Complete Newbie needs a bit of help

[Shermanator]

OK on the first day I filled the tank up with ordinary tap water and got the undergravel flitration with powerhead system going. On the 2nd day I splurged out on a Eheim Cannister filter and added this to my setup. In the same process I also declorinted and added water conditioners to the water- (Bio-Safe, Bio-Min and Bio- Black), I also added Nutrafin Cylcle.

1) Now if I am starting a fishless cycle how much ammonia do I add to a 250 litre tank?
2) If I go the fish cycle route- By the third day can I add the fish to start the cycling process?
3) What fish should I go for to start the cycling process? Given that fish should be able to take the ammonia/Nitrite spike
4) Oops one other question- How much Fish should I start the cycling off with?

Your help would be much appreciated

 

[Rbishop]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

 

[Shermanator]

Thanks I had a good read- I just need some advise on my 2nd third and fourth question just to make up my mind which way to go.

regards

 

[Rbishop]

if you are doing a fishey cycle, you cna add fish day one. However, this adds extreme stress to the fish and permanent damage to their gillsno matter how well you maintain the water.

Danios are probably the hardiest, but that doesn't mean they will not suffer permanent damage.

None--do a fishless cycle.

 

[Shermanator]

Well during my little break from this forum- I decided to run to my LFS and bought a plant and shoved that in with some plant food... Why?. According to the famous book "The complete Idiot's guide to Freshwater Aquarium" which I have hee well the author claims that he added heaps of plants and a heavy load of fish that he would not normally recommend to cycle the tank. Apprently upon doing this he claims that their was enough bacteria in on the plants so that the tank did not go through a break in period. According to him it cycled instantly. :read: Hmmmm interesting stuff.... well planting it could only do some good I guess.


Well everywhere I go- here in Australia (Melbourne to be exact) everyone seems to be doing the "add fish" cycle and not the fishless cycle (adding ammonia). So I have decided to go with the norm here in OZ but want to make it less strenous on the fish aka the Danios as you suggest Rbishop. The way I guess to do it is to plant the crap out of Aquarium to introduce some good bacteria. I gather from the book and some of you here in the forum that most aquarists all have little faith in additives like Nutrafin Cycle and its claims. So the planting can only boost the bacteria in Nutrafin Cycle (if in fact thier is some) with more bacteria. Am I wrong to think this way??anyone go a second opinion?

 

[Ulan]

In my experience, plants don't completely take away the cycle, but they buffer it somewhat. With my first attempt at a fish tank ever, I planted the tank first. I didn't have a chance but put 10 fish at once into the tank on the second day (which I strongly advise against). I got some ammonia that stressed the fish two days later, but after a water change, everything was fine. There were no further problems, but I changed a third of the water twice a week. There was no noticeable nitrite spike, and nitrate never reached 10 ppm. Which basically means that a planted tank is a good idea for a fishy cycle. Don't go overboard with the fish, though.

My second tank was planted with surplus plants from the first one on day one. I didn't notice any cycle. Nitrate also stays below 10 ppm.

 

[Shermanator]

Thanks Ulan that pretty much confirmed it I guess. I have no intention of really going overboard with the intiall introduction of the fish. To start of with I will probably introduce a school of Danios as rbishop suggested and monitor the results from their. I will let the tank go for about a week before I introduce anything plus I am a bit straped for cash as my intiall setup of the aquarium has set me back about 1500 Australian bucks on my credit card. I bought my Eheim Professional II 2026 and T5 Light that took a huge wack from it. But I tell you what- the Ehiem is a great filter to do the job.

 

[Shermanator]

Ok went to the LFS yeaterday to start with the Danios, but ended up coming home with a school of cardinal tetras to start of with. I don't know the reason but the owner said to try them out first as they are a cheap fish here.
I also bought some Tetramin flakes. So anyway this morning I got up and fed the fish with the flakes roughly about sixteen hours after the ended up in my tank. I sought of gave them enough time to acclimatise to the water and surroundings. I didnt realise that my Flake food was being stalked by my not so humble little pussycat.

:mad2: as you know that flake food ended up on the floor and the cat got a good kick up the rear end (he not so hard) but to startle the bugger. I forgot the cat loves fishy smells. Anyway I have started the monitoring of the levels in Ammonia and Nirite. I just want to know at what stage do I start doing my water changes? I intend to do them weekly once cycled but what about during cycling?

 

[Shermanator]

Sorry to bump it up-

1)Anyone know at what stage do I start doing my water changes? Currently ammonia is @ 0 and Nitrite is at 0, ph @ 7.2.

2) Its my second day that the fish was introduced so at what stage should I start to seeing ammonia levels and Nitrite levels?

 

[Rbishop]

If you are doing a fishey cycle, monitor your water and do water changes as often as possible to maintain ammonia and nitrites less than .25