Next steps, tank is waiting...

[sporkman]

So I'll admit, since I knew I had some time before I'd be ready to actually buy fish, wanted to make sure the tank wasn't leaking, wanted to acquire more fake plants, etc. I was pretty haphazard in my initial setup. I have a 20 gallon (high) tank. I actually got this substrate, "Carib Sea ACS00832 Peace River Gravel", and rinsed it before adding, did not use the included packets. Looking back, I guess it has some kind of bacteria included, and I may have rinsed that away. Oops.

My filter is an Aqua Clear 30 (http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Filtration/Clip-On/A600) with a layer of the poly material on the bottom, then a layer of charcoal, and then the "bio blocks". This has not been changed yet.

So, I added the (rinsed) substrate, tap water, and added the Prime conditioner as indicated. These are some sporadic readings I've taken since setting it up: https://www.aquaticlog.com/aquariums/sporkman/1/parameters

Other than an initial ammonia spike, I'm not seeing anything too interesting here. Did my substrate actually establish something here or no?

I'm not sure where to go next. Is it ready? Do I need to find some ammonia (good options for buying the correct type in Northern NJ brick and mortar stores), and put a bit in as if cycling and then see if my setup rids it on it's own?

For a starting point is the Fishlore guide a good reference? (https://www.fishlore.com/freshwater-aquarium-book.htm)

Anything else you folks would like to know to make sense of this?

edit: also, should I do a test of my tap water to get the pH out of the tap? Before or after adding Prime to it? Anything I should look for in my municipal water quality report?

 

[JuiceBox52]

What are your water test results. This will help us know. Is ammonia at zero? Etc.

 

[Retired Viking]

Hello and welcome to the forum, sorry no one replied Most people here want to know tank size, water test results how often you do water changes and how much. Exciting things like that before they answer questions Happy to meet you.

 

[Retired Viking]

I see @JuiceBox52 beat me to it, he is pretty fast

 

[sporkman]

What are your water test results. This will help us know. Is ammonia at zero? Etc.

I just linked to this site I'm using to track results:

https://www.aquaticlog.com/aquariums/sporkman/1/parameters

Honestly, the ammonia could be zero, I'm having a hell of a time with the chart, I should take a picture when I test again to get other eyes on it.

Is it useful to test my tap water just to see what I'm adding when I do a water change? If so, test before or after adding Prime?

It's a 20G "high" tank, no fish, so no real worries. No water changes since it was filled...

 

[Retired Viking]

There is an easier why to do it, buy Tetra SafeStart Plus and follow the directions

Tetra SafeStart Plus Review 2024 – Pros, Cons & Our Final Verdict | Hepper

This Tetra SafeStart Plus review covers important information about this particular water treatment product, including pros/cons, what it does, how to use it ...

www.aquascapeaddiction.com

 

[Essjay]

The simplest way would be to get some Tetra Safe Start and a bottle of ammonia and follow these instructions https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

For fishless cycling you need to add ammonia to feed the bacteria we need to grow; Tetra Safe Start contains these bacteria so using it will speed up the cycle. I'm afraid I can't help with where to buy ammonia as I don't live in the US, but here we can buy it from Ebay which may be an option for you.

If you add ammonia to get a reading of 3 ppm and test the following day, that will tell you whether you substate has done anything. Any reading of ammonia means it is not cycled and you need to continue following the method in the link.

 

[sporkman]

Sorry for the delay on following-up here. I'm going to do another water test tonight and grab some pics of the results in case I'm a little color-blind.

I'm also going to test the tap water just to see what the pH is. I assume it's preferred to do this after adding Prime.

I'd read about Safe Start, but I'd thought it was supposed to be used at the same time as adding fish, and that made me a bit nervous. It sounds like I can use it, then check the tank a few times, then add fish...

I also want to try the ammonia test on the off-chance that the tank is already cycled. I assume I add it per the directions and then if things are working correctly, the ammonia should be taken care of by the bacteria. Coming back here tonight with some new test readings...

 

[Essjay]

The bacteria in Safe Start don't know where the ammonia is coming from, fish or a bottle.

