New aquarium, anyone in Arizona who can help?

I don't think 4 teaspoons of salt will hurt your plants, it's not really much salt, but could make a difference as far as decreasing nitrite toxicity. Sorry, I mostly saw anacharis which is salt tolerant to a degree. These pet stores use salt in their tanks (Petsmart and Petco both do) so if they were in the tanks with the fish they ought to be fine at this low salinity.

A molly is really going to grow too big for this tank, but guppies can do ok in 10 gallons - fancy guppies tend to be rather flimsy anyway, and are hardened up by making their tank slightly brackish.

You can read more about it here:
http://www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/article_detail.asp?id=61
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Projects/FAQ/2d.html

The best common plants for your low light setup would be things like Java fern, Java moss, Anubias barteri and Cryptocoryne wendtii. See if you have any local fish stores (mom and pop places) rather than Petsmart and Petco, their prices are way too high on most of their plants - not to mention the employees don't usually know much about them.

Various edits...sorry! Brain not working right today ;)
 
pm sent
 
Well, rwilliams254 kindly provided me with a used filter sponge from his established tank, which I just hung in my tank! Let the bacteria breeding begin! lol...

Thanks again, my fish will really be thanking you! They have been putting up with 2ppm ammonia levels lately :eek:

I'm sure they will be much happier in a few days with the new bacteria...

Once the bacteria is established and the levels look good, I want to get a couple more guppies and a few more plants, then I'll really be happy with this setup!

Thanks again rwilliams254 for helping me skip the long wait for the cycle lol...
 
I'll just toss in some of my "cents" in here...

I am in Phoenix.

I have had my tank about 3 months. My tank is a bit bigger - 26g. I did what you did and got my tank from PetSmart with fish then learned about cycling after the fact! I had 6-7 fish during the process.

Cycling was a long and frustrating process. It took me 6 weeks of daily water changes until the magic happened. I was just like you - changing the water and still having ammonia. I sometimes had to change 75% of the water - sometimes twice in a row. You just have to keep doing it everyday for the sake of your fish.

I only slightly question the advice to feed every couple days. You have to make sure you are generating enough ammonia for the bacteria to grow but not too much that it is dangerous. It's a fine line. I ended up feeding conservatively, once a day.

The people at the PetSmarts I went to were very nice and helpful - especially the one at 32nd/Thomas near Walmart and Home Depot. I went to a couple other fish stores in the valley but the only one I found to be helpful was Phoenix Tropical Fish which is north of Thomas on 38th St (I think). It is a very strange location - in a residential neighborhood. It's a little hard to find and just an odd place. But...they know their stuff.

I ended up using Dr. Tim's One and Only which I got from Phoenix Tropical Fish. It did boost the cycle along. PetSmart doesn't carry it. It wasn't cheap.

Like you, I also started with Stress Coat+ but after hours on these forums, I switched to Prime. You can get Prime at PetSmart.

Plants... mine lived through this whole process. They actually grew! I used "root tabs" one time as fertilizer but I don't think I would do it again.

All I can say is... keep up the water changes. It DOES come around in the end.

Hope that helps.


Oh - I am adding here - there is a store in north Phoenix called Aquatouch. They seem to specialize in saltwater but have some BEAUTIFUL freshwater tanks. They are incredibly nice and helpful in terms of tank selection - not sure when it comes to Freshwater - but if you live up there, it's another option.
 
I'm from Arizona...everybody else got here first though :P
 
Just an update, if anyone's interested:

Here are my latest levels:

Ammonia - 1ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 5ppm

I wonder why nitrates are showing up (they were 0 originally) when nitrites are 0ppm, and ammonia has not fallen on its own yet?

It has been about a week since I last checked nitrites and nitrates and they were both 0 then.

Also, in the last few days, my plants have suddenly started to really POP! Before this week they looked duller, like they weren't too healthy, now suddenly they look noticeably greener. The anacharis especially greened up and looks awesome right now, just bright green.

Could this improved plant color be in response to the rise in nitrates, and/or fish poop starting to accumulate?

Also, the millfoil (if that's what it is) has grown a little, I can tell it's bigger and more spread out. Another fun thing is that every stalk of millfoil has started sending down tiny hairlike roots, toward the gravel. At least, I think they are roots.

Anyway, things are starting to happen with the plants, which is kind of fun. Also, I don't know if I'm imagining it, but it seems like the fish are more active and perky.

The water is crystal clear, which makes me a little worried because I thought I should see cloudiness due to bacterial bloom. Maybe the seed bacteria just hasn't had a chance to get established yet? I initially hung the seeded filter sponge from the side of the tank but changed it a bit, since my filter is so small, I cut the seeded sponge in half, and placed one half in my filter, so it has water running over it all the time, and the other half pinned down to the gravel with a rock. I guess the idea was to try to get the bacteria to migrate to those 2 places, the gravel and the filter hehe...

Another side note - At the recommendation of several people, I have started using salt in my water, adding it at a concentration of 1 teaspoon per gallon on each water change. The plants don't seem to have been negatively affected, in fact like I said, they look greener. I was worried the salt might hurt the plants but it doesn't look that way, and the fish seem happy.

Once things get stabilized and the cycle is working, I would really like to get a couple snails, but not the kind that eat live plants! Any suggestions on good freshwater snails for a small aquarium, that will eat algae, waste, and dead matter but leave the live plants alone? Or would shrimp do that job better?
 
Hellbore said:
Once things get stabilized and the cycle is working, I would really like to get a couple snails, but not the kind that eat live plants! Any suggestions on good freshwater snails for a small aquarium, that will eat algae, waste, and dead matter but leave the live plants alone? Or would shrimp do that job better?
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I would go with shrimp rather than snails. Snails have a tendency to overrun a tank. On the other hand shrimp that are big enough to not be eaten by the mollies will provide "live food" to the mollies if they happen to breed.
 
So glad everything is better! :D

Most shrimp, snails and salt are not really compatible, I'm afraid...unless you do something like olive nerites and Amano shrimp.

Do remember that salt doesn't evaporate, so only top up with fresh water and try to remember how much you've added so you know how much to replace when you do water changes! Not adding enough will never hurt, but adding too much can be bad for your plants, and even the fish if you really overdo it.
 
Update:

Yesterday, ammonia was 1 ppm. I am happy to report that for the first time, the ammonia has fallen on its own, without me doing a water change! I tested it twice to be sure, because I was so surprised :thm:

I'm still not sure what to think about the nitrites not rising. How can the ammonia drop to 1/4 what it was, but no rise in nitrites?

Yesterday:
Ammonia - 1ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - 5ppm

Today's levels:
Ammonia - 0.25ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - 10ppm

Hmm, nitrates rose again... getting kind of high now aren't they?

Maybe I need more plants... I actually did add some, but they are very small. 4 bunches of some unidentified plant, the pet store didn't know the name of it! But they sold it to me... Want to get some more short, ground-cover type plants for the foreground and middle areas!
 
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verbal said:
I would go with shrimp rather than snails. Snails have a tendency to overrun a tank. On the other hand shrimp that are big enough to not be eaten by the mollies will provide "live food" to the mollies if they happen to breed.
Click to expand...
nerites eat algae and dont breed in fw.

check out AAPE over there great group of planted people.
 
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