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At what point in time does this become a serious issue? I'd rather have a healthy tank than to have to keep throwing salt in to combat the toxicity of the nitrites. It's been about an hour and my nitrite test this time around after 3 minutes has gone from light blue to bright pink and keeps...

My bristlenose plecos are standard color, I meant my albino cichlids.

Now a couple of my albinos are swimming real fast across the back of the tank, back and forth. Is this normal behavior? It has me a bit worried.

I did about a 75% water change, added 6 tablespoons of Rid Ich and only 3 rounded tablespoons of aquarium salt. I'd rather add too little than add too much and hurt my plecos. I'll check my nitrites in about half an hour.

Yes I did put all these fish in at once. I thought this was ok as I was under the impression that at this point, my tank could handle a full stockload?

I'm in the US, there's a PetSmart about a mile away from my house. I'm headed out to pick up a bottle of Kordon Rid Ich and some API Aquarium Salt. Since I have two young plecos, I'm going to use a small dosage of the salt, but hopefully this will combat both situations.

As you can see from my diary, it appeared that my tank had been cycled for a few days before stocking. I stocked about 28 hours ago. I decided to do a 24-hour water test and my ammonia levels are at 0 ppm, but my nitrites are at 5 ppm. I've noticed two of my cichlids seem to be flashing...

Upsy, I'd figure out a test time in the evening that would allow you to test your water's parameters and eventually add ammonia at the same time everyday, as well as eventually allow you to test at 12 hour intervals. I started testing at 8 PM, but when it came down to needing to test at 12...

As long as it's done with class it can be pretty awesome looking. I came across an underwater city online somewhere. I tried looking for it on YouTube but couldn't find it. It had skyscrapers, road and sidewalk colored substrate, with live plants in a Central Park type fashion with "grass"...

As promised, here's a few pics. These little buggers are hard to catch sitting still, so excuse the semi-focused shots, they're the best I could get. The tank: Albino Red Finned Zebra: Electric Yellow: Bumblebee: Yellow Tail Acei: The plecs are impossible to photograph, as they've...

Ok, the tank is stocked and all fish have been in for about an hour. The stocking consists of: 4 Labinochromis caeruleus (Electric Yellow Labs) 4 Pseudotropheus crabro (Bumblebees) 4 Pseudotropheus acei (Yellow Tail Aceis) 4 Pseudotropheus greshakei (Albino Red Finned Zebras) 2 Bristlenose...

Day 19 PM and day 20 AM (today) updated. After 5 days of consistent Ammonia/Nitrite quick processing, I'm putting all my chips on the bet that my tank has officially been cycled. Right now I'm on the last 1/4 part of the re-fill of a 90%+ water change. I'll treat the water, let it get close...

Makes sense, thanks WD. Do you know anything about cichlid stocking? Do you think those lists look fine? What about plecs? If you have knowledge/experience with those, should I do 1 or 2 bristlenoses? I've also posted a question in the planted tank section, but maybe you know this, too. On...

I've tried looking for the answer myself, I've come across different types of algae, and none seem to fit the description of what I'm seeing on my plant. I'm in a fishless cycle, will be stocking tomorrow as my cycle appears to be complete. I have 4 anubias in my tank, 2 of which have been...

I'm on day 19 of my fishless cycle that appears to have been completed for a few days now, and I've had 2 anubias from day 1 and then added a two more about a week ago. All four were the 4" plants from PetSmart. They've all been doing fine. I haven't noticied any significant growth on any of...

Also, since I'm stocking tomorrow, would it be best to do the big water change tonight or wait until a couple of hours before stocking tomorrow to do it? As far as adding chemicals, I'll be adding the recommended dose of API Stress Coat, but besides that, is there anything else I need to do to...

Well when we ask our little girl what fish she wants, she answers "blue fish and orange fish". Well, I can easily pick up the Pseudotropheus acei (yellow tail) or Melanchromic johanni for the blue fish and the Labinochromis caeruleus, Pseudotropheus crabro, or the albino Pseudotropheus...

Day 18 PM updated. No more albino bristlenose, but they had a full tank of small regular bristlenoses.

Well, I'm highly disappointed in my LFS runs. One didn't have any cichlids and won't for another month, the other has four tanks dedicated to cichlids. 2 tanks read: "Small African Cichlids" one of which had about 10 or so random cichlids, none of which I recognized by appearance, the other...

