Did i get lucky(cycling my tank)

aussienative

aussienative

AC Members
Feb 23, 2006
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brisbane, Australia
Hey everyone,
I recently joined this forum after starting up a 65ltr(17g) tank which measures 60cm x 30cm x 38cm. It has about 3cm of gravel,piece of driftwood and 4 fake plants. The filter is rated at 360ltr/hr, i don't have a heater or light as yet.

I washed everything, filled the tank, added my water conditioner and 6 teaspoons of salt(as recommended by LFS?). I cycled it for 2 weeks like this then added 5 neon tetra's and 2 sucker loaches, after another 3 weeks i added 4 glass red tail neons. I went to my LFS and had the water tested, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a small amout of nitrate. I then added an extremely small angelfish, guarami and a spiney eel.

The spiney eel somehow got out and i think the cat got it :( pretty annoyed, such a nice fish!

All the other fish are doing great! I feed them quality flakes and blood worms.

My question is, Did i get lucky....because there seems to be such a focus on cycling tanks to the point of being anal about it!

It's not rocket science, seems a hell of a lot easier than some people make out....

P.s This tank will probably be upgraded at some stage. As well as this tank i will be looking at getting a 180g and keeping Australian natives.
 
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two weeks? It took my tank a month before my tank started to get readings, and then the nightmare began... :(
 
joephys said:
When you cycled did you add ammonia to the tank?

You really should have a heater on the tank for tropical fish, light would be good too. I wouldn't add the salt.
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lol my lfs told me to cycle my fish tank(without ammonia or fish!) for 2 weeks then come back with some water to test, didn't make sense to me so i added some cheap fish after 2 weeks and let it cycle for then had the water tested and the water is perfect! The fish seem real healthly and happy...

i quizzed them about the salt too, they said it will reduce stress...

This isn't the first time i've set up a tank, The first time i was 14 and knew nothing, i filled the tank with conditioner turned on the filter and added tetra's,angel's and silver dollars.....in 2yrs none died or ever got sick.

I've done a fair bit of research this time and was a little more cautious but not to the point some other people are.
 
I would recommend you get a test kit..I would expect there to be spikes in ammonia , nitrites..
when I got back into aquariums it was about week 4 when all heck brokeout in one day the whole tank died..you would have thought that the lfs would have mentioned the nitrogen cycle.

it is possible that you got lucky but I would still take the precaution and start testing the water.

I found that the water in my tap has nitrates..I am currently cycling a 75 gallon..I watched the ammonia climb slightly last night(the tank has danios and has been seeded with media from an existing tank)..I expect to see a small spike in nitrites as the bacteria kick in
 
aussienative said:
I went to my LFS and had the water tested, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a small amout of nitrate. I then added an extremely small angelfish, guarami and a spiney eel.
Click to expand...

Those numbers look like my tap water readings. 0,0,5. To my understanding, a tank won't cycle just adding salt. You need an ammonia source to begin. So, all you may have is water just as you got it from the tap.

Second: there is also a chance your tap water contains ammonia, either free or in the form of chloramines. When the decholrinator is addedm, that ammonia will be free and work as a source food for bacteria. In this case, you might have started the cycle.

I'd get a test kit of my own and watch carefully how the tank progresses.
 
I wouldn't recommend using the salt unless your fish are sick. Tropical fish like yours will do fine for short periods of time with salt but extended times are bad. Also you will need a heater as those are tropical fish. Your angel will probaly eat your neons as well.
 
I noticed my tap-water has about 1ppm ammonia in it, so it is possible once you use the water conditioner to kill the chlorine, you have ammonia to start a cycle. I'm still trying to figure out why my new tank is cycling wierd(fishless cycle), but since I tested my tap-water I'm starting to make some sense of it. I know certain fish may actually like a bit of Aquarium salt, like betta's and such, but generally you don't need it.
 
hey guys, i have a bit of an update.......everything is dead























just kidding! :Angel: i went out and bought a light and some really nice plants(ditched the fake ones). will be buying a heater very soon(it's still hot here in aus).

i checked out the test kits, $25 each..... $75 all up, :mad2:

will let you's know if anything starts going wrong...
 
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