use it within about an hour or two I then washed them individually under a running tap and a bucket of water then placed them into the tank.

Proper planning prevents #101## poor performance.

So plan your arrangement before you start going otherwise you have a bunch of plants sitting irregularly around the tank.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Lol yeah, i was thinking about that.

yeah I kinda ordered. I just said I want'ed 4-6 Amazon Swords, one of those floating Amazonian Frogbites for my Gouramis and then some plants that look similar AS'S but are smaller lol..


Gah, now I'm close to actually getting the fish I've just been trying to fine tune specific requirments. It seems the Platys like a different PH (and hardness) from the Gouramis and Pandas. Not that there's much I can do about the PH anyway......but I'm trying to find the right "average" temperature to set my heater to that they'll all be content with.

 

[JoshuaA]

##143### You should use this. Just make sure you put the 3 "W" and a ".Com" afterwards.
Fish can adjust to various pHs quite easily, or so I have read on this site over and over again.

It appears I cannot say ##143### for some reason? Why is that?

Aq Advisor without the space... can someone elaborate why that word is filtered?

 

[Twinklecaz]

I was wondering if it was the bugs it had. My computer went mental at me when I tried to get on it one night.


OOo they tell you temps do they. I'll go on now coz I'm on work's comp so who cares.


Double 0's again but it did end up being nearer a 13 hour test today.

 

[waterdrop]

I think you're all three probably beginning to realize how conservative the process is. Getting out to qualifying and then not fully stocking should result in very little chance that the fish are ever exposed to excessive toxins. What I observed with knowledge of the nitrogen cycle and use of the fishless cycle was that my fish were alert, curious and in full color and health from day one (other than the usual short fear from transport.) If you are a brand new beginner on your first tank there may be no way to compare this against -not- knowing about this stuff. As a beginner with no knowledge of the whole bacteria, nitrogen cycle topic years and years ago I used to see tanks of fish go in and out of bad states and not know what the causes were - we used to think many of these fish were prone to disease and that it was normal to be trying various medications - its awful to think back about it! By caring enough to be here and follow through as you three have done, you should be able to enjoy fish that will be at their optimum for what tanks and the hobby can accomplish I think.

For Caz I suspect the temperature compromise will not be a big deal at all. Just write down the optimal ranges of each type and stare at it for a bit and decide on something. If you later discover that one or the other of your types is more sensitive to what you've chosen you can tweek a degree or two and see if things are better. The optimal ranges are of much more interest to breeders than to those of us wanting a healthy community tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Twinklecaz]

OK thank WD

Plants came today, Mum called and told me. She said one (I hope she means one plant and not one sachet) looks a bit yellow. But I'm guessing most plants can just be pruned down to the roots and start again in that case anyway?

 

[Liverbird36]

OK thank WD

Plants came today, Mum called and told me. She said one (I hope she means one plant and not one sachet) looks a bit yellow. But I'm guessing most plants can just be pruned down to the roots and start again in that case anyway?

Not sure with regards to aquariums but when I have planted out in my garden some dreadful looking plants, after a good old trim, within a short space of time they come back nice and healthy again.

 

[PDSimon]

what plants are they caz? with amazon swords its best to remove all the outer leaves and any leaves which reach the top of the aquarium.

 

[JoshuaA]

What Simon says above, follow

The weeds tended to be a bit browned but I cut all of mine in half anyway and planted them so they could grow healthily. I only had to remove 3 leaves in total out of all the amazon swords I had.

The water sprites he supplies are fantastic and look great!

The duckweed I think roots within like 2 days and bursts into live in about 3 days. Most of the weeds will grow as soon as you put them in water. Though remember to remove the lower leaves of the weeeds when you plant them.

I have some sort of plant/bush trimming I have no idea what it is but in under a week it has burst into life with a roots all over 3 new "branches" and a lot of leaves. I'll have to get a picture so someone can ID it for me.

Just make sure you give them a good wash! and trim the weeds!!

 

[PDSimon]

my amazon has 1 new full sized and 1/4 sized already after being uprooted a lot too

 

[Twinklecaz]

Will I get a list or something tell me what they are? I'll recognise the Swords but that's prob it lol.

If not it's photohelp town!

 

[JoshuaA]

my amazon has 1 new full sized and 1/4 sized already after being uprooted a lot too

How many roots are above the substrate in your tank? Mine were initially planted completely under the substrate but after reading that they should be slightly exposed or some of them at least, when I went back to check they had already done that for me!

I'm considering ditching the Amazons in my tank though for a bunch of water sprites. because they are pretty cool and make great obstacles.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Fish day results all good but can I just check......my Nitrate is 10.. That's ok isn't it? It's meant to be kept below 40 isn't it (my tap water is 0).

I guess it's showing them coz of the 5-10% of cycling water I left in the bottom.