yet another noob cycling thread (sorry)

If you have some nitrate readings but no ammonia and nitrites, then you are done cycling. You can add more fishes but slowly - i.e. don't go and add 10 fishes at once. That will cause another mini cycling.

Also, if you are interested in plants, it might be a good idea to read around a bit - some plants don't do well if you don't have enough lights, CO2 and fertilizers. I am guessing that you want some easy plants?
 
yhbae said:
If you have some nitrate readings but no ammonia and nitrites, then you are done cycling. You can add more fishes but slowly - i.e. don't go and add 10 fishes at once. That will cause another mini cycling.

Also, if you are interested in plants, it might be a good idea to read around a bit - some plants don't do well if you don't have enough lights, CO2 and fertilizers. I am guessing that you want some easy plants?
Click to expand...
I'm going for a kind of eco-system kind of thing. Fish eat the food and some of the plants, plants eat the poop and supply the O2 for the fish, etc. Something that looks like grass and not too unlike a rice paddy or a small streambed. I need to read more though, you're spot on with that.

I'm really annoyed about the plants right now. It's not right that these stores can sell them as aquatic and have them not be. I saved the bags and receipts from the store (Petsmart) and i will be removing and taking them back this week. I'm even going to print out that plantgeek article to file a complaint with the manager.

Well, i just retested ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I'm not done. Back to the water changes. i suppose. :mad2:

Ites: 1ppm (big jump from nothing last night)
Ates: 0
Ammonia: .25

Man this is frustrating. :headshake2:
 
fineexampl said:
I'm going for a kind of eco-system kind of thing. Fish eat the food and some of the plants, plants eat the poop and supply the O2 for the fish, etc. Something that looks like grass and not too unlike a rice paddy or a small streambed. I need to read more though, you're spot on with that.

I'm really annoyed about the plants right now. It's not right that these stores can sell them as aquatic and have them not be. I saved the bags and receipts from the store (Petsmart) and i will be removing and taking them back this week. I'm even going to print out that plantgeek article to file a complaint with the manager.

Well, i just retested ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I'm not done. Back to the water changes. i suppose. :mad2:

Ites: 1ppm (big jump from nothing last night)
Ates: 0
Ammonia: .25

Man this is frustrating. :headshake2:
Click to expand...

Perhaps you can buy some plants from an LFS that keeps their plants in an established tank? Some bacteria will come with those plants and will help speed up your cycling process.
 
I was really stressed while cycling my first tank. I thought I would buy a fish tank and get some fish and be done. In trying to decide what tank I wanted it quickly became clear that I was going to have to read a book. I bought a book written by a fish magazine editor for beginners. It was great it talked me through all of the beginning stuff and told me about cycling. It did not tell me anything about fishless cycling. Grrr...

A few days after I had fish I started reading on the web. I then tested water twice a day and did water changes every day to keep my water happy and my fish safe. I was very anxious to do everything right. I bought a couple of live bacteria products that did not seem to make any difference. 6 weeks later I was ready to add fish. I started slowly increasing my feeding for aobut a week before and saw no spike. So when I went to add fish I did not change my feeding for about another week. Then a started slowly adding more food. No spike. So I got more fish.

Now I look back fondly of those days and want more tanks so I can do it all over again.

:popcorn:
 
Okay so plants on order from a fellow AC member. i returned the mondo grass and am thinking of planting and stocking ideas.

I have a question. I did a water change last night and since then i have had alot of debris floating in the water, more than i have had in the past. The filter is getting quite crusty and i assume that's the bacteria growing? is this part of cycling? Anything i can do to keep the water clearer? from a couple feet back the water looks perfect. should i be overly concerned or not at all?

My nitrites aren't rising, but they aren't going down on their own either, or so i can tell. My ammonia level is barely visible, but so are the nitrates.

I have no clue what i am going to stock with. 1 betta, and what else? i can't decide. i want some bottom feeders, but i want something kind of active. i've also considered about 5 or so neon tetras or glofish or something like that, but haven't really made any choices. I like shrimp too. What about a betta, a snail, and about 6 of some small schooling community type fish? too heavy a load?
 
You could try Endler's livebearers, they stay VERY small.
I've read on here that you can put three sparkling gouramis in a 5 gal. I wouldn't go that far, but you could put two in one, I think. You may even get them to spawn.
 
Thanks everyone.

I have some questions. I've been fussing with the cycling for a while now. I had some good results in testing (API test kit), but not not great.

Stats are:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: Just above 0

What am i missing here? What can i do to up the nitrates? Is this where i can add fish or do i just let things sit for a few days before stocking?

Also, what can i do about debris floating in the water? The water is crystal clear for the most part, but there's little bits of what looks like dust. Could this just be due to the subsrate i added last week? (Seachem Flourite)
 
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