I'm coming to an end of my fishless cycling and it's been a rather enjoyable experience, I had fun doing it. Nerd on, brother! :good:

Day 18 AM added. Last night's test and ammonia add was done at 7:00 PM. This morning's test was at 6:30 AM, so I'm just about right at testing at exact 12 hour intervals. Scoping out two LFSs today to see what they have in stock. So far, I've been able to locate: Labinochromis caeruleus...

Well with my ammonia being 10% strength, it takes appx 11 ml to get up to 5 ppm, and it's appx 9 ml to get up to 4 ppm.

Karin, I dropped it to 9 ml after the cycle started to bring it up to 4 ppm instead of the initial 5 ppm that was desired to get it started. I had more reasoning than that, I thought I read somewhere that after the cycle starts, bringing up to the 4-5 range is sufficient, but please don't...

Day 17 updated. Scoped out 2 PetSmarts and a PetCo today to see what mbunas they had available, I'd rather not buy from there, but surprisingly, all of their fish seem to be healthy and active, and only one "assorted cichlid" tank per store! Scoping out two LFSs tomorrow to see what they have...

I've scouted a healthy little bristlenose at a LFS, but am open to other options as well for my malawi tank.

It sounds like you may have a tankless hot water system. These were common in certain areas of the US (not sure about anywhere else in the world) several years ago, but seem to be spreading across the states. Their initial purchase and installation costs are typically more than a tanked hot...

Well trying to understand the nitrogen cycle, playing with test kits, watching levels for this and that, it all takes me back to being a kid and playing with my chemistry sets. Of course the ultimate goal is to have a beautiful tank with healthy fish, but that doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed the...

Change the "Unit" to 20 US Gal. Volume would be 20, you are correct. Make sure you change the ammonia % from 9.5 to 10 if you're buying the Ace Hardware ammonia. I ran your numbers (20 US gallons trying to obtain 5 ppm with 10% ammonia) and it reported you would need 3.79 ml of ammonia. I have...

No problem, one of my initial posts mentioned I'd try to help out where I can. Glad I was able to do so.

Ha, yeah my "hunt" for ammonia consisted of seeing several people say "I found mine at Ace Hardware" and me driving just a smidge over a mile from my house to Ace Hardware and walking out with a bottle. I feel bad for some of the people here who have absolutely no luck tracking some down, it's...

Ah, WD, I always thought you were from the UK, or thereabouts.

It's actually Ace Hardware's own brand. They carry two different size bottles, I paid a couple bucks for one of the smaller bottles (which is still fairly decent sized). It's this: http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1307957 That's the exact bottle I have, but the label...

Where are you located, Mounit? If you're in the states and have Ace Hardware or Westlake Hardware stores (same thing, different name), you can find 10% ammonia there. This is what I have and have luck with it, I've also seem several other people across many forums using it with great luck as...

Hello, For any of you who have followed my diary, you will see that it appears this weekend might be my stocking weekend. I do have some questions regarding cichlid sexes beforehand, though. I will be casing shops tomorrow evening to find the best looking, healthiest specimens I can find...

Day 17 AM updated. Same story, 0 ppm readings on ammonia and nitrites. The nitrite tube turned blue within the first 3 minutes. This morning's test was performed at 6:30 AM, last night's test was performed at 7 PM and ammonia added at 7:30 PM, bumping up towards 6:30 PM in 30 minute per day...

I see any living creature that you're responsible for as a pet, whether it's dogs, horses, tarantulas, etc, but in the case of fish and trying to duplicate their natural environment as close as possible almost moreso than you would any other animal, the interest and knowledge there is definitely...

Day 16 PM updated. So far so good, at this rate, we'll have several new animals in our house this weekend. The nitrite test tube turned blue within the first 3 minutes, fastest it's ever done that.

Peter, I have not tested either, and right off hand, I'm not sure how easy it would be to test. Where could I find GH and KH testers? Are they relatively cheap? I'm not saying I haven't seen them when picking up my other API test kits at my LFS and PetSmart, but since I wasn't looking for...

I'm loving Day 10's update. :good: I agree on the 4-8 ppm readings on the Ammonia test card, it can be very hard to distinguish between the two under most lights. For the first few days, I had to read mine under 3 different types of light to be able to tell with confidence which color I was...