Setting Up A Tank Of My Own

[hensonc4098]

Well today after several hours of delegation, I got a new tank. We currently have a hexagonal community tank which is very fully stocked and we wanted to lighten its load a bit. It took me about 2 weeks to persuade my dad into it though! So I now have a tank of my own! It is a 35L Elite style35 which is rectangular. I got a matching stand for it too as it will be in my bedroom. I will post pics tomorrow when I have found my connecter cable for my camera. We are going to move my pair of Kirbensis who have just started breeding, however their first spawn was eaten as is normally the case for the first time
Anyway, on Monday, I will be going to P@H to get a bag of aquarium sand and then I will fill the tank and start cycling. I got stuff with the tank which is supposed to help speed up cycling or something I'm not sure but I've to dose it 10ml per day for the first week while cycling and then bring it down after that. I am quite excited at the prospect of being able to have real plants as the fish in our community aquarium are very destructive and destroy even the hardiest of real plants so they have plastic. Since it will be a breeding tank (hopefully ) I want it to be fairly well planted to give the fry places to hide etc. and I am going to make a cave fairly soon to put in.
I just have a few questions about cycling:

~ What temperature do I need to cycle at?
~ How often do I need to do a water test?
~ At what levels can I add plants / fish?
~ How long approx. will it take to cycle?

Also I was wondering if I should maybe get a cory or 2 to keep the tank clean? We have a couple in our main tank who are constantly foraging around, cleaning up.

Thanks for reading guys All help greatly appreciated.

Claire

 

[aaronnorth]

higher the temperature the faster bacteria multiply, but also oxygen levels are decreased so if you raise them make sure you put an air pump in. I m not sure of the optimum temperature although i think it is reccomended at 28C

Water test every day,

you can add plants after the cycle is complete,

it can take anything from 4-8weeks. Although sometimes there is a few hiccups.

Ask a mod to move it to tropical discussion where you will get better answers.

 

[jonp]

The other option would be cloning - this is where you either run the new filter in your existing tank for a while or take some filter medium across from the existing to the new one.

Inchworm answered a couple of questions for me in the emergency section just yesterday on this.

 

[hensonc4098]

Thanks guys.

A pic of the tank. No water yet as I need to get some sand for it tomorrow and then I'll fill it, put heater and filter in etc.

I've put the filter into our main com. tank so it is now cycling with mature water. That was a good idea jonp! Thanks! Although do you know how long it needs to stay in there for? I can ask inchworm if you don't know.

Claire