Newbie Mistake, Forgot To Cycle A Tank Please Advise.

[ZameShadows]

Ok, so I'm a bit of an idiot did research on guppies for a couple days and thought I was ready, bought a tank bubbler that guy at the store said would be fine for them and got set the whole thing up. Added water and nutrafin to clean the water set the bag in the tank to let the fish get used to the temperature. Then put the fish in, later that day i bought 3 Aponogeton bulbs and 2 lily bulbs. 3 of my 9 guppies died changing my 2:1 female:male ration to a 1:1 and I thought I must be doing something wrong. So again I check online and realize I missed a pretty big thing, I never cycled the tank in any way. Seeing that it was possible to cycle a tank using plants if the numbers are kept low I picked up 3 small patches of Hairgrass, Eleocharis acicularis, and an aqua fern, Trichomanes javanicum, to help cycle the tank a bit better. With this number of plants and 10 or so guppies in a ten gallon tank be ok or should I swap out the bubbler for a better filtration system, if so please recommend something that won't cause them to get stuck in the intake, I had this problem before with another tank when I was younger. I plan on doing a 50% water change every Saturday and a smaller water change mid week to keep it fairly clean.

Is there any way to jumpstart the cycling that won't kill the remaining guppies?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Yes get a filter otherwise it will be hard for you to cycle your tank.
If you know anyone with mature media then you could get some and put it into your filter once you get one as that will help speed up the cycle. You may be able to ask your LFS for some.
Do you have a liquid test kit? You will need to perform a waterchange everytime you see any ammonia.
Have a good read of this:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

 

[mike455555]

^ beat me to it

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Also to the forum

 

[attibones]

What they said.

Also, just a heads up, it's always better to have more females than males, or no males at all. You don't want the females getting too stressed. Get ready for fry. You're going to be (even more) overpopulated in a matter of weeks. I think five to seven guppies would be appropriate for this size tank. I'd probably return all the fish if you can, start a fishless cycle and be done with it. If you can't return the fish, then get ready for a lot of water changes.

 

[Noahsfish]

I don't think it's possible to cycle a tank with just a bubbler, in fact you have to have a filter! Just get a cheap hang on back filter and get a prefilter sponge to put on the intake if you're worried about your fish getting sucked in. Like blondielovesfish said you could put mature media in your fiter and that would speed up/Eliminate the cycling process. Meanwhile I would do water changes Often and not feed that much.

 

[attibones]

If you use ceramic rings as your substrate, then I suppose it is actually possible to cycle it. The bacteria should grow on the rings, but it will be much tougher. Under gavel filters aren't worth the money either. You can get a decent HOB filter for around twenty-thirty dollars or you can make your own (like I did the other night) out of the air tube, air pump, ceramic rings, and a soda bottle and sponge. Regardless, you will need some sort of filtration. Perhaps the person at the shop meant the bubble stone would be sufficient current?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

You could do a silent cycle but then you would need to be heavily planted and you would still need a filter.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The key is you need water movement over some surfaces, for the bacteria.
 
 
The bubbler would be fine for a lightly stocked tank, IF it had a sponge filter attached to it.  These are often all the filtration that is used for a fry tank, less chance of sucking up the little fry with that style filter.  But, I suppose that is still a filter.  I use HOB filters and they are quite reasonable and reliable.

You could do a silent cycle but then you would need to be heavily planted and you would still need a filter.

 
Not exactly.  They would need more circulation, but you can get that without a filter.  Using a powerhead, they can get 10X turnover without a "filter", of course, you could put a sponge over the intake as a filter, but it isn't actually necessary - but that only works in a VERY heavily planted and VERY lightly stocked tank.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Oh okay. Learn something new everyday

 

[ZameShadows]

ok will double check at the store tomorrow, another forum also recommended an amonia blocker, the six fish I have now look ok so I'm hoping with the numbers reduced the problem may stop the newest plants I've added should filter a bit more. 
 
Definitely have to get a proper filter, when i say bubbler that's all it is, there no filter on it whatsoever, it has a small intake box that goes outside the tank and a tube that runs to the tank and pushes air in, I was planning on removing it entirely when I had a good batch of plant-growth but seems I'll need a real filter too regardless.
 
If I ever go by petland again I going to have to tell someone the guy who sold me the bubbler is an idiot. Told him I wanted 9 guppies and a full setup he told me a ten  gallon tank and the bubbler would be enough to start and didn't warn about cycling at all.


On a side not please don't yell at me for no heating, six people on another forum did already, water temp is mid seventies at the moment without supplemental heating and it the middle of the night. During the day it was getting closer to 80 almost thought I might need to add cooling somehow. Florida is too dang hot.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Most people that work at the LFS are inexperienced or just don't give good advice because most of them are in it just to get some money. That's why it's best to almost always ask here first.

 

[b3cca]

I did the same had to go through a fish in cycle too.
I can guarantee that you're going to have to do way way more partial water changes than twice a week, I was doing 2-3 per day sometimes just to keep my ammonia and Nitrite at safe (ish) levels and that was in a 20 gal with only 3 small fish.
 
It's hard work, constant ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests and what seems like perpetual partial water changes.
I pretty much used up a whole API liquid test kit in 4 weeks I had to test so much -- wouldn't advise you doing it but it can be done if you are prepared to put the time and effort in.
 
On a side note --- nobody here tells you off, they just advise to help you and your fish best they can because they care

 

[ZameShadows]

Most people that work at the LFS are inexperienced or just don't give good advice because most of them are in it just to get some money. That's why it's best to almost always ask here first.

I'll remember that next time, anyone know a decent feeder fish that won't eat all the baby guppies when the time comes? I'll probably have to upgrade to a bigger tank within a month or two with the size some of the females are but I have a few friends that are already interested in taking in some of the overpopulation. Not to mention a near empty backyard pond at my parents place that would probably do good with some fish in it for once instead of just tadpoles and frogs. 

I did the same had to go through a fish in cycle too.
I can guarantee that you're going to have to do way way more partial water changes than twice a week, I was doing 2-3 per day sometimes just to keep my ammonia and Nitrite at safe (ish) levels and that was in a 20 gal with only 3 small fish.
 
It's hard work, constant ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests and what seems like perpetual partial water changes.
I pretty much used up a whole API liquid test kit in 4 weeks I had to test so much -- wouldn't advise you doing it but it can be done if you are prepared to put the time and effort in.
 
On a side note --- nobody here tells you off, they just advise to help you and your fish best they can because they care

Thats going to be a bit difficult I can probably manage a 50% change twice a day tho, I'll need to pick up more of the nutrafin tomorrow tho, Monday - Thursday I work from noon to 10pm so I don't think I could do changes more than twice a day.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Define Feeder fish to me.
Also Guppie's shouldn't be in ponds as although it may be quite hot in Florida at the moment over winter etc. the pond will get too cold. If you want something else in the pond then a good alternative is to get some goldfish or koi. What I would personally do is look on ebay or similar and find someone that is selling a tank with goldfish...then you just put the goldfish in the pond and then you have another tank.