Newbie Cycle

Hi all, complete newbie to fish keeping….. been lurking for a couple of weeks now researching the fishless cycle so here is my story so far.

By the way some of you guys n girls have some really nice tanks

Well after nagging the missus (usually other way round) about getting a tank she finally relented and went out and bought me a tank for my birthday 3 weeks ago….Fluval Roma 240 came with the standard T8 lighting and 305 external and so on….

Set my tank up little over 2 weeks ago with tetra plant complete substrate and argos play sand (after much cleaning). Filled up and the tank was pretty clear after a few days. Got some mature filter media and added it to my 305. Bought home base ammonia and API test kit then dosed with 12ml 7days ago ..tested and was reading 4ppm all was good. Going down the “Add and Wait” route.

Right here goes

Tap water
Straight from tap:
PH: 7.6 – PH High 8.2
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

Stats as of Sunday 2nd

PH: 7.2 – PH High 7.8
Ammonia: 0.25ppm - 0.50ppm
Nitrite: very high ..would be off the scale
Nitrate: 5-10ppm

Today am

PH: 7.6 – PH High 8.2
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 5.0ppm + not as dark as sunday
Nitrate: 5-10ppm not quite red

Ammonia redosed to 4ppm

Today pm 12 hrs later

PH: 7.2-7.6ish – PH High 7.8
Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrite: 5.0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm not quite red

So hows my cycle doing ??

I have got some granite rocks(I have a old quarry at the back of my house) are these OK to use?? and redwood/redmoor wood that i bought from my LFS not going to add anything till after the cycle is complete

also any stocking/planting ideas ??

Would appreciate any help/suggestions....

Thanks Ian

the easiest way to test if the rocks will be ok is to drop some vinegar onto them, if they sizzle then keep clear of them, if they dont just make sure you give them a good clean before adding to the tank, I get mine from the local beach, Im sure people think im crazy going round dropping vinegar onto the rocks.

When it comes to the fishless cycling, i like to add about a small pinch of fis food to your cycling water to give the bacteria something to jumpstart on. wait about a month for your cycling and it should stabalize, no need to check every 12 hrs, as eager as you are. I wouldnt add that granite and whatever to your tank, i would go to the pet store and go the safe route. also, bold move choosing sand for your first tank, and can be a little harder to maintain than gravel. and if i were you since this is your first tank, i would go with gravel. Sand looks nice, but so does gravel and you shouldnt risk your fish for visual appeal. as for stocking, thats up to you. some smaller cichlids would be nice, maybe instead you could do a community tank, all depends on what you like.

DD2510 said:

the easiest way to test if the rocks will be ok is to drop some vinegar onto them, if they sizzle then keep clear of them, if they dont just make sure you give them a good clean before adding to the tank, I get mine from the local beach, Im sure people think im crazy going round dropping vinegar onto the rocks.

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Cheers will try that, going to give them a jet wash to get em clean, will they be fine to put in the tank after that ?? what about the wood ?? how long to soak it ?? my LFS said to soak it for a week

soak the wood, forget the granite, the vinegar thing is a little weird and ive never heard of it. soak the wood for a week in tank water.

eli3000 said:

soak the wood, forget the granite, the vinegar thing is a little weird and ive never heard of it. soak the wood for a week in tank water.

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Thanks for that, will have plenty of time on my hands to think about stocking etc...quite like the idea of cichlids, will have to look into it

eli3000 said:

soak the wood, forget the granite, the vinegar thing is a little weird and ive never heard of it. soak the wood for a week in tank water.

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http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/372479-slate-from-a-beach/page__p__3114466__hl__vinegar__fromsearch__1#entry3114466

Maybe you havnt read enough threads that take place LOL..

Duplicate post

eli3000 said:

soak the wood, forget the granite, the vinegar thing is a little weird and ive never heard of it. soak the wood for a week in tank water.

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This is how I test my rocks too!

Sounds like your cycle is moving right along!

Two weeks is a good time to be getting zeroes on ammonia and a drop in nitrite. You may wish to drop to a half dose of ammonia until you get your first 0 on nitrite, but it's not essential. Hopefully you'll be getting fish soon!

eli3000 said:

When it comes to the fishless cycling, i like to add about a small pinch of fis food to your cycling water to give the bacteria something to jumpstart on. wait about a month for your cycling and it should stabalize, no need to check every 12 hrs, as eager as you are. I wouldnt add that granite and whatever to your tank, i would go to the pet store and go the safe route. also, bold move choosing sand for your first tank, and can be a little harder to maintain than gravel. and if i were you since this is your first tank, i would go with gravel. Sand looks nice, but so does gravel and you shouldnt risk your fish for visual appeal. as for stocking, thats up to you. some smaller cichlids would be nice, maybe instead you could do a community tank, all depends on what you like.

