Now I Am Getting Somewhere!

[Odysseus]

Hey everyone. It has been awhile, but I have accomplished a lot! I left to go to a beach house for a week. Before I left, the ammonia level was at 2ppm, with no nitrite or nitrate showing up at all. I decided to do a great thing before I left. I bought a plant to put in there. I figured it might help speed up the process, because perhaps it would contain some trace amounts of beneficial bacteria from the tank it was in before. I don't know if that is what happened, but now I came back and the nitrite has gone through the roof! I'm so pleased with this because it feels like I am halfway there! I am surprised this plant survived all this though through all the ammonia and everything. I didn't add anything either. As a matter of fact, it's been basically freely floating around in the tank! As for the other stuff, the ph is very high at 7.8, but the spring water I often clean things with is 6. Here is a picture of my tank currently.



As of now I added more ammonia in. There is this little ammonia meter thing I got that went from safe to toxic almost instantly, but I can always double check with the test kit I have.
Today I am making a trip to my lfs. I plan to get another plant, hopefully some type of plant food, freeze dried bloodworms, and possibly an automatic fish feeder in case I make an extended trip to the beach house. Two questions though: Does anyone know if a fish store would offer mature filter media? If they did, I could get this tank really going! My other question is about my filter. It is a Penguin BIO-Wheel 100. How often should I clean it and how should I clean it? I know about switching the cartridge out once every four weeks, but that's it. I've been looking for the manual. Lastly, I am planning to stock it with 5 ADFs, one betta, and perhaps an apple snail. How do things look so far?

 

[Chubbywubs]

nice

 

[rdd1952]

I doubt you will find a fish store that can give you any media. Their systems are a lot diffferent from what we run in our regular tanks. As for the nitrite going off the chart, just 2 ppm of ammonia being processed shouldn't send the nitrite that high. 2 ppm of ammonia should yield about the same in nitrite. Also, how long were you gone? If it was for over a day or so, the bacteria that were there to process the ammonia would have probably died off again from lack of food. I guess you will know once you test again. Also, it's highly unlikely that the plant had any beneficial bacteria on it to help you. The plant could hae possibly used some of the ammonia but but probably didn't introduce any bacteria. The vast majority of the bacteria in a tank are on the fiter media.

Also, forget the auto feeder. They are a disaster waiting to happen. They almost always do one of two things, either don't work at all and so the fish get no food or they dump in way too much and the bacteria can't keep up so you get a huge ammonia spike and could come home to a tank of dead fish. Unless you're going to be gone for more than 6 or 7 days, they will be fine without food. I went on vacation earlier this month and mine were fine. We left on the 6th and I fed them early that morning and we got back late oon the 12th and I fed them then. They basically went 6 and a half days without food. If you feel you must feed them, find someone to do it for you. Measure out a normal feeding amount fr each day they will feed them and put it in a cup or one of those pill reminder things that has the days of the week. Hide the rest of the food and tell them just to put one cup or compartment of food in each day.

And last, to clean the filter, simply lightly swish it in the old tank water when you do a water change, never in tap water as the chlorine can kill the bacteria. And only change the cartridge when is to ragged and torn to function properly. that is where your bacteria colony is and changing cartridges means you are thrwing away a good portion of your bacteria. When you do change cartridges, switch the media from the old cartridge to the new one. That way you are keeping most of the bacteria.

What size tank is it? Looks awfully big for just a betta and a few frogs.

 

[Odysseus]

Alright, I'll take your advice. No auto feeder. It's a ten gallon tank by the way. There was no nitrite when I left, so it hopefully appeared either yesterday or the day before. I sure hope some of the bacteria are left! One thing I never understood about the cycling process in freshwater tanks is how these specialized bacteria appear out of nowhere when you turn on a filter and add ammonia. Thanks for the advice on the filter. I really appreciate it.

 

[backley420]

Plant did not die?

 

[Odysseus]

Plant did not die?

The plant has not died yet. I added plant food to the tank, so hopefully it will stay healthy. I don't think I need extra CO2 with one plant right now, or do I?

Could someone identify the plant too?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Plants will absorb some amounts of Ammonia, NitrItes, and nitrates to convert into food, but yes they often have the beneficial bacteria hitchhiking on them which is yet another reason I love live plants in aquarium.

If you need to identify a plant, or want to look up some other species you can try:
http/www.aquahobby.com/e_aquarium_plants.php
and
http/www.tropica.com/default.asp

Congrats on your cycling tank and good job going with a fishless cycle!

 

[rdd1952]

The plant you have is a java fern. You do not plant them in the substrate. They need to be attached to a piece of rock or wood and will pull nutrients from the water. Just use some sewing thread or rubber band to attach them.