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Thank you all for the replies. I will keep you posted when I can get a few more. Since I first posted the bullying has been less prevalent. I have increased the food amount (I was being very conservative as to not overfeed at first) and watched to make sure each one gets some food. This has...

I purchased 6 neon tetra a week or so ago and paced them into my newly fish less cycled tank. I added a few plants and a piece of driftwood for decoration/hiding spots. At first they all seemed to get along and moved together as a group. After a day or two one became very aggressive and began...

Checked the pH two days ago it was still above 7.6. Checked Nitrate yesterday morning, still 5 ppm. Temperature is ~30 C. Ammonia was still being processed as of a few days ago.

Still no noticeable movement on nitrite. Had nitrite present in tank for 27 days. Ammonia took 16 days to process through the first dose. So theoretically nitrite will drop in ~5 days? ::Crosses fingers::

Update: I was reading the nitrite test incorrectly, mistaking off the scale for <.25 because it was a light grey/purple. But then as time progressed it turned green! So I did roughly a 95% water change to purge the nitrites. My reasoning for this is due to my dosing and converting 4 ppm of...

Cannot edit original post... Day 24: 09/02: Ammonia 0.0 : Nitrite <.25 : Nitrate(ppm) NT :Redosed to 4-5 ppm Day 25: 09/03: Ammonia 0.0 : Nitrite <.25 : Nitrate(ppm) NT :Redosed to 4 ppm (Nitrite is barely present, test is not quite sky blue). Day 26: 09/04: Ammonia 0.0 : Nitrite <.25 ...

Quick question: Should I be concerned that the nitrate is not increasing even though I know that I am processing nitrite? I am familiar with certain validity errors with the API nitrate test, however, I follow the directions doubling the time they quote to mix the bottle and the test tube. I...

I have not used the filter that comes with this tank, however, I would imagine that it would be too strong for the betta. Worst case you can try it and if the betta is disturbed by the flow then baffle it with a cut up water bottle.

Movement on nitrite!

Processing ~5.5 ppm in 24 hours. Edit: ppm of ammonia

I am not claiming to be an expert on this, but my concerns would be the potential acidity of the water from certain pollutants in the air (e.g. sulfur). Also, the water will not be as clean as one would think. Yes, the evaporation process leads to "pure" water, but once it falls back down...

Redosed for the first time!

Nitrite skyrocketed last night. Ammonia is still in between 1 and 2. Hopefully will be able to redose tomorrow.

More movement today! Nitrite up to .50, ammonia down to 1.0-2.0! Getting even more algae growth on the bogwood. Not too worried about it, but should I be? It has been covered except for water tests for at least 5 days now, but it is still growing!

I appreciate all the advice. The current plan is to have ~5 Endler's Livebearer and 5 or so cherry shrimp. Today showed a small drop in ammonia! Hopefully see it drop below 1 ppm by Tuesday. Getting some algae growth in the tank, mainly on the bogwood and some on the acrylic (i think there...

I have not finished cycling yet, but I am interested in keeping Endler's Liverbearer and some shrimp. The aquaclear 20 fits perfectly, however the flow is very strong and I would suggest baffling the filter for a betta.

I am currently cycling one of those. It is a nice little tank. I went ahead and put an aquaclear on it because the filter that it comes with isn't very good. Also, be careful because the acrylic scratches very easily. I now have a spot right in the center of my tank that some sort of grime...

Updated again: tested pH to ensure that nothing had crashed. pH at least 7.6. Things are chugging along...I think. Not much change in the last five days, but I am patient (just hope I haven't messed up along the way)!

1 L = .264 Gallons 25*.264 = 6.60 Gallons 11 W / 6.60 G = 1.67 W/G

Done some more thinking and getting very excited about keeping a group of Endler's Livebearer (1 male and 2 females or roughly 5 males still haven't decided) and roughly 5 cherry shrimp and letting them produce offspring as often as they want. Below is a picture of the current plan with regards...

Wanted:Class N Endler's livebearer (not particular on the type other than I do not want a guppy hybrid :) ) Age and condition: No preference Quantity wanted: 3 (2 females and 1 male) Reason wanting: About to start a new tank and would like to maintain my own strain. Delivery or Collection...

Edited log again. Was able to test tap water and Nitrites are showing up! Ammonia is still high, difficult to tell between the 2.0 and 4.0.

Update: Please see the first post as I have begun the fishless cycle log. Thanks!

I have just finished setting everything up! Got the hardscape done, filter, light, and heater are working (pictures below). I have edited the original post in red to reflect things that have changed regarding the initial set-up. Here are some pictures: Empty tank on DIY stand: Piece of...

Not sure what is available to you in the UK, but double-sided thermal conducting tape works wonders for securing equipment. Again, use this stuff in the lab and you have to about break the device to get it off the table (tape is between device and table). Here is a link, very expensive but...

Based off of my work with laser diodes (~3.5 total years) you should be fine. The spec sheet for our laser diode quotes the operation current is a minimum of 90 mA but this is simply not the case (caveat: they may intend this to mean the minimum current to achieve "lasing", however this is...

Found some info on tiger shrimp (see here). I think I will go with ~5 ghost shrimp as both tiger and cherry shrimp breed easily in freshwater setups. I will get pictures up either this Sunday when I move back into school or early next week. Thank you everyone for your interest!

XeroTolerance - I am not sure what shrimp as of right now. My LFS currently stocks cherry, blueberry, crystal, and tiger (I have never heard of the last three before). From pictures I am kind of fond of cherry shrimp, however I have heard accounts of Betta's eating them for dinner. If I chose...

Thank you loraxchick! As for the betta in the strong current I was planning on baffling the filter, which I imagine should do the trick. The idea of 5-10 shrimp is very intriguing. Off to do some more research about different types!

About to venture into my new tropical freshwater aquarium. I hope to document my journey into this new hobby in the below and subsequent posts! Materials gathered: 5 US Gallon semi-hex aquarium with CFL light (edit: 9W CFL lightbulb). AquaClear 20 power filter (manufacturer quoted: 5-20...

A fishless cycle involves dosing a tank with ammonia (if you live in the UK click here if you live in the US click here, see this link for more info). The end goal is to culture a colony of bacteria to turn ammonia (fish waste) into nitrite and then culture another colony of bacteria to turn...

I am no chemist, but I would not advise boiling the water to get rid of the copper, as it will not "boil" away. However, at best you will actually be increasing the copper concentration as you are removing clean water (through the process of boiling) while retaining all of copper remains. Thus...

I am a physicist by trade and my research area is in Quantum Optics. You can probably see how I mashed these two together...

Did you cycle your tank before placing the betta in? The rest of my comments below are going to be under the assumption that the answer to this question is no. The water carries little (~1%) of the beneficial bacteria, however it would help to get some filter media (as it contains most of the...

Glad to be of assistance. Keep us posted on the fish-in cycle!

+1 to cycling! links provided here. Also, there are ways to 'baffle' a filter. Essentially this disperses the water more slowly out the sides rather than the rapid waterfall (assuming you have a hang-on-back filter), thus decreasing the current in the tank. To learn more about baffling see...

I am new to this forum, but I think I can take a crack at this thread. I would not try and mix dwarf gourami with betta splendens as will likely fight each other. The male betta and male gourami like to be the lone long, colorfully finned fish in a tank this size (however, others say they have...