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Thank you OM. That seems to be the general consensus everywhere I asked, although it seems I might have to add a bit of crushed coral to the filter to up the KH a little. I'm right on the edge of OK/little buffering. I really do like some of the cichlids and I never realized how many there are...

Sorry, 72g.

.....what would you keep? I have well water, pH from the tap is 7.6, out-gasses to 8.0-8.2. KH is 70-80ppm, GH 160-170ppm. No chlorine/chloramines. I'm asking in case I ever consider another tank. I seem to have hit a few bumps in the road since my stocking because I've lost a few fish. So now...

Thank you. The danios that I moved to the other tank seem to be doing well. I put them in with 3 others that were in there already and dosed with pimafix once. The main tank seems to be OK for now. My sword had babies last week(none survived because it happened at night, I saw 2 fry in the...

Thanks for the replies. Craster, other than the one danio I did lose, the others seem to be bouncing back in a different tank with a small dose of melafix. Gilli, of the many places I read about treating ich with cories, alot of people said they had good success with the salt/heat method. The...

Hey all, it's been a while, work has been crazy. I thought I would post a 1 month update on my tank (72g) and how things have been going to hear some of your thoughts. First, the parameters. I have well water, no chlorine or chloramines. I fishless cycled(took about 6 weeks). Since the cycle...

Today, as I was watching all of my fish, something caught my eye. One of the pandas had gone to the top for his usual gulp of air. But as he came back down, he went into this sort of spiraling, upsidedown, right side up, out of control motion. Almost like he had lost his equillibrium, if they...

Hi all! Another query :rolleyes: . I've noticed that alot of times, many of my fish stay in the bottom third of the tank. Granted, I knew the bleeding hearts would stay in that area, and obviously the cories. But my rainbows seem to spend most of the time there as well. Even the danios are there...

Well it seems that a couple of my bleeding hearts have a few dots of ich on them. I've read about the heat and salt method, but I've also read that the cories are sensitive to the salt. Is this true, what are my other options, medication such as rid-ich or similar?

They generally stay around the bottom and will sometimes move into a corner together. They do eat , but jus not voraciously yet. I've had them less than a week, but I'm planning on adding a few more. Perhaps this will ease them a bit

After recently stocking my tank, I noticed that my bleeding hearts(4) and bosemans rainbows(3) are swimming in the bottom third. The danios, swords and cories are doing their normal thing. I do plan to add a few more rainbows and a pair of bleeding hearts when they become available. Is it a...

Thanks OM. I'm not really looking forward to sword babies, because I want to add more rainbows when they become available at my LFS. But I guess I could get a small store credit if they do survive. If nothing else, it would be an intersting experience. Water params looking good so far. 0 amm, 0...

Thanks everyone, especially for the help and advice.

72g

Thank you BTT. The swords weren't really in my original plan. I was lead to them more for their waste production(WOW, so true as witnessed today :hyper: ) to keep the bac alive, before I decided to fully stock, so I will probably stick to those 2. I am going to add a couple more bosemans when...

Well I went back to the LFS this morning and got the remaining stock for my tank on top of what I added last night. I would think that the majority of the bacteria that grew during my FL cycle should still be prevalent. I am only about 3-4 hrs past when I was normally dosing my ammonia during...

Thanks everyone. As usual, you've been informative and helpful. I will closely monitor the parameters after the fish arrive. If larger water changes are all it may take, I can certainly live with that :D ! Time will tell, stay tuned!

As you may know from my previous posts, the KH of my tank had been dipping very slowly. When I did a pH check today, it had dropped to 6.6 from 7.8. I am literally a day or 2 from my large water change and adding fish(waiting for the stock to arrive at the LFS). So I added 3 tsp of baking soda...

Thanks MW. Yes I guess I really am getting into this head and shoulders! Apparently, my reading last night may have been a little skewed(gotta love those tests!). Checked again this morning and read the normal 7.8 again. I'll leave it as is. Hopefully before this time next week, something...

As I posted previously, my fishless cycle is basically done. As it turns out, a visit to the LFS that I will be getting my stock from had him out of the torpedo barbs I want. He had the sterbai cories and danios, but I don't want to stagger them too far apart for fear of a mini cycle. He will...

Thanks for the replies. OM, one of the LFS has the denisons in stock, that's where I realized their beauty. Hopefully he still has them. May pay a visit tomorrow to double check. Are the phantom tetras true top dwellers?