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Not all of this is good advice.

Firstly, if you have an artificial source of ammonia, you don't need to add fish food. Fish food will not give you a jumpstart as it takes a good while to start decaying and produce any ammonia. On top of this, if you've got ammonia coming from there, it makes it pretty much impossible to provide an exact amount of ammonia and be scientific about the whole thing.

Yes and no on the sand being harder to maintain thing. Gravel doesn't get sucked up your siphon, true, but with sand the mess will sit on the top of it to be easily sucked off, rather than sinking down through the layers and festering there.

I see no risk in using sand. If anything, there is risk in gravel, as it can sometimes contain sharper edges and the aforementioned mess that sinks underneath. For bottom feeders like cories, gravel is highly recommended AGAINST as it can cause them damage. While I'm relatively new to the hobby compared to other members on here, I've done a hell of alot of reading on the subject and have never heard of any occasions where fish have been harmed by sand.

Finally, although there's no need to test every 12 hours now, you'll want to start doing so soon once you get your first 0 for nitrite.

eli3000 said:

When it comes to the fishless cycling, i like to add about a small pinch of fis food to your cycling water to give the bacteria something to jumpstart on. wait about a month for your cycling and it should stabalize, no need to check every 12 hrs, as eager as you are. I wouldnt add that granite and whatever to your tank, i would go to the pet store and go the safe route. also, bold move choosing sand for your first tank, and can be a little harder to maintain than gravel. and if i were you since this is your first tank, i would go with gravel. Sand looks nice, but so does gravel and you shouldnt risk your fish for visual appeal. as for stocking, thats up to you. some smaller cichlids would be nice, maybe instead you could do a community tank, all depends on what you like.

Click to expand...

I disagree with you regarding the sand versus gravel discussion. Sand is no more difficult than gravel, in fact, it can be better for first timers as the "dirt" is easily visible and you won't delude yourself into thinking you are doing a good job with the gravel vac just because you don't see the stuff building up. Also, sand is preferable for certain varieties of fish, including my favorite, corydoras.

To me, your cycle is doing well. At this stage, you only need to be testing every 24 hours, and as someone else said, reduce dosing to 3ppm - this stops the N-bacs being overloaded, without losing the A-bacs.

WHen you've got Double Zeros after 24 hours, increase the dose back to 4ppm, and then test every 12 hours (and dose every 24 hours, as previously)

Keep an eye on the pH as well, at the mo it's fine, but much below 7.0, and the cycle will stall.

It's amazing the difference that mature media can make, isn't it? I cycled a tank in about 10 days with mature media.

THe point that Eli3000 made about adding fish food is irrelevant. The fish food decomposes into ammonia, and that feeds the bacteria. You are adding ammonia anyway, so don't need to add fish food.

the_lock_man said:

To me, your cycle is doing well. At this stage, you only need to be testing every 24 hours, and as someone else said, reduce dosing to 3ppm - this stops the N-bacs being overloaded, without losing the A-bacs.

WHen you've got Double Zeros after 24 hours, increase the dose back to 4ppm, and then test every 12 hours (and dose every 24 hours, as previously)

Keep an eye on the pH as well, at the mo it's fine, but much below 7.0, and the cycle will stall.

It's amazing the difference that mature media can make, isn't it? I cycled a tank in about 10 days with mature media.

THe point that Eli3000 made about adding fish food is irrelevant. The fish food decomposes into ammonia, and that feeds the bacteria. You are adding ammonia anyway, so don't need to add fish food.

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Thanks for the info....yeah mature media seems to make a big difference

PH does Appear to be dropping a wee bit so will keep an eye on it, if it does go down below 7 drop in some bi-carb ??? If so how much ??

Also soaking wood, do I let it just soak it in cold water or top it up with hot water and how long for ??

Ian

With the bicarb, just add a little bit at a time. You can always add more if you need to, and it'll probably take some trial and error before you get to know how much you need for your tank.

For the wood, I bought mine online and it took about a week or two to stop discolouring the water and sink, but it depends on the individual piece of wood. Mine has lots of rooty bits so a high surface area to volume ratio. For the water, plain tap water will be fine, and just change it when it gets discoloured. When you do your big water change at the end of your cycle, keep the water to rinse the wood before adding it to your tank.

A couple of photo's

Here's my tank




Some granite rocks all passed the viniger test .... like i said I stay beside an old quarry and have an abundance of these at my doorstep