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@eaglesaquarium: Thank you! I will do a test dosing on the 10G tonight and if it's gone tomorrow night I'll get fish. And I'll let the betta tank catch up on the nitrites. Thank you so much for your help, it was becoming hard to keep patience! Poor people with really large tanks where it can...

I am so excited! I did a full water change and dosed 3 ppm for my 10G and 2 ppm for my betta tank, I couldn't help myself this morning before work though the 24 hours is after work, and found that for the 10G my ammonia is 0 and -so are my nitrites--! I had not expected that yet. My betta tank...

@eaglesaquarium: thanks, I did the full water change (more like 95 percent) in both tanks, in the planted one I had to replant a lot of stuff because it came loose but the small plant weights help a lot. Dosed both, 3 ppm for the 10 gallon and 2 ppm for the betta tank (it will only have a betta...

@eaglesaquarium: Oh my goodness you were right about the 'greying out'. I had previously tested the color both with the old and the new and it seemed the same, butt today when I tested there was almost the same color for the diluted water (1:4) then the normal water for the new kit and the old...

@eaglesaquarium: Thank you!! Yes I'd been redosing the full amount of 3 ppm (2 ppm for my betta tank) when the ammonia hit 0. I was following this from the 'Cycling a tank' how to ("Whenever ammonia is again at .25 ppm or less and nitrite is clearly under 1 ppm, add the full amount of ammonia...

@Colin-T: Thank you! I was trying to plant my stem plants, and using the weight strip they came with has made it a lot easier! Any idea how long it usually takes for them to take root so I can take it off again?

Thank you for chiming in TJ203 and Eaglesaquarium. @Tj203: I'm worried about the pH because my pH keeps going to 6.0 every day or every other day, and at 6.5 the bacteria stop their growing, so it means i can't get caught up with my ifshless cycle. That is why I even have to test pH every day...

Good to know then most of the leaves aren't dead, just a few at one edge of each cluster. I tried to plant plants in the sand yesterday but they keep floating back up! Can I use those lead weight strips directly on the plant or does it need that foam they had around it from the fish store?

Yes now that you said it was Salvinia I found the actual name, Salivinia Cucullata. It's mentioned that it's a great nitrate absorber. I just hope the separate leaves won't die, they were so interesting with four together as a kind of star.

How do you clean the sand in a sand tank with plants? I had watched a video to learn how to deal with sand and they swished the sand with their hand until it was all up in the water, then you wait until it has come down and the dirt is in the water column right above it and can be easily...

THe two big leaves stayed together, it had four leaves originally, the third leaf broke loose in the bag.

Here is the mystery plant::

Thanks for your explanation about the Java Moss and the Anubias and Java Fern. I understand that pots is not so often done. The thing is the fish I had really, really set my heart on in the tank was 5 corydoras habrosus and 6 ember tetra. I was worried the cories would burrow up the plants, and...

It was too late yesterday to post about the plants I got, so I'm doing it now. I got a lot of duckweed, that should help. I tried to get hornwort but they didn't have it. I got a floating plant with tiny leaves that look like scales that form four bigger leaves. the big leaves break off easily...

All right, I will get the Flourish and remember that it might take a while to have the plants settle in. Once I've been to the LFS I'll tell you what I ended up with, I have a list of beginner plants.

All right I will get them from my LFS tonight and put them in the tanks in the pots for now and report on what the nitrite (and the nitrates, which are very high) did tomorrow evening. Based on that we can look further. After that I'll do a huge water change. Makes sense?

I;'m going to plant the plants in pots, except the floating ones of course. That way I can take care of them more easily and move them around if I want. I've read up on it. The problem with not dosing ammonia would mean I can't be sure I'm cycled, on the other hand the plants will help. I would...

Yeah that's what I mean by splash guards. the ones I have are kind of dim so I'm a little worried about the light being dimmed a bit. Is this the bulb you are speaking of? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002N2L052/?tag=ff0d01-20 It looks expensive at Amazon but will be a lot cheaper at the home...

Thank you both for your suggestions! Byron do your 10 and 20 gallon hoods have splash guards? Mine do and thhey would dim the light. Should I remove them if I can? I'll be looking for those bulbs and I will also look at your tanks more closely tonight, Byron, I'm on my tablet right now...

That is really cool, what plants can do. I bought plastic floating plants but real ones would be much better, I agree. I'm going to have to read up on how to take care of them and what they need. I'm worried about my aquarium light, they are two of the oldfashioned type of lightbulb with the...

