Newbie Here!

[dissimulo]

Thank you, I appriciate your comment on my maturity...but like everyone else, I can be pretty dumb (hence the reason why I'm on this forum). But I am really pleased with the layout of my tank and how it looks etc. but, I am using an Elite 15 Stingray filter which is for 75l tanks, but i have a second one which I am planning on taking back to get a refund unless I should put two filters in my tank. (Over filtering is better than underfiltering right?). Also, the whole 'persuading my dad' thing isn't going to great as we've had a couple of arguments (different subject) and i would just be curious in knowing an easier way of cycling a tank than using ammonia because i want to do it as properly as I can. Well I hope to here from you soon.

Cheers,
Luke.

 

[rabbut]

Liquid ammonia is the easiest option, as yo have control over it's levels after adding it Food can be used, but it is messy and can easily get the ammonia above 8, stalling the cycle If I were you, I would try to perswade your dad to let you get the ammonia. Asking him to read the fishless cycling thread should allow him to understand it's uses, and if I remember correctly, that thread covers the advantages and dissadvantages of both cycling methods. Giving him th esame information that you have should help convince him.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[dissimulo]

Ok, I've decided to buy some liquid ammonia and if i get asked what it is....I will say it is a chemical to stabalise the water (mierly bending the truth ) And I am going to add my second filter because I think whilst I've got it, I might as well keep it. By the way, I have a piece of wood in my tank which I have soaked for a couple of weeks but after leaving my tank for a while pushing water...the water is a murky brown due to (I believe) the wood still releasing crap so will a few water changes do the trick??

Cheers,
Luke.

 

[dissimulo]

Hi, sorry to see you've not replyed. I need some advice, in the corner of my tank...up all the strips of silocone are little fungi/mould type organisms. Also my wood that i put in is growing lots of really fine hair/mould type stuff on it. Is this normal or do i have a giant breeding tank for something out of the film 'Evolution'! (I love that film).

Cheers,
Luke.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Hiya Luke, sorry didn't spot your first post.

Glad you're gonna do the fishless cycle, it's the right choice to make.

The brown water will be tannines from the wood, it won't do any harm. The wood only has a certain amount of tannines in it, eventually it will stop leeching them into the water. So you can either run the tank as normal and it will eventually clear up or theres a couple of things you can try to get rid of it.

You can try boiling it, then soak it some more, when you soak it put it in a bucket of water, each day drain the water off and add new, keep doing this, eventually the water will come clear, when it's clear it's ready to go into the tank.

Or you can put some activated carbon into the filter which will absorb all the tannines and clean the water, but when the carbon is saturated the wood will continue to leech tannines into the water so you'll need to keep replacing the carbon whenever it starts to come back.

personally i would go with option 1 because boiling the wood will probably also get rid of whatevers growing on it

 

[dissimulo]

Nice advice, although isn't the carbon filter stuff called carbon zeolite because if so then my filter contains two baskets of them...and yes they are turning black but i have began to notice the water getting clearer, perhaps the carbon stuff works. As to the boiling...i did that and i left it in a bucket (plus changing the water) so i think i will leave it be. It could be all the bacteria growing. Who knows. But all i want to mention now is my exitment!!! I can not wait to put some fish in and i have been advised by a friend to add erm the oval fish with long things drooping down...Gouramies is it? And just to totally change the subject, the tank has been set up for about two weeks now so i feel a water change is apropriate, am I right?

Anyway, good to here from you non the less.

Cheers,
Luke.

 

[waterdrop]

Oh dear Luke, just had a quick look late tonight and saw this.

You don't want zeolite in there for a fishless cycle!

MW et. al. should be able to explain in the morning...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yup didn't realise you had zeolite in there Luke.

What zeolite does is removes ammonia from the water, what this means is you never develop any ammonia consuming bacteria cos it just doesn't get a chance the zeolite sucks it all in. Now I know this might sound ideal, as in theory you then don't need to cycle the zeolite just sucks up all the ammonia, the problem is that the zeolite can only hold so much ammonia, after a certain point it will become 'full' and stop working, at this point you then end up basically cycling with fish as you've an uncycled filter and nothing to eat up the ammonia.

So you can see how risky it is to rely on Zeolite, what if it runs out while you're on holiday so you don't know about it, what if it runs out and you've got no money to replace it with any new stuff or it's christmas and the shops are shut so you can't get anymore?

It;s never good to rely on things that can run out so easily. You'll need to remove the zeolite and do a fishless cycle without it in.

 

[rabbut]

Just to add to MW's responce, Zeolite cannot often be used with medication eiter, so if you are relying on it and have to medicate, you will have high ammonia at a time when it is even more detrimental to fish health than usual Get the zeolite swapped for some sponge, bio-ceramic or similar media

HTH
Rabbut

 

[dissimulo]

About the zeolite, it looks completely saturated anyway but i have still taken it out but i cant replace it with anything such as filter sponge because theres nothing to hold it in place. Like i said, the tanks been running for two weeks now so would it have caused that much damage?? And thanks a bunch for the information, I really could have made a balls up!

What do i need to do now?

Cheers,
Luke.

(P.S. The filter came with the carbon zeolite already built in so i have only known about it's existance in the last few days...sorry.)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

have you started adding ammonia yet?

 

[rabbut]

Unless you have added ammonia, the zeolite won't have been saturated, and it won't have done any damage. Can you not force the box it's in open to remove the zeolite, replace the media and then glue it shut (assuming you are using media that won't need cleaning, such as ceramics) using liquid glass (it's aquarium safe, trust me I use it a lot )

 

[dissimulo]

Actually, I havn't started adding the ammonia yet, I say it's saturated purely because it used to be lots of little grey ish coloured stones but now the majority of them are black. And all I know about my media is that it's black and fairly rough in a spongy kind of way. Just a little question, what temperature is ideal for the cycling process as i currently have it at 26 degrees celcious.

By the way, my dad has the ammonia and i dont think he is going to give it me yet, if he ever will is a whole otehr thing.

Cheers,
Luke.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

26 is ideal for most fish, get it up to 30 for cycling as it'll go faster?

Why is your Dad not letting you have the ammonia yet? The tank's not cycling while it's sat there full and doing nothing, remind him it'll be costong him money on the electricity bills for no reason until he lets you start cycling.

 

[waterdrop]

This is all good, we're getting somewhere now.

Once we find the right ammonia, lets remember we want to optimize the growth medium for the bacteria. We're going to want 30C/86F temp, 8.0-8.4 pH, a little iron (we can use some liquid plant ferts.), and we're going to keep the nitrites down with water changes [hey, I'm in a detailed mood ]

Actually, Luke, I realize first you are going to need to figure out what media to put in to replace the zeolite you take out. Let us know your thoughts on that. When you do these swaps, the type of media is the most important thing but there is also a secondary consideration about the mechanical filtration. The "fit" of the media in the filter can be important, so its good to observe the situation as it is now and then try to do a similar "fitting" with the chosen new media, which, as rabbut has said, should be sponge or some type of bio-ceramic like pebbles or rings. We assume other sponges will still be left in place.

~~waterdrop~~