Cycling my 115 gallon

V

Victor

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Jun 21, 2005
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I setup my 115 gallon tank last Sunday. I placed foam from an established tank into my Rena Filstar filter and then let the tank sit for a few days. On the following Thursday, I placed my two plecos and my silver arowana into the tank. I proceeded to add my clown-knife fish and my frontosa on Saturday.

I went out and bought a Nitra-Zorb pack for my rena filstar, it apparently eliminates ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate so i'm not TOO overly concerned about sudden spikes in those 3 things.

The water is started to get a bit cloudy since yesterday. I'm assuming this is caused by the cycle of my tank?

How long do you guys think I should wait before I introduce my 3 parrot cichlids and my 3 small frontosas? And how long does the tank usually stay cloudy until it goes clear again during a cycle?

Thanks in advance
 
Throw out the nitra-zorb or save it for a day when you do have a spike. While it's in the filter you're just asking for trouble. The bene-bacteria grow in direct relation to the amount of ammonia and nitrite in the tank, by chemically reducing these chemicals you'll make the bacteria population smaller than necessary to handle the waste produced by a fully stocked tank. So what happens if you have the Nitra-zorb become ineffective or removed? You'll kill the tank with a spike probably.

And why do you have an arowana in a 115gal with other fish? They grow to 2ft, are predatory, require hiding places, and lots of room to swim... not to mention that as a South American / Australian species they require soft acidic water where your frontosas will be best kept in hard, alkaline water. When it's full grow, if you wanna keep it, you're going to need something to the tune of 1000+ gallons.
 
i've read a lot about the nitra-zorbs and a lot of people have used it during their cycle of their tanks. This is the first time i've heard that it's bad to have it in there. You seem to know what you're talking about, so i'll take your advice.

As for why I have other fish in with my arowana is because an arowana is a fish that stays to the top of the tank. I've had my arowana for quite some time now with all those fish and it's been fine.

I've been told that Frontosas do indeed need a higher pH compared to an arowana, but it's been done so many times with no issues.

Thanks for the help =)
 
PurpleSmurf said:
if you wanna keep it, you're going to need something to the tune of 1000+ gallons.
Click to expand...

I REALLY dissagree with your statement here if you are speaking of arowanas.

and arowana will be great in a tank of about 300 gallons as long as most of the size of the tank is focused on surface area (length and width) and actually arowanas can grow larger but thats rarely seen in home aquariums.

I would Ideally recommend a tank with atleast a 2foot width (front to back) and a length of 6-8feet.

as far as everything else he said I agree 100%. I keep arowanas (have one now...been keeping them for about 10 years now) and honestly they dont do well in water that is over 7.0 pH.

most south american fish (stingrays, discus, arowanas, oscars, etc) require a pH of 6.6-6.8 and I understand it "has been done before" however arowanas will not thrive in water conditions outside and either become very suceptable to disease or they do not live very long. they are top swimmers but you are mixing a heavy mix of predatory fish there. I would consider creating a soft-water "black-water" environment and moving the frontosa to its own tank with a harder more alkalinic water setup. Understand we are not jumping on you but just trying to help you do whats right for the fish you have.

EDIT: make sure you are keeping up on ammonia/nitrite levels arowanas are very sensitive. Also I just reread your message and when the other frontosa and parrot cichlids are placed in the tank its going to soon become over-stocked after the grow out. if its possible could you list an approx size of all the fish?
 
The tank size was a guess, but since most people reccomend 1000+ gallons for pacu's who grow to be 3ft I figured it'd be close.

And I assume the 300gal would be for one specimin?
 
300gallon is a tank list for a full grown male or a breeding pair...I wouldnt consider putting 2 males in a tank of that size just because of territorial issues.

MINIMUM tank for a silver arowana I would list at 180 (24"wx72"L)

keep in mind that the clown knife is going to grow well over 2 feet

parrots will grow to 12" each the frontosa at about 15" and the plecos (assuming they are common) anywhere between 12-18" which is why I said the tank is overstocked....not enough room for everything.

the arowana/clown knife alone are too small for the tank when fullgrown

pacus need that much tank for 2 reasons.... 1) they are physically big 2) they require A LOT of swimming room as they like to dart back and forth at incredible speed.
 
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