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Thanks :) anything to look out for when I add the fish (single betta) in terms of any changes in ammonia/nitrite/nitrate? Last time I set up a new tank I swapped everything over from previous tank so this is the first time doing it from scratch in years.

Sorry was my fault I did it late last night and lighting isn't great. Ammonia was def 0 as I held it up to the light. Nitrite also 0 and nitrate 5. I'm out all day today (wish I wasn't cos I'm getting soaked) so won't be able to test in better light conditions to get a good picture!

These are my latest results so I'm thinking we're good to go with adding my fish... store is closed today but perhaps tomorrow.

We would need to know your water chemistry (pH, hardness etc) before anyone can make recommendations. You should be able to find this either online via your water company or a test kit. You'll also find that larger weekly water changes (at least 50%, preferably more) are essential, it will keep...

Welcome! :hi:

Welcome! Lots of knowledgeable people here who can help with your stocking plans (not me sadly, I'm still learning!)

Interesting! I give it a bit of a bang but maybe not hard enough, will definitely give that a go tomorrow and then get planting!

Thanks, I'm using API and always follow the instructions, but I'll test again tomorrow morning and see what it says. Is it a good time to put my plants back in now? I took them out after the bloom as they were melting. My local LFS have just got some alien bettas in but I don't want to rush and...

No the last water change was 01/12 when I cleaned up the bacterial bloom and topped up the water I'd removed.

Posted a recent thread as I started cycling my new tank on 20/11 and had a bacterial bloom. https://www.fishforums.net/threads/is-this-normal-when-cycling.490992/page-2#post-4301225 Since that thread I've been super busy with work and haven't had time to measure out and add ammonia, all I've...

I looked into these guys a while back just out of interest and everything I read suggested they should be kept in groups, so I'd guess a 25litre would be too small but I say that without direct experience of keeping them.

Yes I've heard these can go dormant, I use ferts with each water change and also root tabs so hopefully it'll keep growing. Have had a few new leaves since I posted last week.

Sorry he didn't make it. This forum is full of knowledgeable people if you're ever unsure of compatability in future.

Something in the tank has picked on him, and as you've just added new fish that's the most likely cause. Betta and gourami are from the same family of fish and usually don't live well together. It might have been fine with just the one but perhaps the second one has taken a dislike to the betta...

Was it brand new or secondhand? If its new I'd send pics to the manufacturer as I'm sure a brand new stand shouldn't do that so it may be faulty.

Thought I'd update this with some progress, the tiger lotus is really thriving! My frogs love chilling under the leaves. I bought another bulb to go in my 6 gallon tank but if it grows anything like this one I may have to rethink that plan!

Looking great, I imagine it'll look even better with more plant growth in time!

I failed chemistry 20 odd years ago and it's now becoming painfully obvious why :rofl: I did a quick Google and I don't think ammonium bicarbonate is the same as bicarbonate of soda BUT don't quote me, I got that info from a baking website lol. I'm sure someone here will know.

@PygmyPepperJulli I'm just going to link my recent thread here as I added fish food to start a cycle and have inadvertently made life harder for myself! https://www.fishforums.net/threads/is-this-normal-when-cycling.490992/page-2#post-4301240 It's not the end of the world but just thought I'd...

My dad has been into steam trains for as long as I can remember. We're based in the UK so ours look a little different to the one you've posted. He makes model trains too, it's such intricate work! He's been building his own layout for years but never seems to make much progress sadly! Where my...

Actually @TwoTankAmin ignore some of what I said above, I don't want to keep re-editing the same post. Just about to buy some Dr Tim's online - won't arrive until middle of next week but at least I can know how much ammonia I am adding now. Until then I will leave well alone!

I haven't directly tested but my water company's website says 20.1mg/l (see photo). I have another tank and don't get any nitrate issues in there (I test it weekly before a water change).

I read through that thread before starting, and also some others online as well. I didn't have ammonia so I added the flake and a few bloodworms, lesson learned. My ammonia has consistently read 4ppm since I started cycling on 20/11 so I figured it was okay until the bloom happened. I only...

You can tell I'm terrible at this :rofl: I just need to be patient clearly and let nature do its thing now.

I tested water parameters now that I've done the water change (see attached) and seem to have nitrate as well as nitrite. I am a bit confused as I didn't think nitrate was meant to show up until much later in the cycle!

Thank you, I'm gonna leave it now as I've got ammonia and nitrite readings so it's doing its stuff slowly but surely :) Good to know for future reference (although if I buy another tank my other half may leave me lol.

Without a test kit, how would you know when a cycle was truly done? (Not disputing just a genuine question). Are there ways of "knowing" more or less when a tank might be ready?

I feel like this advice is kinda cruel, just pick up a fish, chuck it in and see if it lives or dies... maybe I'm reading it wrong...

I already did a water change this morning to get the worst of it out. Haven't checked ammonia since but will do so later. I did have a little accidental overdose of flake where I tipped far too much in a good few days ago so am guessing that may be the cause of the problem. I figured as I'm in...

Sorry you're having these issues, sounds like you've tried a lot. The only other thing I can think of may be adding salt for a while to help with healing, but am bumping this up so someone more knowledgeable can hopefully help. You've done well as lots of bettas don't live as long as two years...

I'm currently doing a fishless cycle on a 6 gallon, only 10 days in but am using the API test kit. Even with that, I'm still having a couple of issues, which I suppose isn't totally unexpected. As someone who's only cycled one tank before and classes themselves as a relative newbie, I think I'd...

Damn I thought I'd done things "correctly", but no bother, I can temporarily rehome the plants and do a big gravel vac first thing in the morning.

Apologies its been ages since I started a tank from scratch, am following the guidance on here but not 100% sure this is normal. I set this tank up on 20/11 and added filter media gunk from my other tank, some flakes (didn't have bottled ammonia to hand) as well as some API Quick Start. From...