Water Change

[paulm]

i have set up my tank now fishless will be 2 weeks on saturday i have tested water for PH and Nitrite both are ok so i'm thinking of adding a few fish on at the weekend

1- should i do a water change 20% now before i add fish or should i leave untill later

2- what fish do you advise i should stary with and how many

 

[WILDER]

Can we take a look at your water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Have you been doing the fishless cycle by adding liquid ammonia? If so, you need to do a BIG water change, 70-80%, within 24 hrs before adding fish, in order to get rid of excess nitrates.

As for what fish- we need to know the size of the tank, and what you plan to keep in it.

 

[rdd1952]

As Wilder and dwarfgourmi mentioned, we need some more information. IF you haven't been adding an ammonia source, your tank would not have started to cycle so adding fish wouldn't not be a good idea. And tank size dictates what fish and how many are possible.

Also, you need to validate your membership (your Group still shows "Validating") in order to be able to post in all sections (you will only be able to post in Beginners and Newbies until you do). Go to the email you received when you registered and click the link in it to validate. If you never received it, check your bulk folder and any spam blockers you are running as sometimes the email is viewed as spam. If you need the email resent, go to "My Controls" at the top of the screen and click the link in there to resend it (upper right corner).

 

[paulm]

yes i am a beginner need all the advice i can get

yes i have added a liquid called stress coat which removes the chlorine and stress zyme which were supplied with the tank is this what you mean ?

the tank is 24"(W) X 12"(D) X 15" (H) 59L

i have tested with tetra test PH result was 7.0 and tetra test NO2 Nitrite which was 0.3mg/l the water is clear and 76 degrees

 

[rdd1952]

Stress Coat is a dechlorinator as you said and Zress Zyme is supposed to aid in cycling the tank but I don't believe those "bacteria in a bottle" products work. I don't understand where the nitrite came from in your water though as you don't have an ammonia source and nitrite is the second step in the nitrifying process. Do you have a test kit to check ammonia? Also, have you tested your tap water to see if there is nitrite present in it? Is the test kit you have liquid or strips? Strips aren't very accurate. If you have strips, I would suggest buying a liquid master kit. They run about $25 and will last way longer and be more accurate that the strips.

 

[paulm]

no i dont have an ammonia test kit both my ph and no2 kits are liquid ones and i have just tested my tap water results were ph 7.5 and NO2 0.3mg/l

do i need ammonia present in my water or not?

can i add fish at this stage?

 

[BFG]

I'm currently doing a full fishless cycle as detailed in rdd's signature - see above. It really is the way to go and doesn't stress any fish you buy out. A bit of patience means you can load the tank with fish in 1 go. My attention span is as short as it gets, but please read his article as it'll help you a lot.

 

[rdd1952]

If youhaev fish, you don't want ammonia or nitrite but if you cycle with fish, you will have both present for 2 to 4 weeks. And make sure you only start with 2 or 3 hardy fish. I would suggest danios but your tank may not be large enough for them as they need lots of swimming room.

If you do a fishless cycle, then you do want ammonia and nitrite present until you build your bacteria colony to process them. As BFG said (thanks for the plug by the way), read the thread in my signature. It will tell you the whole story on a fishless cycle without getting into a lot of complicated chemistry.

Lastly, I would be a little concerned that your tap water contains nitrite as that will be a constant problem with your fish. I would suggest taking a sample of your tap water to your LFS and have them test it just to verify that your kit is working properly. If they confirm it, then contact your water department to see why it is there.