First Tank Setup Done

M

MarkInNC

AC Members
Jun 16, 2009
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Hampstead NC
Well, I did it yesterday, my first tank is set up and going. I have a 45 gallon tank and I am going to try and cycle fishless. I read a number of atricals and posts here and elsewhere in preparation and put it all together. I have dosed my tank with amonia and have 4+ ppm amonia now. I will plan on checking it every day or two and wait out the 2 weeks or more.

I was surprised at how much amonia it took to build up to that level, (I wound up adding in seven steps to get the test to wind up just a shade darker than 4ppm. I was also surprized at the amount of bubbles in the water, in the rocks, on the sides, and in the fake plants. It seems to be disapating a bit now.

Mark
 
The micro bubbles are quite normal and it does take a lot of ammonia to bring the tank up to 4ppm. Mostly because the ammonia that you bought is already at only 5-10% by weight ammonia. So 90-95% of what you are adding is just water.

Fishless cycling without adding in innoculum (filter squeezings, rocks, etc) from an established tank can take several months. It takes time for the needed bacteria to float in as dust.
 
Tank Status

Well, I just got home and took a look at my tank set up. It has been filtering for three days now. All the bubbles have dispersed. The amonia level is steady at 4+. The water is a bit cloudy. I ran a ph check just for the heck of it and the ph is a bit on the high side at 8.6.

I am going to the fish store later this week, Petsmart. I plan to start thinking about types of fish. I am going to ask about getting a bacteria start from them as I do not have any friends with tanks to ask.

Mark
 
it is a very bad idea to get media from any chain store like that. you have no idea what could be in their filters. certainly tons of diseases and such. i would just wait out the cycle. you could clean it up and do a fish-in cycle.
 
Flying_Diamond said:
it is a very bad idea to get media from any chain store like that. you have no idea what could be in their filters. certainly tons of diseases and such. i would just wait out the cycle. you could clean it up and do a fish-in cycle.
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I agree. If you got a smaller store that you can trust you can try asking them. Doesn't hurt to ask while you're paying for something :).

You could also try buying your own sponge media, finding a good clean tank (like a store Show Tank) and asking if you could keep the sponge in there for a week or so and then you can use that sponge in your own filter to speed up the cycle.

There's also products like "Cycle" that claim to help. I tried it on my tank with a fishless cycle, but I don't know how much it was the borrowed decorations and how much was the "cylce" that helped me.
 
lateinningmagic said:
There's also products like "Cycle" that claim to help. I tried it on my tank with a fishless cycle, but I don't know how much it was the borrowed decorations and how much was the "cylce" that helped me.
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The effect of Cycle is questionable at best, I used it but I don't think it help much. I think it's more of a stress reliever for a fish-in cycle.

I also heard that some store sell "refrigerated bacteria" in their fridge/freezer section that apparently is much better and you can have something like a 3 days complete cycle with it. But because even in refrigerator, hibernating bacteria still have an "expirartion date" and it's usually quite short (a few weeks) so only a few store carry it.
 
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