New tank setup

SublimeStar

SublimeStar

Registered Member
Apr 29, 2009
1
0
0
CO
I am a new as a newbie can get, in this forum, and as a fishy person.

I'm starting to understand the whole nitrogen cycle thing and all that other good stuff, but the thing now is, i just have to get started on it.

I have a brand new 29R gallon tank with fluorescent lighting, an AquaClear filter, heater, all that stuff you need.

I'm thinking of doing a fishy-in nitrogen cycle, i'm just wondering how i would go about getting started on that. I have nothing in my tank right now except gravel and water. I want to be able to add some live plants, decorations and of course fishies!

So i just don't really know where to start i guess...
 
First,do you have a water test kit?
IMO,fishless cycling is much easier.Find an Ace Hardware and buy their brand of pure ammonia.Add enough drops to get the ammonia up to 4 or 5ppm wait for it to drop,add some more.Keep doing this until the ammonia goes from 2 or 3 ppm to 0ppm overnight.
If you want to go the fishy cycle route,keep your final stocking plan in mind before you buy the fish.Unless you know you can return them to the store you buy them from,they need to be taken into consideration.Danios,barbs,and some cichlids are hardy enough to survive the cycling process.But keep in mind,you will need to be doing at the least 50% water changes DAILY for 4 to 6 weeks in order to keep them alive during the cycle.

Read this.It explains how to cycle.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598
 
SublimeStar said:
I'm thinking of doing a fishy-in nitrogen cycle, i'm just wondering how i would go about getting started on that. I have nothing in my tank right now except gravel and water. I want to be able to add some live plants, decorations and of course fishies!
Click to expand...
If the fishy cycle is what you want to do,all you have to do is add your fish,test the water twice a day,and do your water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite below .25ppm.
Good Luck!And make sure to ask when more questions arise.

Here are some more articels on cycling,
http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/TheNitrogenCycle.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/f...rst-freshwater-beginner-important-topics.html
http://fishlesscycling.com/forum/index.php?topic=1945.0
 
Do you know anyone who has an established fish tank? If you do ask them to squeeze out their filter pad onto yours, and put it in a ziplock bag with tank water. bring it home and install it in your filter. Add a pinch of fish food to the tank daily and check your water with a drop test kit. I find my tank cycles within 2 days when I do it this way. If you don't know anyone with an established tank, ask your LFS if they will do it. If you still don't have a seeded sponge I would suggest fishless cycling as it is less stressful on the fish and you. I hate worrying about my fish so anytime I do it gives me stress. If you really can't wait to get a fish you could always get a betta and do full water changes on its tank til the new tank is ready. If you don't care for betta's I would check out the specifics on the fish you want to keep, and pick one that is heartier to begin with. IE. danio's , barbs, minnows.
 
Welcome to AC. I have had my tank since June ’08, and have been through all the trials and tribulations of the noob. I’ve been a member of AC since around September and wish I had found this site sooner. It sure would have helped me and my fish if I had.

Please consider doing a fishless cycle. The majority of the folks here on AC, the very experienced ones with years and years of experience keeping fish, advocate fishless cycling of the tank. Even though many of them as noobies started with fish in, or fishy, they now know the best route is fishless.

Here’s why:

Fishless cycling is faster. The tank needs ammonia. More ammonia/faster growth and more abundant beneficial bacteria. With fishless cycling you can allow higher levels of ammonia, (though not too high or you can kill even the bacteria that loves ammonia), so the beneficial bacteria develops more quickly.

With fishy cycling you need to keep your ammonia at or near 0 ppm to keep your fish safe. The ammonia loving bacteria will appear and start to grow, but more slowly because you must keep the levels low to keep your fish safe. You must do frequent water changes to keep the ammonia at barely detectable levels.
Lower ammonia levels = slower growth of ammonia loving bacteria.

Once the ammonia loving bacteria produce nitrites that the nitrite loving bacteria eat, then that beneficial bacteria starts to grow and flourish, breaking down the nitrites into nitrates. Nitrite is even more dangerous for the fish and must be kept at or near 0 ppm through frequent water changes to keep the nitrites at barely detectable levels.
Lower nitrite levels = slower growth of nitrite loving bacteria.

Fishless cycling is kinder. Fishy cycling is cruel. Fish suffer. Their gills and skin are burned by ammonia, and later when the nitrites are there they suffer oxygen deprivation. They feel like they are suffocating. They are frightened and miserable.

