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My first tropical freshwater tank! :)

I’d say you are being impatient, this is very normal though. Do a large water change (60%) and test again.

It took my tanks around 5 weeks to completely cycle. (Or at least cycled enough to my satisfaction)

Give it 1 more week. :)

Just re tested all the water and nitrite and nitrate showed up as 0 and iv attached a pic of the ammo result below! I’m not sure if to take it as completely 0 or abit above! Will see what it’s saying in the morning now again!
 

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That’s very good! Wait until tomorrow and see for sure. Sometimes the parameters will change over night, if the tanks not stable. (Aka not cycled fully)
 
This is beautiful, its look better than any tank I have my aquascaping skills is kinda bad. I’ve been fish keeping for 3 years btw.
 
Daily update!! But need help!! :fish:

Hi peeps, iv done my daily water parameter checks this morning and I think I’m finally getting somewhere!! :) But I need advice if possible on what to do next and the actual results! @Colin_T sorry for tagging you but I am now referring to you as the fish doctor! Lol abit of explaining before the results below from this morning... Yesterday I did a 75% water change, siphoned the sand, rinsed the fake plants and rinsed the foam at the bottom of the filter in the tank water and didn’t feed the fish as I fed them the day before! (Thursday) I then re tested the water and the results were:

Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

This morning iv attached pictures because I want to absolutely sure on the results and what to do next! These are the BEST results iv had since having the tank (4 weeks tomorrow) the results were:

Ammo: (picture below) I’d say 0 but not 100%!?
Nitrite: between 0-0.25 (lighter than yesterday)
Nitrate: (picture below) would say that’s a 10.0 but not completely sure!?

My question is what do I do now? Do I do another 50% water change after these results!? Can I feed them? Just want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to speed up the cycling process! Thanks to anyone who can help!

Can I just say though how ecstatic I am about these results! :yahoo:
I have a feeling though I need to do another 50% change because my nitrite is still above 0? But should I feed them and should I do another sand siphon that’s my question as well??
 

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Sorry just another update !! Sorry if this bores anyone but I’m excited this is my first ever live plant and it’s just been delivered and couldn’t wait to get it in the tank! Frogbit is looking fab! Can’t wait for it to grow and see the benefits to my fish and tank! :)
 

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I have no idea what has been said so far, but if the tank is new and still cycling, which it appears to be doing due to the test results, I would feed the fish 2-3 times a week and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding.

If you are feeling energetic, you can also do a 75% water change any day there is an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

In a month's time, the tank should have cycled and you can do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

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Don't bother testing for nitrates until the nitrite level has dropped to 0. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and you get a false reading.
 
Don't rinse your filter media until the tank has finished cycling.
 
I have no idea what has been said so far, but if the tank is new and still cycling, which it appears to be doing due to the test results, I would feed the fish 2-3 times a week and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding.

If you are feeling energetic, you can also do a 75% water change any day there is an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

In a month's time, the tank should have cycled and you can do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

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Don't bother testing for nitrates until the nitrite level has dropped to 0. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and you get a false reading.


Brill thank you. Iv been feeding them every other day but will drop it to just 3 time’s now. Iv just done a 75% water change and siphoned the sand 10 mins after feeding!:unsure: Will I need to do it again later!? And I always pop the water conditioner in the clean water and give it a good swirl around before adding it to the tank! :) oh damn have I got wait another month!?:( Didn’t realise it took 2 months to fully cycle a tank! And thanks won’t test nitrate then until nitrite reaches 0 :)
 
Don't do another water change today.

In future do the water change 4-8 hours after feeding. That gives the fish time to digest the food and produce whatever ammonia they are going to make from the food. Then you can dilute that with the big water change.

You can syphon out uneaten food a few minutes after feeding, but leave the big water change for a few hours after feeding.

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Most freshwater aquariums take around 4-6 weeks to cycle, sometimes longer. You can help speed the process up by adding liquid bacterial supplements (available from most pet shops). The instructions usually say add x amount once a week. I found they work best if you add a double dose every day for a week. Try to add the bacterial supplements near the filter intake so they get sucked into the filter where they belong.

Keep the water temperature around 28C while the tank cycles. This helps the bacteria grow faster. Once the filter has finished cycling you can reduce the temperature.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels. This also helps the filter bacteria.

