New Cichlid Tank

[JPetrillo]

Hello everyone, I'm setting up a new Cichlid tank (40gal). It's been running for almost 3 days now (since Monday night - No fish yet of course).

Im trying to get everything all setup and ready for the first couple fish, but I feel like I screwed up the whole thing last night... Last night I went to my LPS and they gave me the PH8.2 and the Cichlid Salt to add.

First I added the PH8.2 and then the Cichlid Salt. At first I only read the directions on the outside of the bottles and the PH8.2 bottle said nothing about having to add any Cichlid Salt BEFORE you add the PH8.2. Later I decided to read the insert that came inside the PH8.2 bottle and it said to NEVER add it without first adding Cichlid Salt, which I didnt do... is it going to be okay? Seems like my water is more cloudy than it was the 1st and 2nd day.

For those of you who want more detail on exactly what I've done since Day 1 here it is:

I had reptiles in my 40gal tank a while ago. I took it and sprayed it down good and then whiped it out with that "Cycle" solution (what the LPS told me to do - they said I didnt need to use bleech or anything like that)

I then:
-Put the rocks in (after I boiled them clean).
-Put 2 capfulls (out of 7 capfulls recommened for 40gal) of "Cycle" on top of the dry rocks.
-Put the Aquarium Salt on top of the dry rocks (the recommended amt. for 40gal).
-Sprayed tap water from the hose on top of the rock/Aquarium Salt/Cycle that I added before the water and filled it up all the way (this also disolved all the Aquarium Salt and mixed in the Cycle that was on top of the rocks at the same time).
-Turned on the filter and heater.
-Added the other 5 capfulls of Cycle to the water.
-Let it run for 1 day and then I added some fake coral, an air pump and two bubblers and then 3 live plants.
-1 day after that (last night) is when I went the the pet shop and they gave me the PH8.2 and Cichlid Salt to add. I also added some Stress Coat last night.

Anyways I'm just lookin for you all to tell me if I went about doing all this the right way or not or if I did anything (or all of it) wrong! Please let me know what you all think! My LPS gets their new shipment of Cichlids in tomorrow - I wanted to add two tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks,
Jesse

 

[semper fi]

you just set up this tank two days ago? personally, i would not rely on cycle to feel confident that my tanks is cycled. you have no way of telling the age of the product.

cycling is the first step to starting a fish tank. there are basically two ways to cycle one is to start with adding ammonia to jumpstart the tank. the other is to add fish to start the cycling. with a fishless cycle you need to start the cycling by adding some element other than fish to start raising the levels of ammonia. ammonia is created mostly by fish waste, uneaten food or decomposing plant matter. you can acheive this by one of two ways. either purchase ammonia and add it by drop til the levels of ammonia are raised. you can tell if the ammonia is raised by using a test kit that should be on hand whenever keeping fish. the ammonia should be pure. if you shake it and it bubbles it is not pure but has additives to it. another way is to feed the empty tank letting the food decompose on the gravel bed. ammonia is then turned into nitrites. nitrites is a lesser concentrated form of ammonia. still harmful to fish but not as harmful as the purer form, ammonia. once the levels of ammonia peak, the levels of nitrites should start to raise and the levels of ammonia lower.

the nitrite step is important as this is where the nitrifying bacteria is formed. this is also called the beneficial bacteria. nitrobacter and nitrosomona are the two beneficial bacterias that are present in the gravel bed and other elements of the aquarium such as the filter medium and water. the greatest amount is detected in the gravel bed. when maintaining the aquarium after cycling, you want to make sure that you do not vaccuum to far into the gravel bed. this can remove the bacteria and cause the tank to go into a minicycle. a minicycle occurs when the beneficial bacteria cannot handle the load of the tank and must multiply to rid the tank of nitrites. this bacteria feeds on the nitrites in the tank.

nitrites are then turned into nitrates. the lesser concentrated of the three. nitrates are essential in planted tanks. aquatic plants feed on nitrates. faster growing plants require higher levels of nitrates than slower growing ones. once the nitrates have risen plants can be introduced to lower the levels of nitrates.

once the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates have peaked and lowered and remained at zero, the tank is considered cycled. the biological filter has been established to handle the load of the tank. some aquarists will experience a bacterial bloom. this is a milky white cloudiness to the tank water. blooms will normally dissipate in a few days. fish can be introduced slowly so the bacteria colony can increase to handle the higher amounts of waste produced by the fish.

that is imo the only proper way to cycle a tank.

this is also a very good reference article for setting up your tank.

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=27706

 

[JPetrillo]

Yes, thank you for the reply! I understand the whole nitrogen cycle and how it works im just wondering if I did everything else the right way in the beginning just because my water is looking a little cloudy now and I'm worried I did something wrong with the Aquarium Salt or how I added the PH8.2 before I added the Cichlid Salt, ect.

 

[semper fi]

i am not sure about that. i don't add salt to my tanks unless i am treating a fish. salt is not necessary. you can and some do use it on a regular basis.

 

[mrV]

Do you own conductivity meter? If you add salt, you must measure the conductivity too - it's important that you don't add too much that salt.

e.g. for tang. fishes, conductivity is about 650 uS/cm (u=micro). For malawis is about 250 uS/cm.

Here are some numbers from lake of tanganyika. And here from malawi.

 

[JPetrillo]

Hey mrV, I dont have a conductivity meter, but thanks for the links! I just added as much for each as they said to add for the amount of water I am using.

Everything seems okay anways... Ill be getting my first couple of fish in the next day or so now... I think I'll get two "CatSharks" to help the Nitrogen cycle get into full swing before I spend more money on the nicer Cichlids that I wouldnt want to die!

My local pet shop gets their new Cichlids in tomorrow so I wont be able to get any that early yet so I will probably end up waiting till their next shipment they get, which will probably be another week, before I buy any Cichlids and just get two CatSharks tomorrow for now for the cycle.

Sound good?

Thanks,
Jesse

 

[loafybones]

Sprayed tap water from the hose on top of the rock/Aquarium Salt/Cycle that I added before the water and filled it up all the way

A bit off the point sorry, but did you not add dechlorinator to the water?
As important as Cycling is removing chlorine from the tap water, this can hinder the Cycling process and cause stress and growth problems in fish.

Also do some searching on stress coat, a lot of people are against it, whereas others love it. I have never used it hence have no grounds for an opinion.

Don't take this advice the wrong way, just trying to help as others have helped us

Good luck

Rich



PS Keep some malawis, they are wonderful fish, look at some of ours here