New Tank Cycling With Fish & Bactinettes

[sd.clark]

Got my Juwel Rekord 96 last Friday. Set it all up on Saturday.
First substrate layer is a plant fertilizer substrate then a layer of fine substrate.I've added some plants from Greenline.

The LFS recommended I use the Bactinettes I last mentioned about. I bought one small container on the Friday and kept in a fridge till Saturday. The Bactinettes are like small gelatin like balls mostly covered with a black substance. The LFS said the solution they were in was ammonia & nitrites to keep bacteria in it alive.
I strained them out of solution, do not rinse them. Put them between the green nitrate sponge and the next blue sponge in the Juwel filter.

I let it run 24 hours till Sunday. Then Sunday I went and bought 6 Zebra Danios. I let the bag they were in rest on the water top for about 1 hour then released them into the tank. 5 of the Danios always swim in a shoal together, the other one was a lot smaller, always swam alone and looked very thin. All fish were present and correct on Monday, althought the small one managed to get inside the filter somehow. Got him out with a net and put him back into tank.

Tuesday morning I could not find the small Danio, no sign of it at all. Looked in the filter but no luck, not seen since. Other 5 Danios are doing well, really pleased with them.

Some of the plants are dying off, I might have the top substrate a bit too deep, but the rest are doing well.

I bought the Nutrafin mini master test kit first, not happy with results, find them very hard to read so I've now changed to the API one, very easy to read.

Here's a history of my water test results so far.

Date pH NH3 NO2 NO3 Notes
17/11 8.0 0.0 0.0 50 Test of tap water
18/11 8.0 0.0 0.0 20 Running for 6 hours
19/11 8.0 0.0 0.1 50 Fish entered later in day
20/11 8.0 0.6 1.6 50 15% water change (3 Gal)
21/11 8.0 0.6 3.3 50 15% water change, 10% change later.
22/11 8.0 0.6 1.6 50
23/11 8.0 0.6 1.6 50
24/11 8.0 0.6 1.6 50 Nutrafin test kit results
7.8 1.0 2.0 10 API test results. done 20% water change.

Today I added a Hagen CO2 kit for the plants. Supplied mix had no effect on output.
Added some yeast, now producing lots of CO2.
One problem since adding CO2, the water has gone slightly cloudy

I've been using a gravel cleaner to get rid of a little excess food as well.
Water is currently at 24.8C/76.6F, room is 25C.

So far the fish are doing really well. Feeding them on TetraPro crisps. Only giving them about 3-4 little crisps each, feeding 3 times a day, about 9am, 3pm, then 9pm.
Lights are on a timer, about 11am to 10pm. I think i have 4 male & 1 female.

Added a air curtain at back of tank, they love swimming against the flow of the bubbles and also against the flow from the filter outlet. A coconut shell with 3 holes in it is on the right, in the middle is a bit of mopani wood arched and on left is a plastic tree trunk with exits front, rear and top.

I'm keeping a close eye on them at all time and look forward to getting some bottom feeders some time soon. not sure Panda Cory's would ideal or not.

Any way that's my results with the bactinettes and fish so far.

Steve

 

[dwarfgourami]

This is really interesting, we haven't had a review of the bactinette before. Would be really good if you could keep posting stats.

I would leave panda corys until the tank is mature, i.e. has been up and running for 6 months. Other types of corydoras are hardier and can be added at an earlier stage.

 

[sd.clark]

Any particular Cory in mind, I did read Panda's needed mature tanks. That's why I'm not so sure about them now.

Oh and some of the little bactinette balls got out when I pulled the filters out to look for the missing danio, still no sign of it.


I've found out the cloudy water was being caused by some of the yeast foam going up the pipe. I've tipped some of the solution in the canister away to lower level, then sucked water back through pipe to clear it, then blown it back to stop water. hopefully it should cllear once filter filters it out.

 

[sd.clark]

Here's an update of my cycling with bactinettes & fish.

I added a hagen CO2 on 24th Nov, plants are doing well.

Date pH NH3 NO2 NO3
24/11 7.2 1.0 2.0 10
25/11 7.2 1.0 2.0 20
26/11 7.2 1.0 2.0 10
27/11 7.5 0.5 5.0 20 Unable to change water as Water Board flushing mains pipes.
28/11 7.6 0.25 5.0 40
29/11 7.4 0.25 5.0 40 40% Water change 9am, 20% changed 10:30pm

Ammonia tonight was either 0 or 0.25, probably in between. Used both test kits to check.

1 Danio in trouble, front fins look a bit short. Probably the nitrIte. Swimming round but seems to be struggling.
If he survives till Friday (payday) I'll try and get a small tank to see if he recovers.

I changed 20% of water (4 Gal) then decided to do it again, another 4 Gals this morning.
After coming home from work tonight I tested water. Not sure if nitrItes are between 3 & 5.
Changed another 4 Gal, 20% tonight.

Other Danio are still doing well, so far. Female Danio is getting bigger.

I'll update again later.

Steve.

 

[sd.clark]

Little sick Danio seems to be getting better.
It's been in & out the air curtain all day and is still swimming round the tank.
Hopefully he might recover.

 

[sd.clark]

Tank still going well.
pH=7.2 NO3=40 NH3=0.00 NO2=0.25, nitrates are nearly gone.

Still got the 5 Danios. Sick one recovered.

I've been cycling the tank for 3 weeks now. My final conclusion on the Bactinettes is that they don't do a lot.
Maybe from the initial stage they helped introduce some bacteria into the system but after that they had no effect on nitrItes & ammonia.

I've also started a second tank in bedroom, not using bacinettes for this one, or fish!
Just planted it and had to move it across room so drained it down, moved it then refilled from fresh.

 

[The-Wolf]

how were your bactinettes dispensed.
were they from a machine that dosed into a bag or were they in a fridge?
what colour were the pearls, opaque or black?

 

[sd.clark]

The Bactinettes were in a small plastic container in a fridge. They were black in colour, a few were clear.
On the whole I'm not sure if they had any effect.

Finally got nitrItes down to zero last Wednesday. Taken about 4 weeks.
At times nitrItes reading went above API test kit reading of 5, done plenty of water changes.

Of 6 original Zebra Danios, 1 died very soon after, about 1-2 days. Rest ave just got bigger and a doing very well.

Now that the tank has cycled I've got more fish.
6 x Bronze Cory's, 3 x Zebra Loach, 1 x Redtailed Black Shark (very small one, tame at the mo' )

Getting some shrimp tomorrow. Won bid on eBay.
5 x Algae, 5 x Cherry, 5 x Tiger, 5 x Bumblebee shrimp.
Getting a bit of brown algae. Other than that everything is going great.

Steve