Sorry, I don't have live plants, when started I wasn't considefring those, but I've heard good things about having plants now Would it help to add some? I have a sand subtrate though, not sure how to anchor plants in that. Floating plants might work. ,

So I worked from home today giving me more time to test things. Both tanks were dosed with respectively 2 and 3 ppm yesterday evening. Then this morning, there was no ammonia left in either of them and 0.25 ppm of nitrites in each of them. I tested nitrites again at noon and at 7.30 pm, and in...

Thank you, Byron. I will need to remember that an aquarium with ammonia given by fish is very different from drops from a bottle. Can I ask a question about cycling if you have an idea? I've been having no problem at all converting 3 ppm of ammonia to nitrites to about 0.1 ppm of ammonia left...

Yeah that makes sense. I was just worried if the pH reacts like that to cycling and adding 4 ppm a day for the bacteria to process and it has this result of going from 6.8 to 6.0 in one day, that that might happen when there are fish in it. And what would happen if you let it stay at 6 (not...

If they add something to my municipal water to make the pH go up would that show a lower pH after 24 hours? I did measure after 24 hours in a bucket still getting 6.8, but I didn't aerate it (didn't have an airstone yet, now I do, so I can test it again with aeration). I will not use any buffer...

Yeah i've chosen soft water Ember tetras because of my water. I am just worried about my pH going that low in a day. I guess since you have no issues, Byron, I should definitely try without any buffers or aragonite first.

Thank you both!! I also was a little over-detailed and looked up the formula for mixing different pHs at either 50% and 75% water changes with the buffer or with aragonite. Sorry if this is hard to follow, I am a math enthusiast as well as now an aquarium enthusiast. The formula is M1V1+M2V2=MV...

Colin_T: I'm using aragonite in the betta tank filter whiile cycling, I get a Kh of 4 and a Gh of 6 and a pH of 7.2. I can't get crushed coral where I am or affordable online, and saw in several sources online that aragonite was good too. But I can try shells, I can find those, and I can look...

So, I'm cycling a 10 gallon tank. I have enough ammonia eating bacteria for them to remove 4 ppm of Ammonia over 24 hours. The nitrite eating bacteria are eating all of that nitrite except for 0.25 ppm, so I'm almost done My water is 6.8 pH and 2 Kh and 2 Gh. The problem is I'm not getting any...

Thank you all so much for your advice! I'm glad to hear that they should be fine, and I'm getting them locally anyways so hopefullly theyr'e used to this water (I -am- drip acclimating them). Byron: thanks for the warning to expect a low pH! that was one of the reasons why i was worried, I had...

Wonderful, thank you!That's great to know! I was worried about it, I'll remove the aragonite and do a big water change since I wwill have to do that anyways to lower all the nitratese now that I'm almost done. Thanks!

Hi, I don't have fish yet, I'm about done cycling but before I get the ember tetras I wanted to get some feedback on water parameters. My municipal water is pH 6.8, and Gh and Kh 2, I experiemented with some aragonite sand in a baggie in the filter, my Kh rose to 3, but my pH rose to 7.6. Ember...

Thank you for your warning, I have to think about that and which of the two I might want if/when I do go with one species.

Thank you! That's why I was thinking of the ember tetra's, they're small enough for the 10 G and are very colorful. I'm getting closer, my tank is now cycling about 3 ppm ammonia a day! It is also cycling nitrites because they don't go up or down when the ammonia is being cycled so I know more...

Thank you for your advice! I thought about Dwarf Gouramis but I'm scared of the virus, and if I go with pygmy cories (I'm thinking of Habrosus) a 4 inch fish seems to be a bit much. I am considering instead of a species only tank I'd like a community tank, I've been considering adding 6 ember...

The dwarf corys do look interesting. I was worried they wouldn't have them near us, but I realized I should call 'The Premium Aquarium' and not just base it on the main petstores. They have pygmy corys and might be able to get habrosus for me on order. I did not discover this store until very...

Eaglesaquarium: I didn't know Albino Corys are two different species, I know they were specifically bred and not fish that live in the wild.. That's cool to know Seangee: It seems my water is fine then :) I think I might stick to 4 albino corys since they're a schooling fish, and that should be...

I was thinking Albino Cories because they're easy to get around here, I haven't been able to find Panda Cories which I'd prefer, and they're a little smaller.

Thank you! Someone answered me on the other thread and I could either wait for the bacteria to get used to the high pH (for them compared to before) or do a 50 percent water change so they will start up again, they would have to adapt to the higher pH and then they're not used to the pH the tank...