OK, impatience got the better of me. Seeing my tank and not being "able" to add fish has gotten the better of me, so I found a place that sells Bio Spira, and have it in my fridge now. It is possible to add the Bio Spira and see if it cycles without adding fish? Could I possibly add ammonia to keep the cycle going if needed? That way if it's bad I don't have fish in there with an uncycled tank.
New to fish, advice on FW setup
- Thread starter necigrad
- Start date
OK, but I can dump in the BioSpira, a little ammonia, and then test for nitrites and nitrates to see if the cycle too hold, right? Basically feed the Bio Spira with ammonia, which is what I'm doing now with the fishless cycle anyway.
Last question. What's the best method for "deployment"? Right into the tank water, directly onto the filter material, bio balls?
Sorry, my bad. I meant the best place for the Bio Spira. One would think that since it winds up being in the filter material that would be the right place, but things aren't always like they appear.
So I dumped the Bio Spira right into the tank and left it for a day. I noticed an increase of both nitrites and nitrates, plus a decrese of ammonia. I assumed (and still do) that this indicates the Bio Spira worked. So I bought my fish last night. I got 8 Harlequin Rasboras (really cool looking fish IMO) 6 Orange Von Rios, and 4 Albino Corys. After testing a few times today everything seems stable. Stable as in what it was like yesterday. 1ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrites, and about 7-8ppm nitrates. I know the ammonia probably needs to be a bit lower. It was dropping and I mistakenly assumed that it would continue. After not quite 24 hours all the water paramaters remain unchanged. I haven't checked ph, but I'm not worried about that, based on advice recieved here.
After a while the Rasboras tend to stay towards the top, usually schooling. They really seem to dig the powerheads. The Von Rios I can't figure out yet. They're sometimes i a school, other time just all solo, or in pairs and trios. They're also hanging down towards the bottom of the tank. I'm pretty sure the corys are just being corys. Cruising along the substrate and driftwood, checking it all out, eating crap on the ground... And every once in a while popping up to the surface and then right back down.
I bought some Tetra flakes and Tetra freeze dried plankton. The raboras and corys eat the flakes. I dind't realise the plankton was so large, and no one is eating it. The Von Rios aren't eating. They nibbled at some of the flakes that fell but didn't seem to like them.
Other then the ammonia being aq bit higher then it should, I see one other problem. There's this white "spooge" on my driftwood. I pulled the driftwood out and rinsed it off, or thought I did. Some came off in the rinse, some stayed on, and some came lose in the tank. I had a foot long stringy strand that get hung up on a plant. I pulled that string out by hand, plus a few other small pieces.
Also, not a problem, but the plants are getting a good bit of algae on them. IF the corys don't take care of that (they seem to a little, maybe they just knock it off) I'll get an oto later. I want to wait though now that I'm slowly developing doubts about the tank being cycled.
Comments?
After a while the Rasboras tend to stay towards the top, usually schooling. They really seem to dig the powerheads. The Von Rios I can't figure out yet. They're sometimes i a school, other time just all solo, or in pairs and trios. They're also hanging down towards the bottom of the tank. I'm pretty sure the corys are just being corys. Cruising along the substrate and driftwood, checking it all out, eating crap on the ground... And every once in a while popping up to the surface and then right back down.
I bought some Tetra flakes and Tetra freeze dried plankton. The raboras and corys eat the flakes. I dind't realise the plankton was so large, and no one is eating it. The Von Rios aren't eating. They nibbled at some of the flakes that fell but didn't seem to like them.
Other then the ammonia being aq bit higher then it should, I see one other problem. There's this white "spooge" on my driftwood. I pulled the driftwood out and rinsed it off, or thought I did. Some came off in the rinse, some stayed on, and some came lose in the tank. I had a foot long stringy strand that get hung up on a plant. I pulled that string out by hand, plus a few other small pieces.
Also, not a problem, but the plants are getting a good bit of algae on them. IF the corys don't take care of that (they seem to a little, maybe they just knock it off) I'll get an oto later. I want to wait though now that I'm slowly developing doubts about the tank being cycled.
Comments?
After a day or two I noticed the ammonia coming back up a tad. I did a 10% water change with no effect yeaterday. A 30% last night and again this morning dropped the ammonia and nirtrites to .50ppm, and the nitrates are steady at 7-8ppm. Is this typical for bio spira, and I can feel a bit more comfortable, is that bad for bio spira and I'm in a fishy cycle, or is it too soon to tell?
