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So, I had read that Sterbai Corys are shy, and that I could maybe only expect to see them a little in the evenings. Not so with my fellas! A little shy at first but very quickly started shoaling all around the tank. Exploring the rocks, branches. Have absolutely LOVED watching them this...

My 2c is that a 10 gallon can actually be harder than something bigger. Less water means less wiggle room when things go wrong. I'd really suggest attempting a 20 or 30 gallon if you have the space. I think you'll actually find it easier to manage in the long run! And you can add something like...

Yup, that's why they're on my list. You had recommended them to me on a previous thread :D

Welcome! I'm fairly new too. Just got my tank cycled, stocking soon I hope!

Hoping for sterbai corys, normal lampeye, and threadfin rainbowfish along with at least a trio of honey gourami. My first shoal I'm hoping for is the sterbai, but seems like they aren't too commonly stocked around here. The LFS has requested a dozen for me with tomorrow's order so we'll see if...

Okay, patience isn't my strongest suit. I have to run a bunch of errands this afternoon so I wasn't going to be able to test at 2pm PST. Figured I would test this morning to see if there's any chance. BABES WE ARE CYCLED Current water stats: 20hrs after full dose of ammonia Ammonia: 0 Nitrite...

Yup! That much I do know. I'll definitely be getting all the shoals together for each kind.

Alright, I got excited and tested earlier today than I did yesterday. So sue me, I'm excited for fish (but I am still 1000% committed to a fishless cycle). Current water stats: Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: .1 Honestly the nitrite was BARELY above 0. So following the schedule I did a full dose (Dose #4)...

Thanks to TwoTankAmin for chiming in and giving me some help over on my post! Given they were both basically 0 yesterday I decided to tweak it a little and test today instead of every other day. Maybe I'm not *quite* as patient as I'd hoped to be. But in part because with no nitrite and no...

Thanks for the reply! Where I wasn't sure was because the nitrite is also basically 0, down from 2ppm. And today in fact the nitrite IS 0. So I decided to add the snack dose. Too much nitrite is definitely not a problem I'm currently having.

Hoo baby, it's happening! Having never done this method before it's interesting. At first I thought the TSS+ didn't do anything, but I'm thinking maybe it did as we're moving along a smidge faster. Definitely not nearly as much as it claims it does (for sure should not have just dosed and added...

This is my first time doing a proper fishless cycle. Initially I was following the Dr Tim's method (but using TSS+) however the ammonia was stubbornly staying put and not going down when testing over 10 days. So I figured the TSS+ I'd gotten was bust and figured I'd do the method posted on this...

Huzzah! Seeing movement! Current water stats: Ammonia: Between 0 and 0.25 (honestly it can be so tough to tell the small differences) Nitrite: 2ish Dosing with ammonia today.

No, I am aware I could do that. But I'd rather not do a fish-in cycle. A big difference between the fish-keeper me now, disabled and 40, and the fish-keeper me from her early 20s is that I have so much more patience, lol

Thank you! I *definitely* have planned to add more plants into the tank. Sadly my locals had a really poor selection. And I wasn't sure if the liquid fert or root tabs would screw up my testing results. Do you know of good places in Canada to order online? Unfortunately a lot of times when I...

Well, I'm still testing at around 1.5-2ppm of ammonia and no nitrites. I think its fairly safe to say the TSS+ did bupkis. So we're on the slow cycle track. Is what it is. I'll be reverting to this method and testing every 3rd day til I start to see movement on some of those numbers.

So, out of curiosity I did a test today of the tap water for ammonia compared to the tank's water. The tap ammonia is 0.5-1 and the tank is sitting around ish 1.5? Unsure if this means that the API tests higher (or I'm bad at color comparison) or if the tap water has a small amount of ammonia...

I *think* the ammonia is trending down. Still no signs of nitrite but nitrate definitely going up. Pretty sure the ammonia is reading less than 2 now. Over 1 still but lower than yesterday I'm certain. So hurray! Maybe tomorrow it'll be ready for an ammonia dose. Steady on. Current water...

So, the ammonia seems to just be hanging out a 2 even though I haven't added any more sources. Nitrate is going up, so something's happening anyways. Odd its going up and the ammonia isn't going down. Not really seeing any plant melt which would indicate that it's breaking down into ammonia...

Yeah that occurred to me as I was falling asleep last night (yay brain fog). I tested my tap water this morning for nitrate and got like 2ish? It wasn't 0 but it wasn't as orange as 5. So the tank is higher but not by a super large margin. I'll be testing the tank again this afternoon.

Tested today, still no Nitrites, but Nitrate was measuring 5. The ammonia doesn't seem to have gone down, although I recall from reading up on using the bacterial starters that they can screw with the ammonia reading? The 2 ammonia reading from yesterday was just the assumed level after dosing...

THANK YOU.

This is what I mean by conflicting information even in forums such as these. Even in this thread it was recommended to get a seed starter in the forum of gravel or filter medium from a store. So like I said, lots of information, people with strong, different opinions. We all just out here doing...

Yeah, my very first tank I knew nothing about the nitrogen cycle and did fish-in. I won't do that again. Learned a lot since then. Still sad neither Mr Pets nor Petsmart would give me some gravel or filter medium but ahh well. Working with what I got.

Yeah but even on good forums you'll have people disagreeing about the best way to do things. In some cases I think it's really just, there isn't one right way to do things, several different approaches are valid. Went ahead and dosed with ammonia as that's how I've always done it, and if I lose...

Returning to the hobby after many, many years away. Thought it'd be fun to keep a journal of the progress here. (sadly I wasn't able to fit the 50gallon I'd hoped, but I have a nice 31g all set up). First, the cycle. Yes it's planted, yes I'm adding ammonia. We'll see how that goes. Curious to...

I tried asking two local stores and both said no :/ I've heard mixed things on this. Some forums I've read say plants help speed it up. Other say like you. I will say as much as I love this hobby the amount of conflicting information out there is so frustrating!

Thank you so much! Yeah I wanted to get my hands on Tims but couldn't find anywhere locally that sold it and was wary of ordering online. For ammonia I just have so pure household (unscented) ammonia I was intending to use. That's what I'd always used.

So I got my tank all set up. Weights in there now, holding down the driftwood til it gets waterlogged. Got a few plants. It's been running 24h, up to temperature, everything's looking good. Now I want to start it cycling properly. I read the fishless cycle post which is what I'm used to doing...

Thank you I will! Although it looks like I'll be going with a 50 after all :D If I can get the bucketless system set up anyways.

I'll do that, thanks. They probably won't be the first fish I stock in the tank so I may take some photos next time I'm in there if allowed and then post to see if people feel they are truly T. chuna. Thanks for the info! I'm not at all set on a specific type of cory so I'll write those ones...

Thank you! Yeah I'd read a bit about that. My local stocks "Dwarf Honey Gourami" and "Dwarf Sunset Gourami" (haven't been in to see them yet, just looked on the site, no pics). From what I understand Honey and Sunset are names for the same fish, but they aren't Dwarf. I'm gonna go take a look at...

Oh gosh thank you that is helpful! I think I will go for the Corys as I think I'd like one I see more often.

It's funny, researching the tank is a good part of the fun for me! Yeah it's going to be a sand substrate and planted. Not totally sure on plants yet but those will be more informed by what I wind up deciding to stock it with RE: temps, etc. Having to pick between cories and kuhli is gonna be...

Turns out I also have my old 50 gal with all the trimmings (and a new filter I picked up from someone who was moving a few weeks ago) in my storage room. I've been doing some research on bucketless water change options and if I can get that sorted than it looks like I'll be going 50 not 20 :D...