So Iv Got My Tank...

[Maxta]

Got my 10 gallon tank today, complete with Elite Stingray Underwater Filter for tanks upto 50 litres, a 50 watt Elite heater for tanks upto 50 litres. Placed them in position. Also rinsed the filter sponge out of the filter.

I rinsed the fine black gravel, bogwood, rock ornament, slate pieces and the tank itself and then placed them all in the tank to an arrangement i like. Then filled the tank up to near the top.

I currently have three small plants in there at the moment, one of them is my girlfriends and will be taken out tomorow.

I then read my manual that came with the fish tank, and half an hour after filling the tank up i applied:

• 2 capfuls of Aqua Plus water conditioner - it says one capful to remove Chlorine, 2 capfuls to protect scales and fins, so i added two.
• 2 capfuls of "Cycle" which reduces fish loss, 2 capfuls because its a new aquarium.
• 1 capful of King British plant food, because i have a few plants in there.

15 minutes after the application of these, i turned on the filter. And the water became cloudy immediately, but it soon disappeared. Its now 6 hours on and iv had the heater, light and filter turned on since, now theres loads of bubbles all over the bogwood, filter, heater and side panels of my tank.

Questions:

• Do i remove the bubbles from the side of my tank and bogwood?
• How long does cycling take exactly, iv never seen any answers?
• Do i do a 30% water change every two days? If so, for how many days? 7 days? 14 days?
• Iv heard slightly hotter water conditions encourages bacteria growth, the temperature i am going to have my setting on when i get fish will be 26oC, i have upped it upto 28oC until the cycling process is finished. Is this safe or should i turn it down to 26oC?
• Do i need to leave the light on? Should i just leave it on for 8-12 hours of the day, just like you would if you had fish?
• Most importantly, HAVE I MISSED ANYTHING OUT THAT NEEDS DOING?

Thanks in advance. Heres some pictures of my tank, click to enlarge:



Comments appreciated.
Thanks in advance

 

[mollylver]

Hellow and good luck. First of all, the bubbles will go on their own. Cycling takes as long as necessary so add some ammonia and test daily. I dunno about water changes other than when the tank is cycled do a minor chage every week or a rater significant one every month. Right on with the temp. Dunno about light, but what type(s) of fish do you plan to put in? Dont leave us without the fun info.

 

[Maxta]

How do i add ammonia? I thought that naturally built up.

Edit: I thought the tank was meant to have no ammonia?

 

[mommyof2bettas]

but the fish food and the fish poop builds up ammonia, which the fish then die from (suicide? )
When you fishless cycle you add ammonia, which you can buy (buy PURE ammonia) then add to the tank. When the bacteria build up you are ready to go, so that even when your fish produce ammonia the bacteria will eat it. If there is no ammonia the bacteria won't build up because they don't have any "food".
HTH!

 

[Maxta]

Oh okay!

Can you give me a link to the product, i searched for ammonia in pet websites and it just brought up the tests. Ebay link or summit.

 

[mommyof2bettas]

well, ammonia will probably be in general supermarkets such as Wal-Mart (if you live in Canada or USA). Most lfs won't have them. I have heard that you can buy it in the cleaning sections, but never looked into that...

 

[Maxta]

.....but what type(s) of fish do you plan to put in? Dont leave us without the fun info.

At first im putting in 8 baby rasboras until they grow bigger then transfer them over to the bigger tank or sell them on. Then il be going for a few types of tetras and maybe a pair of dwarf gouramis.

 

[Tessla]

I haven't seen a LFS yet that sells pure ammonia for fishless cycling, I would if I ran one but I don't! Seen it at drugstores and supermarkets with the household cleaners.

Looks like a great little tank so far, if you can't get any mature filter media to fit your filter, fishless cycling is the way to go.

 

[Maxta]

Okay, iv borrowed the thermometer from the tank downstairs which was at a constant 26oC

Put it in cold water just to lower it so i could monitor its progress when i put it in mine. I watched it carefully for a minute and its gone up to almost 30oC (its just under). My heater is set to 26oC and the water does feel warmer than downstairs.

So iv turned my heater down to 24oC, so obviously it isnt on at the moment because the waters too warm.

I guess my room is affecting the temperature of the tank? Il leave it on for a few hours and come back to see if its dropped.

Any recommendations?

 

[Tessla]

I've never had a heater that was actually calibrated to the temperatures it said it was. Fiddle with the thermostat setting until you find the one that's actually for the temperature you want, always keep a thermometer in your tank to make sure that your heater isn't over or underheating your tank.

 

[Maxta]

Yeah il be buying one throughout the week.

I turned the heater down to 22oC and il be going home in a couple of hours, so hopefully the temperatures have dropped to around 26oC.

I live in a box room at the front of the house, therefore my room gets hot easily, plus i also have a gaming PC which pumps out alota heat. Then sometimes my radiator is on, so the room temperature of my bedroom will be higher than most other rooms.

Anyways il check when i get in and post the results. Will the aquarium light increase the temperature of the tank?

PS. Dont think my plant was looking healthy when i left.

 

[dwarfgourami]

As you already have a tank you don't need to go through the cycle again: just squeeze the filter media of your established tank over the filter media of the new one, or add a little of the old filter media to the new tank.

 

[Tessla]

Keep the tank away from the radiator and your gaming PC and you should be fine. If it gets very hot, say over 30oC like it does in the summer here, you may want to unplug your heater, but make sure that if your room gets cold at night, you plug it back in.

What sort of plants did you get for your tank? Some aquatic plants can be very demanding and many non-aquatic plants are sold as aquatic plants.

 

[Maxta]

As you already have a tank you don't need to go through the cycle again: just squeeze the filter media of your established tank over the filter media of the new one, or add a little of the old filter media to the new tank.

How do i squeeze the filter media when its made out of plastic lol? Il either wreck my hand of break the media lol. The filter media out of the other tank will be way too big for my internal filter.

What sort of plants did you get for your tank? Some aquatic plants can be very demanding and many non-aquatic plants are sold as aquatic plants.

Not entirely sure about the plants, i think ones a fern. See the pictures at the start of this thread, mine are the two red/brown ones, the green one has been took out now.

 

[Tessla]

There really ought to be media other than the plastic balls in the filter, did you look below the plastic balls? You may have to remove some things from the filter to get at some sponge, I'd suggest keeping a bucket handy. If not, take your filter sponges from your new tank and keep them in the other filter for a month or so.

The green plant looked like maybe a hygrophila and the red one is maybe a ludwigia or a rotala of some sort. Your lighting may not be strong enough for your plants, I'd do some checks in the planted section of the forums. New plants will often melt or otherwise "wilt" when moved, if it isn't a non-aquatic plant, it may very well grow back just fine.