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Happy Independence Day!

Very pretty fish 😍

Hello and welcome to TFF :fish:

Keep us updated please :)

Yes, or at least until you see some nitrates in there. The added beneficial bacteria will really help speed up the cycle, your high pH will also make it go faster.

You are currently doing a fish-in-cycle. This can be hard on fish but there is a chance they can survive. It is crucial that you preform daily water changes of about 50-70 percent. It is also very important that you have a good test kit. You can always return the fish (if possible) or give...

It’s okay I’m happy to help :) The nitrogen cycle is crucial for fish because in that process we build up beneficial bacteria in our filter media to protect our fish. It starts with ammonia (which is produced by fish, decaying food, decaying plants, etc) and to add to to the tank you can either...

I wish I did more research on plants! And no it’s not even been 2 weeks yet, should I have given the tank 6 weeks or so to cycle? I have a test kit but it does not measure the ammonia levels, I’ll have to invest in a test kit that does. It’s okay to be confused everyone makes mistakes however...

Welcome to TFF :)

Welcome to the forum :fish:

Congratulations! Nice photo and gorgeous fish :thumbs:

Did you do a water change yesterday? If you did there may be some chlorine left in the water from it which can cause burn marks, trouble swimming, and breathing. I’m not quite an expert on this but if this isn’t it I’m sure @Colin_T can help.

I have a blue phantom pleco arriving tomorrow and was wondering what the best way to introduce him into my tank would be. I know that water can become toxic if you float them too long since they’re in bags so how should I introduce him?

Once you get a test kit you should test your tap water for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to see what those are before cycling.

Yeah I typically just drop the drops into the water, wait 15 minutes, and test.

API Freshwater Master Test Kit is one of the most reliable freshwater test kits that is very handy, and if you ever need help with reading or matching the colors you can take a picture and post them on here and someone will gladly help :)

This is the dr tim’s ammonia chloride cycling that me and my sister follow together. It has worked well for us.

Keep the heater on during cycling process, it will speed it up since the bacteria can multiply faster

I’m glad to help out, please let me know if you have anymore questions :)

The bottle says 4 drops per gallon, but in most cases doing this will result in an overdose of ammonia because the drops are so large and come out so fast, which means you will need to change the water and add in some more. It is easier to add ammonia than to remove it, one drops per gallon is...

Only add ammonia before the fish go in, otherwise the fish will die. The reason we add this ammonia is to build up the beneficial bacteria (or BB as some people call them) to keep our fish safe from ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Fish naturally produce ammonia so you won’t need to add any...

Typically they recommend one drop for gallon (despite what the bottle says) because the drops are quite big. For a 30L tank you should use about 8 drops.

Option One: Test Strips Cheaper than a liquid test kit, but they don’t work as well. Option Two: Liquid Test Kit You can get test kits that come with everything you need (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and high range pH) or you can get ones that are individual tests. These last a lot longer...

https://www.chewy.com/dr-tims-aquatics-ammonium-chloride/dp/132039 Let me know if you can’t access it :)

Wow they really are beautiful 🤩

The ratio of males to females is very important because males can be quite aggressive towards other pearls. Most fish have different personalities from one another, you will find that some fish from a species are nicer and get along better with your other fish, whereas some are meaner and can’t...

The hobby when first starting out can be very confusing. I remember not understanding cycling because none of it made any sense (often I thought what even is half of this stuff). Most kits you buy or people you talk to don’t really get it either. They say things like let the tank sit for 24...

When cycling a tank it isn’t the water that cycles, but rather the filter and the filter cartilage. Any sort of water changes (as long as water going in is dechlorinated) won’t harm the beneficial bacteria colony that are built up from the cycling process as they live in the filter and...

Vacuum all the gravel until there is no more water, any water trapped in the gravel will come out and then you can refill.

Fill the bucket up with the cold water and let it sit for a few days it should warm up, or you could use some boiled water from the kettle and cold water. Mix them together, and let it sit which should give you the temperature you are looking for,

Gravel should go in before, during, or after. I think it is easiest to put in before so that way you save yourself from a hassle later one and before putting it in make sure you rinse it off in warm water for a little bit just to clean off any dust, dirt, etc or you will have cloudy water later on.

Usually I fill up a bucket of water in my room with lukewarm water, treat it with dechlorinator, and let it sit for a few minutes. I then will test and if all good add it to the tank.

You can keep heater on or turn it off. It doesn’t really matter because it won’t effect anything, however the longer the heater is one for the more likely the water temperature will be evenly distributed.

Yes, you can put water into the tank and then treat it if there is nothing alive inside the tank. Once you get fish, treat the water before putting it into the tank.

When doing water changes you can get a gravel vaccum and use that to suck all the uneaten food, fish waste, and other debris out of the gravel. You can leave the fish in the tank if you use this method, so that way you keep them as stress free as possible. When using the gravel vacuum it will...

Welcome, your project for future tanks sound quite exciting :thumbs:

It isn’t the water that cycles when you cycle your tank. It is the filter cartilage and filter that cycle. New water doesn’t effect this and won’t harm the fish or mess with the beneficial bacterial colony that has been built and established in the filter. Most water conditioners nowadays are...

Okay so I checked out some of them and ended up getting a peppermint pleco and 10 orange shrimp (separate tanks). I also got some more plants.