Nano tank, planted, fishless cycle + Pics

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It looks good so far! ;)

Plants will make it look even better, make sure to let some tall background plants (Amazon Swords, Anacharis, etc,) And maybe a few foreground plants. (Dwarf hairgrass)

It definitely will look better when the water clears up, good luck! :)
 
I am getting concerned about two things.

Firstly there is quite a lot of biofilm on the surface of the tank and coming out the outlets on the filter (it's built into the hood). Anything to worry about?

Secondly, there seems to be a fuzzy material growing on the bogwood. It has been boiled. Could it be fungal growth or bacterial and regardless is it anything to worry about? I've attached a picture below.


I test the water again tomorrow, if it's following the pattern it should be around 0.5ppm ammonia, although I haven't seen any nitrite yet.


Cheers
 
See image
 

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I am getting concerned about two things.

Firstly there is quite a lot of biofilm on the surface of the tank and coming out the outlets on the filter (it's built into the hood). Anything to worry about?

Secondly, there seems to be a fuzzy material growing on the bogwood. It has been boiled. Could it be fungal growth or bacterial and regardless is it anything to worry about? I've attached a picture below.


I test the water again tomorrow, if it's following the pattern it should be around 0.5ppm ammonia, although I haven't seen any nitrite yet.


Cheers

So the biofilm on the surface is normal for a new tank. Do you have a filter in the tank? And is it on all the time?

I had that problem with my wood when I first put it in my tank< but after a while it cleared up. (After I took it out, and scrubbed it really good a couple of times, lol) :)
 
Hi Phoenix.

Yes it's on all the time, cycle-wise it's coming along nicely :)

Good to know it's normal for now.

Yeah the fuzzy stuff seems to brush off fairly easy, just wondered what it was.
 
It could be stuff you just missed when cleaning, nothing to worry about really. :)
 
Right, after an initial dose 3.0ppm of ammonia, I am now getting around ~0.5ppm.

But I have no nitrites and no nitrates.

Where is the ammonia going? Should I dose it again?




Cheers
 
I've been through the thread but I'm not sure if you have plants in there yet?

If you do, they will be taking up the ammonia, and plants don't turn ammonia into nitrite or nitrate.
 
I do have plants in, but I only planted it on Saturday.

So even before the plants were there I cannot account for the ammonia decrease?

I redosed it to around 2ppm also on Saturday just after planting. I have tested just today (3 days after re-dose) and my results are around 0.75ppm.

I HAVE NITRITES! Reading around 2.0ppm so we are seeing progress! Could this be from decaying plants (bits are dying already...)

Looks like I also have around 0.25ppm of nitrate too, could be mistaken but it doesn't look totally yellow.
 
Here's what we have.


Another thing on my mind right now is that the build in pump system is probably too strong for a betta. I've taken a tube from the water outlet and stuck it into the filtration box, but obviouslt this seems to have increased the vertical downflow out the box instead. Not sure what the solution is... the filtration box can't be removed, but there's nothing stopping me putting a different external filter on if I think it's too strong. Thoughts?
 

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Ok here's an update.

I'm nearing the end of the cycle. I dosed up to 2ppm of ammonia, and after 24 hours I had 0 ammonia but 0.25ppm nitrite. I waited until it was 0 then dosed to 2ppm again.

I modified the pump so that the pesky 2nd outlet pipe which was blowing a current across the tank feeds straight back to the filter. I bought a black plastic file and used the plastic to make a cover for the main outlet box, built into the hood. I angled it toward the back of the tank. So now I have really good filtration but no Betta-unfriendly current.

And, I'm quite happy with the appearance so far. Just hope the bioload is enough to keep the plants thriving...
 

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