I'm a student in the DC metro area and I'm taking my old tank I was given as a kid out of retirement, this time hopefully as a beginning hobbyist instead of little girl who wanted an "easy" pet! My tank is a 15 hex, and I know the shape is not optimal, but I'm trying to make it the best I can nonetheless. Hopefully the rest of my post isn't too long for the introduction forum!
I've been reading about freshwater startup and maintenance for months, and I'm currently in the midst of cycling, using the fishless method. I'm three weeks in, and my tank is in its nitrite spike, while ammonia is finally steady at 0ppm. If all goes well, only a few more weeks before I can start to add fish!
I want to keep mainly tetras and other fish that would live in the blackwater environment home to tetras in the wild. I'm currently messing with my water chemistry to achieve very soft, acidic water found in that habitat. It's very difficult, however, because DC water is notoriously bad and very, very hard! GH was off the scale of my test strips before I began conditioning, and pH was above 8. I have replaced about 30% of my water with distilled water, which brought pH between 6.8-7.2 after letting it mix for a few days (it's hard to tell exact numbers with the test strips), but GH only down to about 150ppm. I'm hesitant to add more, because my KH is getting low (40ppm) and I really want my water to be stable.
I have ordered some driftwood, and I've been considering peat moss as well. I'm assuming that many of my questions will be in the area of water softening and peat filtration! I'm probably going to introduce my drift wood this week, test parameters, and if things are going well (and the wood is sinking, of course) pick up my first live plants next weekend.
Sorry for the long post; I'm just really excited about starting up my tank (if you hadn't realized that by now!) but everyone I know just laughs when I start talking about the aquarium. I'm excited to have a place where I can ask questions and not be laughed at
I've been reading about freshwater startup and maintenance for months, and I'm currently in the midst of cycling, using the fishless method. I'm three weeks in, and my tank is in its nitrite spike, while ammonia is finally steady at 0ppm. If all goes well, only a few more weeks before I can start to add fish!
I want to keep mainly tetras and other fish that would live in the blackwater environment home to tetras in the wild. I'm currently messing with my water chemistry to achieve very soft, acidic water found in that habitat. It's very difficult, however, because DC water is notoriously bad and very, very hard! GH was off the scale of my test strips before I began conditioning, and pH was above 8. I have replaced about 30% of my water with distilled water, which brought pH between 6.8-7.2 after letting it mix for a few days (it's hard to tell exact numbers with the test strips), but GH only down to about 150ppm. I'm hesitant to add more, because my KH is getting low (40ppm) and I really want my water to be stable.
I have ordered some driftwood, and I've been considering peat moss as well. I'm assuming that many of my questions will be in the area of water softening and peat filtration! I'm probably going to introduce my drift wood this week, test parameters, and if things are going well (and the wood is sinking, of course) pick up my first live plants next weekend.
Sorry for the long post; I'm just really excited about starting up my tank (if you hadn't realized that by now!) but everyone I know just laughs when I start talking about the aquarium. I'm excited to have a place where I can ask questions and not be laughed at
Last edited:
