New 55 gallon setup

[shimek182]

Here is my new 55 gallon setup,, its been running now for about 2 weeks.

I did a water test and everything is reading normal.
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Is it too soon to add a couple fish considering the water test shows no bad readings or should I just wait the full recommended month to add anything?

Also, there is a fine layer of algae covering all my plants. Is this normal?
My plants include several anubias, 1 amazon sword, couple crypts, onion plants.
I just replaced the LED lighting that came with tank (which was barely putting out any wattage at all) with a 56 watt lighting setup.

 

[jpappy789]

I'm cautious about the 0ppm nitrate...while possible for planted tanks, are you absolutely sure that it went through a cycle at all? How did you initially cycle initially, ie. what ammonia source did you use?

The setup itself looks great though.

 

[shimek182]

I've been dropping in some fish food every day,, I also put in some driftwood from my 10 gallon established tank.

 

[jpappy789]

Probably not the most reliable method...have you seen any ammonia or nitrite at all? If not, that 0 ppm nitrate means to me that there hasn't been anything to get the bacteria colonies going, whether they were introduced by the driftwood or not, and you're still at square one, essentially. Using established media would actually be preferred. Even better would then be to use "pure" ammonia and get things going that way. I've tried using fish food and the decomp process is just too slow IME to get any decent readings.

 

[mesto]

Really nice tank! Are all your fish still in the small tank? I don't know if others would recommend this but what I might try is moving over all the filter media/gravel and fish from the small tank. I started a tank this summer using a filter seeded off my main tank and there was no detectable cycle, so I found that method to be very easy. I did tests every day until I was sure there would be no cycle. You could put the old gravel in some sheer panty hose if you didn't want it in your new tank long term. If you do this I would monitor closely and be prepared to help the fish with lots of WC if there is a mini cycle. But again, beautiful set up!

 

[67chevelle]

Unless you have seen some ammonia in the tank, I would say the cycle has not even started yet. If you have a cycled filter, you can use some of the media from it to help move the new tank along faster. But, you need to have some ammonia in it for the bacteria to multiply and to be able to support a tank full of fish. I don't think you have enough plants in your tank to be able to remove all the nitrates unless your ammonia readings have been very low. Which, if you have been using food as the ammonia source maybe a possibility. But it would be my guess that there is not nearly enough bacteria to support fish.

The algae is not normal. Or, it is not a good thing at least. Algae in planted tanks happens for many reasons. How long are you lights on for?

 

[shimek182]

Probably not the most reliable method...have you seen any ammonia or nitrite at all? If not, that 0 ppm nitrate means to me that there hasn't been anything to get the bacteria colonies going, whether they were introduced by the driftwood or not, and you're still at square one, essentially. Using established media would actually be preferred. Even better would then be to use "pure" ammonia and get things going that way. I've tried using fish food and the decomp process is just too slow IME to get any decent readings.

Unfortunately, I was out of town the week after initial set up so I'm not sure if the Ammonia has gone up and then back down or if the tank has actually cycled or not.
So where can I get "pure" ammonia? Pet store or a home goods store?

 

[shimek182]

Really nice tank! Are all your fish still in the small tank? I don't know if others would recommend this but what I might try is moving over all the filter media/gravel and fish from the small tank. I started a tank this summer using a filter seeded off my main tank and there was no detectable cycle, so I found that method to be very easy. I did tests every day until I was sure there would be no cycle. You could put the old gravel in some sheer panty hose if you didn't want it in your new tank long term. If you do this I would monitor closely and be prepared to help the fish with lots of WC if there is a mini cycle. But again, beautiful set up!

Thank you!
Yes, my fish are still in the 10 gallon tank for now.
I would hate to dump them in this new tank though, since I'm not sure if it has cycled or not. I'm very attached to my fish and would hate to stress them out. I guess I will have to introduce some media (probably gravel) to the new tank and just wait it out.

 

[jpappy789]

Hardware store.

But as others said, if you can transfer over some media from the established tank you could add some fish initially so long as you monitor for ammonia and nitrite and do water changes to keep those as low as possible. Essentially it would be like a fish cycle, but the initial boost from the "old" media would go a long way.

 

[shimek182]

Unless you have seen some ammonia in the tank, I would say the cycle has not even started yet. If you have a cycled filter, you can use some of the media from it to help move the new tank along faster. But, you need to have some ammonia in it for the bacteria to multiply and to be able to support a tank full of fish. I don't think you have enough plants in your tank to be able to remove all the nitrates unless your ammonia readings have been very low. Which, if you have been using food as the ammonia source maybe a possibility. But it would be my guess that there is not nearly enough bacteria to support fish.
The algae is not normal. Or, it is not a good thing at least. Algae in planted tanks happens for many reasons. How long are you lights on for?

I leave the lights on for about 10hrs each day.
Too long??
I just put in new lights though. My old light set up was LED (barely any wattage).
The new lights are putting out 56 watts and consist of a Colormax bulb and a 6.7K bulb.