Keep the pH around 7.0 if you can. If the pH gets too low the bacteria can stop growing. Ammonia is less toxic when the pH is below 7.0. Nitrite is less toxic when the pH is above 7.0. Having the pH around 7.0 provides the safest range for the fish and bacteria. Once the tank has cycled you can let the pH be whatever it is out of the tap.

Don't have too much light on the tank or filter unless you have live plants. The bacteria don't like bright light, which is why most filters are dark brown in colour (to reduce the light getting into them).
 
Don't do another water change today.

In future do the water change 4-8 hours after feeding. That gives the fish time to digest the food and produce whatever ammonia they are going to make from the food. Then you can dilute that with the big water change.

You can syphon out uneaten food a few minutes after feeding, but leave the big water change for a few hours after feeding.

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Most freshwater aquariums take around 4-6 weeks to cycle, sometimes longer. You can help speed the process up by adding liquid bacterial supplements (available from most pet shops). The instructions usually say add x amount once a week. I found they work best if you add a double dose every day for a week. Try to add the bacterial supplements near the filter intake so they get sucked into the filter where they belong.

Keep the water temperature around 28C while the tank cycles. This helps the bacteria grow faster. Once the filter has finished cycling you can reduce the temperature.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels. This also helps the filter bacteria.

Keep the pH around 7.0 if you can. If the pH gets too low the bacteria can stop growing. Ammonia is less toxic when the pH is below 7.0. Nitrite is less toxic when the pH is above 7.0. Having the pH around 7.0 provides the safest range for the fish and bacteria. Once the tank has cycled you can let the pH be whatever it is out of the tap.

Don't have too much light on the tank or filter unless you have live plants. The bacteria don't like bright light, which is why most filters are dark brown in colour (to reduce the light getting into them).

Ok no problem, when I feed them again in a couple of days il wait the 4-8 hrs thanks :)

Ok well it’s only 4 weeks for me this weekend! So I’m hoping to be near the end! Lol I will get some of this bacteria stuff tomorrow then, am I right in thinking they are in the bottles that sometimes say QuickStart/safestart?

Iv just cranked the heater up to 28 :) this will be ok for my Neons still won’t it?

I have pretty good surface turbulence at the top too! And my PH has been between 7-8 it doesn’t tend to move really! (More close to 7 than 8 according to the colour shade)

And iv just added frogbit to my tank and adding more plants tomorrow and Monday so il need my light on for 12 hrs minimum won’t I??

Thanks so much for all this advice it’s greatly appreciated :)
 
If the tank has been set up for 4 weeks, it should finish cycling in a couple of weeks. In which case I wouldn't bother raising the temperature to 28C. Just have it at 26C and then reduce it to 22-24C after it has cycled.

API Quick Start is one of the liquid bacterial supplements. There are plenty of other brands, just get whichever you can.

Don't bother adjusting the pH at this stage.

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Most aquarium plants like a bit of light and if you only have the light on for a couple of hours a day, they struggle. If the light doesn't have a high enough wattage they also struggle. You can have the lights on for a maximum of 16 hours per day but the fish and plants need 8 hours of darkness. Start off having the tank lights on for 10-12 hours a day.

If you get lots of green algae then reduce the light by an hour a day and monitor the algae over the next 2 weeks.
If you don't get any green algae on the glass then increase the lighting period by an hour and monitor it.
If you get a small amount of algae then the lighting time is about right.

Some plants will close their leaves up when they have had sufficient light. Ambulia, Hygrophilas and a few others close their top set of leaves first, then the next set and so on down the stem. When you see this happening, wait an hour after the leaves have closed up against the stem and then turn lights off.

Some good plants to try include Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, H. ruba/ rubra, Elodia (during summer, but don't buy it in winter because it falls apart), Hydrilla, common Amazon sword plant, narrow Vallis, Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta).
The Water Sprite normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

If you add an iron based aquarium plant fertiliser, it will help most aquarium plants do well. The liquid iron based fertilisers tend to be better than the tablet forms, although you can push the tablets under the roots of plants and that works well.
I used Sera Florena liquid plant fertiliser but there are other brands too.

If you use an iron based plant fertiliser, get an Iron (Fe) test kit to monitor the levels in the tank. Keep the iron levels at 1mg/ L. Don't let it go higher than that because it affects the fish.

Do not bother adding carbon fertiliser to the tank because they are not necessary.

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Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.
 

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