My Fishless Cycling Log

[Falling Ash]

Low range 7.6, high range 8

 

[Warehouse]

Low range 7.6, high range 8

Perfect. I'm also waiting to see that purple test tube start to go towards blue .

 

[Aqua Tom]

Hi, the ammonia went down to 0 yesterday, I re-dosed to 3ppm, and today it's 0.5ppm. The nitrites I couldn't read because the colour wasn't on the chart, it was a fuschia pink colour. Does this mean the nitrites are too high? Can this stall my cycle, and should I do a water change? Thanks.

All it means is that your A-bacs are producing Nitrite at a very high rate, which is what we want. The pink colour you see is because the Nitrite is too high for the test kit to measure & it doent have a colour for it.
Now we just wait for the N-bacs to start consuming that Nitrite.
Your cycle is far from stalled, it is actualy speeding along nicely.

Tom

 

[KittyKat]

Agree with above, you're doing well

 

[Skins]

Stage 3 is looming

Keith.

 

[Falling Ash]

Great, thanks for all the input! Ammonia's down to 0 now in 48 hours, so I'm adding more again. I try my hardest not to inhale any but the smell is so strong it fills the room. Any tips?

 

[Aqua Tom]

Great, thanks for all the input! Ammonia's down to 0 now in 48 hours, so I'm adding more again. I try my hardest not to inhale any but the smell is so strong it fills the room. Any tips?

Try using a childs 5ml dosing syringe rather than a spoon. It is what i use & I dont get any ammonia smell.

About a £1 behind the counter at any chemists.


Tom

 

[Skins]

Great, thanks for all the input! Ammonia's down to 0 now in 48 hours, so I'm adding more again. I try my hardest not to inhale any but the smell is so strong it fills the room. Any tips?

Try using a childs 5ml dosing syringe rather than a spoon. It is what i use & I dont get any ammonia smell.

About a £1 behind the counter at any chemists.


Tom

I did the same as Tom, you limit the smell of ammonia greatly.

Keith.

 

[Falling Ash]

Great tip, it's much easier to dose now, thanks. The ammonia is being processed quickly now, the nitrites haven't dropped yet. Is there anything else I should be doing? Nitrates are 10ppm. What's the likelihood of it being ready for fish next weekend?

 

[Falling Ash]

I went to check out the local fish today, these are some that interested me: cardinal tetras, black neon tetras, glowlight tetras, dwarf gourami, honey gourami, cherry barb, kuhli loach, endler's livebearers, marble platies, assassin snail. Which of these would be suitable for a 65 litre tank? Which can be kept together and how many? Thanks.

 

[waterdrop]

"I went to check out the local fish today, these are some that interested me: cardinal tetras, black neon tetras, glowlight tetras, dwarf gourami, honey gourami, cherry barb, kuhli loach, endler's livebearers, marble platies, assassin snail. Which of these would be suitable for a 65 litre tank? Which can be kept together and how many? Thanks."

You've listed a wide range of fish here. Most of them are within the realm of normal tropical fish that I would think of as ok (in the right numbers and combinations) for a 65L/17G tank. Cardinals, blacks, glowlights, honeys, cherrys, endlers, platies are all pretty easy-going fish as far as getting along with other species in a community tank. Dwarves can -sometimes- be a little nippy under the wrong conditions, but sometimes they're great. Kuhli's I don't know that much about, I think they are quite shy. For livebearers like endlers and platies you have to realize you are in the baby industry and may need to deal with your bioload going up from reproduction and the subsequent need to re-home a lot of young baby fish (assuming you don't get males only.) These livebearers would also appreciate pretty hard water, whereas most of the other fish you've listed would like softer water, but these things are not necessarily necessitites. By the way, the first stretch of fish; cardinals, blacks, glowlights (and many other tetras), honeys and cherrys are particularly forgiving and nice fish for first community tanks. Rasbora Heteromorpha (Trigonostigma heteromorpha scientific name now I think) are also really good starter fish, although they and rummy noses are a tad bigger (meaning they take more of your total stocking, which quickly becomes a problem in a 17G (maybe 17 one-inch fish or so?))...anyway you sound off to some good planning. Its always good to list the minimum groupings when listing your planned fish (all the tetras need 6 or more, the gouramis may need 1 only or 1 male, 2 females, loaches need 6?... different species have different grouping needs and you just keep reading at different web pages.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[KittyKat]

2 ft tank of 65 litres? Here is what I would do with your ideas:
* 6-8 cardinal tetras OR 6-8 black neons OR 6-8 glowlight OR 3m 6f Endlers OR 2m 4f platys (livebearers will breed out of control) OR 2m 4f cherry barbs
* 1m dwarf gourami OR 1m 2f honey gourami (if you don't get an aggressive male)
* 6 dwarf Cory if you have sand
* assassin snails (check what they need to be fed so they don't starve if you haven't got snails)

This is not full stocking, but is a good start. There is little point in going for full stock right away, even more so until you have plants.

In my experience, khulis need a bigger tank and do best if kept in a group of 10+, although 6-10 would also keep them happy

 

[Falling Ash]

Thanks waterdrop, that was very helpful. I've definitely decided not to go down the livebearer route now, I'm going to research more in to the tetras and cherry barbs.

Thanks for the ideas KK, unfortunately I don't have sand, so would 6 glowlight (or black ,or cardinal) tetras, and 1 gourami and some shrimp instead of the corydoras be okay? Or would the shrimp be eaten / attacked by the gourami?

 

[KittyKat]

Thanks waterdrop, that was very helpful. I've definitely decided not to go down the livebearer route now, I'm going to research more in to the tetras and cherry barbs.

Thanks for the ideas KK, unfortunately I don't have sand, so would 6 glowlight (or black ,or cardinal) tetras, and 1 gourami and some shrimp instead of the corydoras be okay? Or would the shrimp be eaten / attacked by the gourami?

It should work, but does depend on the temperament of the gourami. You're more likely to have luck with honey gouramis and shrimp, but keeping three in a tank that size requires only females or a well tempered male and two females.

p.s. I also recommend that you look at espei rasboras instead of the tetras.. you should be able to have 8-10 espei (not harlequins, who are much larger). Sparkling gouramis could also work, but can't guarantee that as they need to be kept in groups of 6+ and I have only ever kept them in larger tanks.

 

[Falling Ash]

I'll keep an eye out for the espei rasboras, my two nearest stores don't have them, but I'll see if I can track some down somewhere. Thanks again!