Beginner with 55g and a few questions

I cycled my 55 with 5 goldies in it. Did 50% WC every day and added Prime. It took 6 full weeks.
 
foil hat

IslandHopper said:
bushwhacker...

Are your fish all conspiracy theorists? ... Why the foil hat on the tank?
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it keeps the aliens from turning my fish into zombie killin machines and besides it bloks the light from glareing in my eyes as they are up on legs and right beside my desk..lol i have a 55 on the other side got the same hat
 
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JimmyTheDriver said:
Thanks for the great replies! Bushwacker - I like your style.

I have 6 giant danios in there right now. In the end, I don't know if the "giant" version was a good choice, but whats done is done.

My water readings have been pretty consistent...
Ammonia - 0-.25
Nitrites - .25
Nitrates - 10

Fish seem to be having a great time in there. Bit sketched out at first. When I had the light on, they would all huddle together and swim in place, but I don't blame them as they have virtually nothing in there with them but gravel and two tall skinny plants. Now they are swimming around all over the place, and ravage the food I put in there.

I will be doing another 25% water change this evening to see if I can't get the ammo and nitrite levels down a bit.

Thanks!
Jim
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jimmy bump that water change up to 50% a week man. those little changes do nothing for you and the fish will love the clean water
 
I have been doing 25% every night. Bump that to 50% every night? Or just back on the nightly changes and do one weekly? Still only a few days into my starting cycle, but using an established filter.

Thanks,
Jimmy
 
Hey Jimmy, are you using any bacteria booster such as Seachem's Stability or API's Stress Zyme? This will help to speed the process up. I used Stability in my new 120 gallon setup with a sponge filter (transfer from an established tank) that helped cycle my tank in 4 weeks.
 
Another question... as I mentioned before I have 6 Giant Danios in the tank. As of this morning, two of them have some orange coloring in their fins. Is this normal? They were all clear before today. Can I bank on the fact that they are just happier in my tank over the LFS, and some of their natural color is kicking in? When I bought them, they were all 100% dull and colorless, body, fins, everything. It looks great, but want to make sure it's nature, not chemicals causing this.

Water:
Ammo - .10
Nitrites - .10
Nitrates - 10

Thanks!
Jimmy
 
JimmyTheDriver said:
Another question... as I mentioned before I have 6 Giant Danios in the tank. As of this morning, two of them have some orange coloring in their fins. Is this normal? They were all clear before today. Can I bank on the fact that they are just happier in my tank over the LFS, and some of their natural color is kicking in? When I bought them, they were all 100% dull and colorless, body, fins, everything. It looks great, but want to make sure it's nature, not chemicals causing this.

Water:
Ammo - .10
Nitrites - .10
Nitrates - 10

Thanks!
Jimmy
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Sounds like your danios are doing well. They will color up even more. I have 9 giant danios in my 125 and they are awsome fish. They will get blue and gold stripes on their bodys soon also.
 
jimmy just test the tanks every few days and do a water change when the ammo or nitrites get up to .5 you dont need to change every day. once the tanks cycled 50 % a week is great. some do more some do less but this has worked for me for 30+ years ... now i rarely even test unless i notice the fish acting weird
 
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