Tired of fish store people... i want some real advice

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Nick23

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Oct 5, 2004
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Dallas, TX
I want some straight answers from people who are not trying to sell me something and get me out of the store!! AHH none of them really care. makes me sick :mad2

I have a 33 Gal long breeder tank, 46"X12"X12" (I believe that is the correct measurement)

I had 4 inches of gravel 55 lbs quartz stuff, that was used for a super high ammonia setup for a year. It housed a freshwater turtle and about 10 Goldfish that ranged from 2" to 4" long. (high ammonia.. ya think?)

I have a Tetra Tec 300 filter with bio foam that floods and then flushes the foam area every few seconds.

I gave the turtle and fish away when i moved the beginning of the month. then I did the unthinkable.... (disclaimer: I knew nothing about the Nitrogen cycle) I cleaned all the buildup and gunk out of the filter, rinsed the bio foam, and put new filter media packets in it, and rinsed the gravel until it ran almost clear water. my reasoning... To Have a Fresh Start for my New Fish :thud:

At the time it seemed like a great idea... now it seems if i hadn't done that, I probably could have fully stocked the tank with a massive colony of bacteria already in place... :( Now I wish I had researched before I got rid of the turtle... :( Meh

The story gets better ;) I went to a fish store and told the guy my story, and he suggested i get this bacteria in a bottle that was refrigerated and 4 fish, put them in there and in about 4-5 days it would be fully cycled! Wow! Sounds great to me! right? lol so i fell for it, i bought the stuff, and then a few days later my shiny clean tank's ammonia and nitrite levels read zero, (I don't have a nitrate test) So according to him, everything was going great and now i can add some fish, so I add 10 Cardinal Tetras, and a few plants.

Now 3 of the tetras are dead, two never regained their color, the third just died i dunno how. and the others seemed to do great, they had great color, but now their coloring is starting to look worse... the ammonia looks like it might be around .2 ppm and the nitrites still at zero as far as i can see from the stupid test.

Wahhhh I dunno what is going on or what i am supposed to do... :confused:

Should I just fully stock my tank with all the plants i want to have in there, and take the fish back? Let it set up for a few weeks with just plants? would that even work? Can you cycle a tank with plants? and add a few fish every week after it sits for a while?

Would this work?

Fully plant the tank with Java moss, Wisteria, Crystal wort, and baby tears, and some grasses, let it sit for 3 weeks with 2 small fish like danios, do appropriate water changes every week then start adding a few small fish every week (eg. 4-5 Cardinal Tetras).
I am going to have a lot more plants, those are just the few i can remember off the top of my head.

I want to have a heavily planted tank with these fish:
33 gal long

10 Cardinal Tetras
3 Gold Tetras
2 Dwarf powder blue Gouramis
5 ocy something) small algae eaters (not chinese)
i can't remember the name, silver with black stripes 1.5 inch seems to be pretty common
1 or 2 Congo Tetras (not sure about their size being a problem)
if not the congos then i know a guy who breeds beautiful angels with great patterns and I might want to get one of those.


So to sum it up, Will that be over stocking? or can i stock it heavier because of all the plants i'm going to have.

And What the heck am i supposed to do about the cycle? Plant it and have 2 or 3 fish and let it fishy cycle, or take the current fish back to the store, and try to cycle it with a ton of plants? Or scrap the whole thing and start over with a completely empty tank and a bottle of ammonia?

Phew my fingers are tired now... Thank you guys for being such a huge help!
 

LittlePuff

LittlePuff
May 18, 2004
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What was the name of the stuff you bought? If it was Bio-spira, you probably waited too long before adding fish. The bacteria need something to live off of.
Plants won't cycle a tank, but they use nitrates.
Your stocking list looks good to me. Otos are what you want for algae.

Hope this helps!


Kim
 

Dapple2

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Jul 3, 2003
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The Bio-Spira is a good product....but those Cardinal tetras aren't very good starter fish. The plants do help with the cycling (they come with thier own bacteria colonies). In my fully planted tanks I rarely even notice a cycle...but then again I also mess around with CO2 and good lighting etc.

Since you still have plants left, I'd research what you want plantwise better and start planting!
 

Nick23

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Oct 5, 2004
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Dallas, TX
thanks

Yes the stuff i used was bio-spira or similar brand. So if i use that stuff i should start adding fish right away? Can I fully plant my tank and add some danios and bio spira and let it cycle like that?
 

phanmc

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Jun 24, 2004
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Bio-Spira is one of the few additives out there that is not considered snake oil. It has a limited shelf life however and needs to be refridgerated. Since Bio-Spira has been removed from the market last year, I'm not sure how good your bottle is anymore.

Plants technically don't help with the nitrogen cycle but they do eat ammonia and nitrates, reducing the impact to the fishes. In a heavily planted tank with fast growing plants, they will effectively eliminate the ammonia before it poses any danger to fishes.

Plant heavily and let the tank run for a week or two to let the plants establish themselves and then add a light fishload (a third of your total fish load). Test the waters throughout the week and do a water change if ammonia and nitrites ever spike to dangerous levels. If all looks good then add more fishes and again let it run for another week and so on.

If you want to test out Bio-Spira, add it with the full fishload at the same time.
 

Nick23

AC Members
Oct 5, 2004
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Dallas, TX
Sweet, thanks! Since I am still in the planning phases of getting my tank set up, i fell in love with bumblebee gobies, and I want to make my new setup brackish. Any idea how i should go about doing that if i want to plant it heavily? I don't have the plants yet, but i'm anxious to order them and get them on the way :)
 
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