No Fish Yet As Confused With Cycling

[Jarrow am]

Hi all, I'm a total newbie to tropical fish and hope you can help...

I've bought a 64 litre tank and set it up 3 days ago. Temp set at 26 degrees, gravel, air pump, filter and artificial plants.
I'm hoping to add a few platys (forgive my spelling) first. Not sure how many to add initially... ?
I've just tested ammonia level which was 0, nitrate was 0 and ph2 was 7.2.
I've looked at so much conflicting info over the last few days that I'm now really confused and just wondering what levels are needed before I add some fish.

Thank you in advance for reading this

 

[This Old Spouse]

Those are the levels you'll be looking for once your filter is cycled. Head over to the Beginner's section and check out fishless cycling. You'll need to get a liquid master test kit such as API, Nutrafin or Salifert so you can check your levels daily. And you'll need some pure ammonia. Or, if you have a friend who has an established tank, you could ask them for some mature media, which will cycle you tank much faster. Sometimes your LFS (local fish shop) will be willing to donate some media, if you're very nice.

Glad you could join us!

 

[Jakey02578]

Your Ammonia levels will be 0 as there is no source of ammonia. But we all start off differently, you'll figure it out! Good luck!:'D

 

[Teacher Martyn]

You have no spelling to apologise for. Would that everybody apologised for their spelling on these forums.

I, like you, was a complete newcomer recently to fishless cycling and you'll see from my post 'My Head is Hurting' that at one point it all became a bit too much.

I have read a range of articles and opinions and have now settled into the routine of daily testing and ammonia adding and can assure that it will all be OK.

My ammonia is now being processed by the newly-formed friendly bacteria and I'm now awaiting the arrival of their cousins who will attend to the nitrites that are currently high.

Plants are growing away in my tank and snails are hoovering and it all feels and looks pretty promising.

Hopefully, these won't be words I live to regret.

Mx

 

[Jarrow am]

Ok thanks everyone.

I

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum Jarrow am.
Please have a read through of the topic called fishless cycling in my signature area. It will put you on the right track in preparing your tank to hold fish.
As is expected for any tank with no biological impacts in it, your water is pristine. Unfortunately, as soon as you add the first fish, you will start producing ammonia from the fish's respiration. There is nothing present in your tank to deal with that. The fishless cycling thread will lead you through how to make your filter capable of removing that ammonia so that when you add fish they will not suffer any ammonia poisoning. Once you have read through it please return and ask us for any help or maybe just interpretations that you need. We are always here to help you. I have often found that Waterdrop is especially good at getting people through their first cycle.