Well after what seemed like forever(5 weeks+), it looks like my fishless cycle is finally complete :D . Nitrite had been at 1-2ppm for a long time. I did my normal 6 am check of nitrite yesterday and it read 0 @ 24 hrs and nitrate had finally risen to 60ppm, so I did my dose of 2-3ppm ammonia as...

Edit: Well it seems that it is better than expected today! I had checked nitrite before my normal 6am ammonia dosing, hence the results above. When I got home today (10 hrs after dosing), I checked again to see where it was at. To my surprise, ammonia 0 and NITRITE 0 :o ! Looks like I'm...

Thanks everyone. This morning brought more good news. Nitrite was 0 @ 24 hrs, after being 2 @ 24 yesterday! Just need to get it to be 0 @ 10-12 hrs and it'll be a wrap. Of course then I'll probably harass you with a million questions about the actual fish once they're in there! pH is still...

Well after what seemed like an eternity, my nitrate finally made a big leap in the FL cycle! It had been stagnant at 5ppm and is now 60-80ppm :hyper: ! My nitrite is still at 2ppm, but one thing I did notice is that when the drops are put into the tube, they stay light blue while they are being...

Thanks everyone. I am keeping a log of the progression, so I will have a good idea what's going on. I just wanted to get a general idea of what the outcomes and consequences could be.

Its still at about 3dH today, pH still 7.8-8

I will check again tomorrow. If it continues to drop, then this will require another water change during my cycle? If the pH stays where it is, should I let it go for now? I'm hoping this isn't going to slow the cycle anymore.

While I'm in the midst of my FL cycle(4+wks), I've been doing alot of reading about pH crashes and the relationship to KH. My question is, what is considered a low KH? Mine is about 4-5 dH out of the tap and it had remained steady in the tank. Yesterday, it seems that it dipped a little to about...

OK, I will add some into a stocking or mesh bag and hang it in the tank. The media from the orb is huge, so it won't fit in the cannister. RJ, my tank is still about the same. I'm on day 30, so consider yourself lucky! Today's numbers: Ammonia-0 (been this way for 3 weeks), redosed to 3ppm...

I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I'll ask. We have an 8g BiOrb with 4 danios in it. If you are familiar with it, it has a ceramic media that sits in the bottom of the bowl. I was wondering if it would be OK to take several of these pieces and put them in the bottom of the...

Thanks WD, that helps. I have been periodically checking pH and it has remained steady. My KH is about 5, GH about 9. Ammonia has been no problem, as 3ppm is gone in about 8 hrs or less. The info about the nitrate readings is interesting and it helps to understand its importance. I guess I'm...

Yes it is. The costs are getting/have gotten out of control though. Fishkeeping and many other hobbies may seem expensive, but I can give you #'s that would make your head spin :hyper: !

The measurements are taken about 10 hrs after the ammonia is added. I do the ammonia add at 6-8 am and tests at 4-6 pm every day. Should I do another nitrite test later tonight to see where it is then? The nitrite had been off the chart so I changed 50% last weekend and got it down to 2ppm. What...

As of today: Ammonia 0 Nitrite 2ppm Nitrate 5ppm pH has remained steady Is there a reason my nitrate hasn't started to rise yet? It has been this way for about 2 weeks and I thought I would see a gradual rise. Or does it just quickly start to spike in one or two days? I have been...

WD, no nitro here(especially at $35+/gallon!). Here's a vid for your vieweing pleasure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N2tnE_vDOc

Thank you OM, hope to have my new one soon. RJ, your cycle sounds very similar to mine. I had nitrite off the chart too. I did a 50% change over the weekend and the tests now do the same as yours. I am interpreting mine as 2ppm because it definately develops different than when they were high...

Drag racing here in the states. The car in the pic was wrecked recently(got run into by a car with no brakes)[img] and a new one is being built.C/D

Thanks WD. No worries on the hijack. Right now between the cycle and trying to get a car for racing season, I sometimes wonder what direction I'M going :drool: !

I'm sure that my problem was misinterpretting the dosing of ammonia. I was doing this EVERY time it dropped to zero, which was basically twice a day 12 hrs apart, instead of once a day :blush: . I checked my records and saw that I did it for 4 days, no wonder the nitrite was off the chart...