If you add enough ammonia from a bottle to get 3 ppm, that will test whether you have enough bacteria.
Ammonia and nitrite zero after 24 hours = cycled
Either or both ammonia and nitrite more than zero after 24 hours = not cycled.

If you have a reading for ammonia and zero nitrite it most likely means that the cycle has hardly started.

 

[sporkman]

So last night I did a few things...

Since it's been quite some time since I started, I changed out about 5 gallons of water (treated it with Prime before adding back). This was partially to freshen it since it's been over a month, and partially to give my siphon/suction tube thing a try without fish in the mix yet.

I was surprised by how cloudy the water got while I was arranging the (fake) plants. The silicon tube for the air stone had a layer of slime on it, as did some of the plants I believe. Not sure if that matters or not, or if it's a sign of some kind of bacteria growth (good or bad).

Anyhow readings here of the pH of my tap water (seems a bit odd that it's so different from the tank, and that even adding 5 gallons of this did not radically alter the tank's pH):



And after the water change, all my readings. I'd appreciate any comments on if my reading of the color scale matches what you see:

(tank pH, recorded this as 7.6 - history: https://www.aquaticlog.com/aquariums/sporkman/1/parameter/pH)

(ammonia, I recorded this as .10, but maybe that's a zero? I'm guessing on this one - history: https://www.aquaticlog.com/aquariums/sporkman/1/parameter/Ammonia)

(nitrite, I recorded this as 0, history here: https://www.aquaticlog.com/aquariums/sporkman/1/parameter/Nitrite)

(nitrate, I recorded this as 5.0, again, my eyes are not great on the yellow/red/orange - history (you can see a bump here about a month ago to 15: https://www.aquaticlog.com/aquariums/sporkman/1/parameter/Nitrate)

And then a bit later I added some ammonia.

Side note: if you're in New Jersey, ShopRite sells a "Clear Ammonia" that if the label is to be believed, contains no scents or surfacants or anything else. To me, it had no odor other than ammonia and it's certainly clear:


Using the calculator linked off the cycling page, I determined slightly less than a 1/2 teaspoon was needed. Probably incorrect - the calculator pre-fills a "percentage" for the ammonia's strength, and I have no idea if it's right. The 1/2 teaspoon brought me to maybe .30 ppm. I ended up adding 2 more teaspoons in total and that got me to what looks like 3 ppm (again, help with my eyes here is welcome):



So that's sitting until tonight. I'll take another reading and see if the ammonia has dropped any significant amount. If not, then I'll add my SafeStart and re-test if the tank can eliminate the ammonia in a few days and continue with the cycling guide if not.

 

[sporkman]

So ammonia was at about 2ppm last night, nitrite still at zero, so I assume that means nothing is going on yet.

I'll add some SafeStart and see what happens next.

 

[sporkman]

Weird stuff. Seem to be sitting at about 1.5ppm of ammonia and no nitrite rise yet. I have the large (8.45 oz.) Safe Start and added a few very large capfuls of that the other day, but not seeing any changes. The dosing was approximate to what's recommended with the small Safe Start, equivalent to the whole small bottle.

Last night I added about half that again.

In both cases, the main thing adding SafeStart seemed to do was add a fairly permanent amount of cloudiness to the water...

 

[Retired Viking]

As far as the cloudiness, when I added safestart plus to my bother-in-laws 20 gallon tank it was gone in about 2 days or less.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Be sure not to use Prime for 24 hours after adding Safe Start or it will eat the bacteria. I would use the entire bottle of Safe Start. You can’t overdose it. Use another dechlorinator For the first 24 hours after adding Safestart. After 24 hours you can add the Prime.

 

[sporkman]

So I did add more Safe Start and now I see a much lower ammonia level, maybe .1 ppm or less. Nitrates are up to 15 ppm, but in all this testing, the nitrites have never registered anything but zero. I'm stumped now - it looks like the nitrite increase is an integral part of the cycle, so how am I seeing lower ammonia levels, no nitrite increase, and a slight increase in nitrates? Any ideas?

My full log is online here: https://www.aquaticlog.com/aquariums/sporkman/1/parameters

And attached a small pic of the tabular results:

Do I do another dose of ammonia and just watch and see if the cycle happens as it should?