Yipee! Just Took Delivery Of My New Rio 400!

[scouse_andy]

If you have fish in there then you need to do regular (preferably daily) water changes, 10 percent or so at least I would say until ammonia and nitrite are at zero. It may well go up before it comes down. Also if your nitrite reading is currently zero you can expect this to increase as the ammonia is processed, it can take a while for sufficient denitrifying bacteria to form. It looks as though there are fish in there from your picture. Can you clone some filter media or rehome the fish in a cycled tank for now.

As far as plants go, it takes a fair bit of research and depends on your light levels. If you are using standard lights, I would suggest getting an arcadia tropical bulb and an arcadia freshwater bulb with reflectors. Photoperiod should be about 5 hrs a day.

If you have a plain sand substrate then I would recommend getting some root tabs to add under the sand to give your plants nutrition.

I have a setup similar to this in my Rio 240. I think yours would look good with a variety of cryptocoryne in the foreground as that looks quite bare, other plants that would grow well in these conditions include amazon sword, vallis, cabomba, elodea.

Here is a link with loads of good reading on plants. I have found that there is a lot to know about plants and it is well worth reading up on things before just planting away with nice looking plants.

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Plants-a...-Planted-links/

I have a journal of my planted Rio 240 in my signature.

Hope this helps, Andy.

 

[kribensis12]

There are defo fish in there. I personally wouldnt have put them in there, but ohhh well......... And yes, you will need to do daily water changes.

 

[signman]

just done my first water change as you advised. On the bottle of the stuff that I bought, it says that you can put the fish in the next day... so I did.
I appreciate the advice on the plants, and will get some tomorrow

 

[SJ2K]

Take my advice (and that of most other well informed individuals on here)...There is NO such thing as an instant cycle product, nothing in a bottle will help your fish only good old water changes even bio-spira is a shot in the dark, trust not what money making companys say but those with experience good luck and keep at it!

 

[signman]

Ok, I have lost my bottle, and I will remove the fish. I still have the Fluval 260 as it was, so I will transfer the fish tonight and wait for the tank to cycle. I have spent so much money on my fish, I don't want to lose them.

 

[scouse_andy]

Is there anywhere else the fish can go while you cycle the tank with an artificial ammonia source?

You said you had a lot of other tanks in the living room.

Also, what fish are they?

 

[SJ2K]

You wont lose them mate Ive personly cycled with fish, not a problem, just use your head, test twice daily and change AS SOON as the levels arnt acceptable, simple Its a little more hard work but its certainly not fighting a losing battle.

 

[scouse_andy]

Ok, I have lost my bottle, and I will remove the fish. I still have the Fluval 260 as it was, so I will transfer the fish tonight and wait for the tank to cycle. I have spent so much money on my fish, I don't want to lose them.

Just got there before me. What fish are they then? Are they compatible with fish in your other tanks?

I am not the most of patient people but learnt pretty quickly in this hobby that patience really is a virtue.

If you need help deciding in which tank your fish should go post up the options and I or someone else will try to help.

You wont lose them mate Ive personly cycled with fish, not a problem, just use your head, test twice daily and change AS SOON as the levels arnt acceptable, simple Its a little more hard work but its certainly not fighting a losing battle.

I wouldn't advise this myself, particularly not in a 400 litre tank where any significant percentage water change equals a lot of water!

 

[SJ2K]

400l = easier to maintane due to greater dilution its not the best option but its certainly not a huge problem, mearly pointing out he has more viable options

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Take my advice (and that of most other well informed individuals on here)...There is NO such thing as an instant cycle product, nothing in a bottle will help your fish only good old water changes even bio-spira is a shot in the dark, trust not what money making companys say but those with experience good luck and keep at it!

There is such thing as an instant cycle product and its called bio spira It doesnt replace water changes, but it cycles your tank pretty much instantly as long as it was stored properly in a refrigerator. In a cycle, you add ammonia and wait for the bacteria to find its way to the filter and grow. Then you wait for the bacteria to use the nitrite and turn it into nitrate. Biospira already has all this bacteria live in a pouch so isnt that like cycling the tank almost instantly?

 

[SJ2K]

Bio spira has the potential IF stored correctly, as you have no real way of knowing if it was infact stored correctly in every aspect of its manufacture and dispatch its very hard to know if its actually any good. Personly I wouldnt put an entire tank at risk for the sake of taking a short cut, water changes arnt hard.

 

[fishmanswansea]

okay, I have a pair of convicts, 2 pearl guoramis, my "Severum", 2 x geophagus brazil, 1x rainbow fish , 1 x plec and 2 x jurupari. okay, will test twice daily and keep an eye on levels. patience is a true virtue, that sadly I am lacking in.
The stuff I got was stored in the fridge at my LFS. It was like little balls that you drained off the water that was in the bottle, and put them in a porus bag, and put the bag in the filter. I have the same tank and all is good.

 

[signman]

I have 2 jurupari, 1 convict, 1 common plec, 1 Blue Acara, 1 Green Terror , 3 clown loaches 1 xrainbow and a red tailed shark. my teatment was also in little balls ( dk blue in colour )

 

[SJ2K]

Sounds interesting, looking forward to seeing the progress

 

[scouse_andy]

I have 2 jurupari, 1 convict, 1 common plec, 1 Blue Acara, 1 Green Terror , 3 clown loaches 1 xrainbow and a red tailed shark

That is a lot of fish to put into a tank that you are not sure is cycled. How many other cycled tanks do you have available and what are the inhabitants then we can see if we can get them into a better place for a bit.

Are all the fish you listed newly bought by the way?