opinions on tankmates and ect.

ever used bio spira? that stuff worked wonders for me overnight! in my 29 i started the cycle by adding a few capfuls of ammonia, and for 2 weeks my ammonia stayed at like 5ppm! no nitrates ever, got some biospira, did a 99.5% water change, waited til the next day, went and got 2 tinfoil barbs, 7 tiger barbs, 2 kribs, and 2 peacocks of somesort, im gonna end up taking the tinfoils back though, too roudy, and then while they were acclimating, i added the Biospira, then the fish, and no floaters yet, (knock on wood). over a period of like 20 hours, i had my nitrite spike, my nitrate and ammonia levels were safe, and man the tank looks good! as far as your selection of fish, i think youve got a wonderful selection going, and way to go on rescuing the tank! fish bones in the substrate? man, did this guy ever clean his tank? well anyway, good luck with it!

Brad

dave76 said:

In my cleaning process I found fish bones in the substrate.

Click to expand...

Holy shiznits! Abusive owner indeed!
For your stocking question, I'll cast my vote for some glo-lite tetras. Dem's just de cuuuuutest thangs evar!

add some cherry barbs, they stay pretty small and add a nice hint of color. U can get some shrimp too, they'll keep the substrate clean. Maybe crabs? i just bought 2 fiddlers, male and a female, their funny to watch. just make sure ur food reaches the substrate so they can eat

I've cycled a tank instantly by using filter material from an established tank, you may be able to do the same thing with what you're adding. Just make sure the water in the tank is dechlorinated before it runs through the filter or it can kill the bacteria. Do some water tests, and add a couple of fish at a time to allow the filter media to catch up. I'm not sure from your post, but if the gravel is full of nasty gunk (is that what you mean by biomaterial?!?), you may want to rinse that out completely. It might help speed up the cycle, but I would rather start fresh than with poop/waste/bone filled gravel

Use as much gravel from an established tank as you can afford to. I've heard mixed opinions on the bottled bacteria products. Neons are delicate tetras so use caution by checking ammonia levels daily and doing frequent partial water changes.

I keep eyeing that 'Onyx sand' for planted tanks we have at work and I find it quite attractive...if you put that in your tank I'd sure like to see a pic of it!

Once you have the school of tetras and the rams, and catfish, u wont have room for another school of anything so more tetras or barbs are out. Glass catfish need very clean water so u wouldn't be able to introduce them for a while till u get your ammonia to 0. Even then, they do better in a larger tank in a large school. The tetras and rams sound like a good idea. I prefer cardinal tetras. They have more color than neons and grow larger. Cardinals, rummy nose, and rams all like higher temps too.