About to start fishless cycling of new tank

[177ichael]

Hello All,

I'm about to add ammonia and start my fishless cycling process. Let me describe my setup before I ask questions about the process. I have a 36g bow front corner tank with a Rena XP2 Canister filter. The tank has been cycling for a day with just tap water and some chlorine water treatment removal chemicals I added to the water. I also took some readings with some test strips and came up with the following:

Ammonia = .028 ppm
Nitrate = .05 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Total Hardness = 35 ppm
Total Alkalinity = 80 ppm
pH = 6.9

I know that I haven't cycled for long, but it appears that my tap water here is on the soft side as well as having a very low buffer ability.. I've heard that adding salts can increase the pH and create a safe buffer as well. Do you all suggest this method? I've also heard that adding some crushed coral will also help increase alkalinity.


Thanks for the help.

Michael

[OrionGirl]

You alkalinity is likely high enough to be fairly stable. What is your KH? Normally, anything above 3 degrees KH will be stable.

If you do need to increase the KH, crushed coral is much easier, and has fewer side effects, than salts. Salt by itself does not really give you the stability in pH you want. Marine mixes, which will increase alkalinity and pH, contain buffers in addition to the salt--and I would not recommend using marine (or really any) salt as a regular additive to a freshwater tank

[TKOS]

My kh is like 1 heading to almost 2 so it is pretty low. I keep things stable with plenty of good water changes.

[JSchmidt]

Some tests report KH as alkilinity; I suspect that's what the "alkilinity = 80 ppm" is about. That would be about 4.4 degrees of KH, which should be fine for stability. Fishless cycling, which can burn thru KH pretty quickly, might call for occasional addition of baking soda to maintain KH, but once you have a normal fishload, I think that would be unnecessary.

177ichael, why do you want to increase pH? Your's is perfect for a wide variety of fish. If you wanted to keep Rift Lake cichlids you might want to boost pH and KH a bit, but for most fish you'll be fine.

Jim

[177ichael]

I believe KH = Alkalinity on my test strip color chart. According to the little instruction booklet included with the test strips, it says that an accurate pH read is possible only with kH above 120 ppm and that's why I thought I had low alkalinity levels.

As far as wanting my pH higher, I've heard that pH levels should be around 7 - 7.5 for many species from a guy at my LFS..

I'm considering eventually adding a couple Angelfish, a school of Cardinals, a couple algae eating snails, and not really sure what else. Ideally, I'd like to set up and cycle the tank first, get familiar with what's happening in my tank, research various species of fish, and add the correct species according to my water conditions.

I added ammonia yesterday and plan on testing the water a bit later on today. What should I try to get the Ammonia levels to initially?

[TKOS]

The fish you just stated generally prefer acidic water around the 6.5 pH mark. So upping it to 7-7.5 isn't needed. They try to sell you ph up and down or perfect ph products because they want to make money. Generally these products won't hurt your tank but can lead to unstability.

[JSchmidt]

Your water sounds great for those fish. Don't change a thing.

Fishless cycling is the way to go -- especially with sensitive fish like angels. I'd shoot for 3-4 ppm ammonia during the fishless cycle.

Good luck, and don't listen too much to your LFS guy... not clear that he knows what he's talking about...

Jim

[177ichael]

Well, I think some of the folks that work over at the store know a great deal, but this particular guy seemed to give me all kinds of differing opinions from what I've read and heard.. From observation, this store has really nice, high quality fish and the upkeep of their tanks is superb. With all of the staff they maintain, I can see why. However, I have also heard that their prices are on the expensive side for fish and supplies. They have beautiful big Angel fish for $24.95. Sound a bit pricey? I haven't seen any other stores with Angels this large and healthy looking. I certainly want to make sure my tank environment is ready before I stock my tank with an Angel. They also have Cardinals for $3.95 a fish. I may try a small school of Cardinals after my tank cycles.