New Owner Saying "hello", And Inevitable Cycling Questions

[wombatt]

Hello all, after months of badgering from my 10 year old son, I relented and got us a fish tank. It's a Juwel Rio 60L. Having had many a goldfish die on me when I was young (back in the old days when you could win them at fairs and carry them home in a plastic bag) I was (and am) keen to do it right and spoke to the people in a local fish shop about what to do. So, I let the tank run for 24 hours then introduced 3 platys, and a few more fish at roughly 7 day intervals. Then I did what I should have done at the start and got onto the internet and found a whole heap of information, most of it conflicting. That was very confusing. I also found this site.

Had I known then what I know now, I would have done things differently (fishless I expect). I have now learned a lot about cycling but given that I have this 60l tank with 13 fish in it (3 platys, 6 guppies, 2 dwarf guramis and 2 mollies) I am slightly concerned that after 5 weeks I have seen no nitrites at any time and ammonia levels that I am keeping in check with a 20% water change around every 5 days. I have been adding Tetra Safestart and Tetra Aquasafe to the 12L of new water I am adding. Should I just hang in there, keep doing the water changes and wait for nitrites to start heading up? After about 4-5 days the ammonia levels reach 0.25mg/L and I do a water change then. LFS said water changes remove the very bacteria I am trying to cultivate so not to do them so often, but other resources say the bacteria live on surfaces rather than floating about so frequent water changes are a good thing. In any case high ammonia == dead fish so I don't see I have much choice at this point but to keep doing the changes. I reduced the feeding to what they will eat in 2 mins every other day but am a bit worried I'm starving them.

Is there anything I should be doing that I am not? Or, anything I am doing wrong? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[The chilly dipper]

Hello all, after months of badgering from my 10 year old son, I relented and got us a fish tank. It's a Juwel Rio 60L. Having had many a goldfish die on me when I was young (back in the old days when you could win them at fairs and carry them home in a plastic bag) I was (and am) keen to do it right and spoke to the people in a local fish shop about what to do. So, I let the tank run for 24 hours then introduced 3 platys, and a few more fish at roughly 7 day intervals. Then I did what I should have done at the start and got onto the internet and found a whole heap of information, most of it conflicting. That was very confusing. I also found this site.

Had I known then what I know now, I would have done things differently (fishless I expect). I have now learned a lot about cycling but given that I have this 60l tank with 13 fish in it (3 platys, 6 guppies, 2 dwarf guramis and 2 mollies) I am slightly concerned that after 5 weeks I have seen no nitrites at any time and ammonia levels that I am keeping in check with a 20% water change around every 5 days. I have been adding Tetra Safestart and Tetra Aquasafe to the 12L of new water I am adding. Should I just hang in there, keep doing the water changes and wait for nitrites to start heading up? After about 4-5 days the ammonia levels reach 0.25mg/L and I do a water change then. LFS said water changes remove the very bacteria I am trying to cultivate so not to do them so often, but other resources say the bacteria live on surfaces rather than floating about so frequent water changes are a good thing. In any case high ammonia == dead fish so I don't see I have much choice at this point but to keep doing the changes. I reduced the feeding to what they will eat in 2 mins every other day but am a bit worried I'm starving them.

Is there anything I should be doing that I am not? Or, anything I am doing wrong? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

hello and welcome to the forum mate.

you cannot starve your fish a pinch once as day is good enough they have very small "stomachs".

water changes do not remove the bacteria at all. if you want to keep your fish happy,a waterchange is less stressfull than having ammonia in the water. the bacteria you speak of does not live in the water, they live in filter sponges and on the bottom of the tank.

mate it took me 3 months to fish in cycle my tank. things take so much longer with fish in..keep up your changes and keep an eye on the fish your doing all you can

whats your waters ph? are your fish happy and also do you dechlorinate your water?

again welcome

 

[wombatt]

Hi Chilly Dipper, thanks for the reply. Water ph is 8.0 and the Aquasafe bottle says it removes chlorine. The fish seem perfectly happy to me. They are not gasping or anything and are zooming (happily I think) all over the tank. I have a friend who has a well established tank so am thinking of asking for a cup of gravel in the hope that would help. Do you think it would?

 

[fluttermoth]

Only if he has an undergravel filter.

What would be better is if he, like most people, has an internal or external power filter is for him to give you a bit of his media (thats anything that sits in the filter; could be sponges or ceramic rings or something like that).

You can safely take up to a third of the media from an established filter, as long as you replace it with new. Please note that the 'washings' from the filter will not do all that much good, as the bacteria cling quite strongly to surfaces. It does need to be an actual bit of media.

 

[wombatt]

Thanks Fluttermoth

 

[wombatt]

OK, I was able to get hold of a chunk of sponge from a friend's filter, and also a few ceramic things from the same filter and a bit of gravel. I have added all those and am hoping to see some results. How long might it typically take before I start to see nitrites rising? Thanks.