The fish’s bodies take a beating. Their immune systems are compromised leaving them open to disease and parasitic infestations. They feel extreme stress. There will be illnesses and death, unless through heroic, immediate, and usually frantic water changes the toxic byproducts are kept to a minimum.

No fish in the tank; monitoring and maintaining of ammonia and nitrite levels leading to a cycled tank in less time, usually, but certainly with no suffering and no deaths.

Fishless cycling is less work. Fishy cycling requires frequent, often many times a day, monitoring of the parameters to keep the fish safe. Frequently, you will find dangerous spikes of ammonia and/or nitrites that you must remove through immediate, often frantic, frequently desperate, water changes to bring toxic levels down to or near 0ppm. It will happen late at night, in the morning when you need to be leaving for work, when you are tired, when you are sick, it won’t matter; it must be done right now or they will suffer damage that will lead to their deaths, ultimately.

Having said all that, there are individuals who did fishy cycling of the tank; did daily huge water changes with a really good water conditioner such as PRIME, that removes chlorine and chloramine and, very importantly, detoxifies ammonia and nitrites, and I mean they did water changes EVERY day sometimes twice a day to keep the ammonia and nitrites near 0ppm.

They carefully monitored their parameters several times a day using a good liquid test kit such as API Master test kit, (strips are inaccurate and inconsistent) vacuumed to remove food and debris keeping it to a minimum, and generally worked there butts off.

They did it, but it is so much less stressful for everyone involved if you do fishless.

Whatever you do decide, always remember that AC is a wonderful place to get help. These folks are sooooo much more knowledgeable than people at the fish stores, because these folks have the combined experience of hundreds of years. The folks at the local fish store (lfs) may or may not have some knowledge, but remember; they are in the business of selling. That will always influence what they tell you.

AC members have only one motive: to help you be successful. They are here to hold your hand and walk you through the rough times. Take advantage of their generosity.

Sorry I'm so long-winded. I want to help, too.:)
 
Last edited:
gonna step out on a limb here and thoroughly expect to get shot off it.. but i recommend fish cycles it doesnt take as long as people say, yes you do a lot of water changes, and your testing every day... i've seen so many people try fishless and get discouraged after 6-8 weeks of fighting the nitrite spike and give up.. not to mention i dont set up a fish tank to stare at an empty tank... just my opinion
 
Well Bush, I know a fishy cycle can be done, but I'm still gonna stick with fishless; I think fishy cycling is much more work and much more stressful.

I'm sure there have been other threads by those that successfully did fishy cycling, but I remember one in particular; a long thread by this guy Katuuz, or something like that, and he did it without any losses or even, it seemed, stress to his fish, but he was dilligent, I mean he worked his butt off and was running tests on his parameters and doing water changes ALL the time. Not everyone has the time or ability to work so hard at it.

Katuuz was on AC constantly getting help and advice. He really did a great job for his fish by doing everything the majority of the AC pros advised (except going fishless)and his dilligence paid off.

I did fish in and worked like a Trojan, and still had losses. I mean, I worked as hard as Katuuz did. I even did waterchanges at midnight or the wee hours of the morning.

I have a 10 gallon, though, and they are so much more unstable and difficult than big tanks.

I still prefer fishless. If and when I get a big tank I'm going to do fishless. Being able to introduce beneficial bacteria by seeding the filter with established media is what will really help speed up the fishless cycle.

A lot of those folks that laboured so long over a fishless tank didn't have anything in there to help jumpstart the bacterial growth. The bacteria will show up eventually in a tank, but with some gravel, or decor, or especially squeezings from a healthy established tank the bacteria is introduced and can take off fairly quickly.

I know that not everyone has access to a healthy established tank, so that can slow things down, it is true.
 
I used giant danios for a fish in cycling.. cycled my tank in no time. About a week and a half to 2 weeks.. I used the fw master liquid test kit. You just gota be patient and tend to the tank throughout the process because you will constantly be watching the water paremeters, testing the water, and doing water changes often.

giant danios are very hardy and can withstand various water paremeters, within reason. My danios were very active and maintained that way throughout the cycling process.
And they continue to be in great shape, and are fun to watch them swim around, chase each other, and when the feed :)
Just my 2 cents.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom