Arrrggghhhh What's Cycling, New Tank And I've Already Got Fish

[Grams]

OMG i loved this thread, my buddy couldn't understand a word i was talking about... SO! I sent him directly here and he picked up on it quick.

Great Thread is GREAT, THANKS!

 

[happyfish1]

omg this is a lot of work

 

[lillypadlou]

Hi, thanks for your information it was easy to understand and I'm going to get myself a water testing kit soon, I dont have fish in my tank at the moment, I have african dwarf frogs.

x Lou x

 

[nufc51282]

might sound like a stupid question but whats media?

 

[waterdrop]

Media is the stuff inside filters, like sponge, ceramic rings, ceramic gravel, plastic bioballs, polyfloss, carbon, zeolite... anything inside filters.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rewlyn]

13 pages later i wish i knew about cycling, yes im still going after 5 weeks and slowly starting to get somewhere (i think) AND IF THIS WAS PINED I WOULD NOT HAVE 13 PAGES

PIN IT,PIN IT,PIN IT

 

[waterdrop]

o yes rewlyn, I think this material of MWs was pinned ages ago and was the basis of some of the stuff in what we've now organized as the beginners resource center -- glad to hear you are holding out on your fish-in cycling, we're all rooting for you... wd

 

[Whitester]

Hello, new to the hobby. I made a mistake, I think... LOL! I filled my used take up with water set up the decor used the tap water conditioner. I put 6 danios in the tank after 10 hrs of running. The tank was pretty dirty when I picked it up. It had alot of dried algae on everything. I scrubed the tank with salt and water. I rinsed well. I rised all of the 1/4" gravel, but some still had dried algae. I have a 40 gallon hexgon tank. 24" tall.
So where I think I went wrong.... I never cycled or let the water cycle. These fish only cost me total $5.00. I never knew there was such a thing as cycling water. Should I go and get a test kit? Or just sit and wait and see if fish die? What at bare minimum testing should I do?
Oh yeah, the tank has only running for 32 hours, with fish in it for 22 hrs. ( I know I didn't wait long to add fish, I just couldn't contain my excitement. hahaha

Thanks so much. I wish I would have saw this site BEFORE I added the fish. HAHAHA..

 

[Rediahs]

Hello, new to the hobby. I made a mistake, I think... LOL! I filled my used take up with water set up the decor used the tap water conditioner. I put 6 danios in the tank after 10 hrs of running. The tank was pretty dirty when I picked it up. It had alot of dried algae on everything. I scrubed the tank with salt and water. I rinsed well. I rised all of the 1/4" gravel, but some still had dried algae. I have a 40 gallon hexgon tank. 24" tall.
So where I think I went wrong.... I never cycled or let the water cycle. These fish only cost me total $5.00. I never knew there was such a thing as cycling water. Should I go and get a test kit? Or just sit and wait and see if fish die? What at bare minimum testing should I do?
Oh yeah, the tank has only running for 32 hours, with fish in it for 22 hrs. ( I know I didn't wait long to add fish, I just couldn't contain my excitement. hahaha

Thanks so much. I wish I would have saw this site BEFORE I added the fish. HAHAHA..

It's not the end of the world! What you do now is these steps:
1) Buy a liquid test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite, pH, nitrate (API freshwater master test kit is good)
2) Check the levels, whenever ammonia or nitrite is over 0.25 ppm change the water until it's lower.
3) Wait it out... hope your fish don't die.

For the first little while you may be doing water changes daily (though your stocking isn't very heavy, so maybe not). But after a month or two you should notice it will take longer for the ammonia and nitrite to come up, so you will eventually be able to do your water changes less frequently, weekly or every two weeks.

Or you could just take the fish back and do a fishless cycle which is easier, though less gratifying than having fish already.

 

[Whitester]

It's not the end of the world! What you do now is these steps:
1) Buy a liquid test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite, pH, nitrate (API freshwater master test kit is good)
2) Check the levels, whenever ammonia or nitrite is over 0.25 ppm change the water until it's lower.
3) Wait it out... hope your fish don't die.

For the first little while you may be doing water changes daily (though your stocking isn't very heavy, so maybe not). But after a month or two you should notice it will take longer for the ammonia and nitrite to come up, so you will eventually be able to do your water changes less frequently, weekly or every two weeks.

Or you could just take the fish back and do a fishless cycle which is easier, though less gratifying than having fish already.

Okay I went out to the LFS and purchase a complete testing kit. The liquid drops kind. It tests everything. While I was at the LFS, I inquired about the filter media, well she said that she couldn't help me out with that, but she had a chemical (Stabilizer) the help the cycle along. Now here is where I messed up. I should have tested the water BEFORE adding the Stabilizer. Because I tested the tank, after adding the stabilizer and ammonia was very close to zero. The color, I think it is in between the first color, 0.0 and the second. But my girlfriend thinks it looks the same as 0.0 color. So ammonia for now is okay for new tank. Then I tested the nitrite, no mistake about this color... 0.0 . The PH level is 8.0. Temp is 74 degrees. I am okay so far, I think! I know I don't have much fish, I think all total maybe 6"s of fish with 6 fish. They are small and I have only fed them flakes twice.
I am going to use the Stabilizer for a couple weeks, UNLESS I get different suggestions.

Thanks for all the help. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Rediahs]

Okay I went out to the LFS and purchase a complete testing kit. The liquid drops kind. It tests everything. While I was at the LFS, I inquired about the filter media, well she said that she couldn't help me out with that, but she had a chemical (Stabilizer) the help the cycle along. Now here is where I messed up. I should have tested the water BEFORE adding the Stabilizer. Because I tested the tank, after adding the stabilizer and ammonia was very close to zero. The color, I think it is in between the first color, 0.0 and the second. But my girlfriend thinks it looks the same as 0.0 color. So ammonia for now is okay for new tank. Then I tested the nitrite, no mistake about this color... 0.0 . The PH level is 8.0. Temp is 74 degrees. I am okay so far, I think! I know I don't have much fish, I think all total maybe 6"s of fish with 6 fish. They are small and I have only fed them flakes twice.
I am going to use the Stabilizer for a couple weeks, UNLESS I get different suggestions.

Thanks for all the help. Any suggestions are appreciated.

I'm not sure about this chemical "stabilizer" but most people on this forum will tell you that any chemical concoctions meant to speed up your cycle are pretty much garbage and don't do anything - a lot of them claim to be "bacteria in the bottle" but it's extremely unlikely that the bacteria would be able to survive bottle conditions - they need constant feeding of ammonia and nitrite, the way fish constantly feed them ammonia, bacteria never starve in an aquarium. But in a bottle there is nothing keeping them alive.

It's good that your levels are low. For the first little while I would test every day, even if they look good now, and you will start to get a feel for how often you need to change the water. You'll still need to keep testing occasionally because the bacteria will start processing and your nitrite may spike! It's probably due to your light stocking that you haven't got levels yet.

 

[Whitester]

Chrissi,

Thanks once again. This place is great! I wish I would have started sooner. Now my only fear is I will want another larger tank soon. The chemical is Seachem Stability. I am going to try it for now. Like I said, I wished I would have tested the levels prior to adding the stability. I am unsure of exactly what fish I want to stock it with. I just bought these Danios to see if the tank could support life.
Thanks again. All suggestions welcomed. I am trying to learn it all. hahaha

 

[Rediahs]

Chrissi,

Thanks once again. This place is great! I wish I would have started sooner. Now my only fear is I will want another larger tank soon. The chemical is Seachem Stability. I am going to try it for now. Like I said, I wished I would have tested the levels prior to adding the stability. I am unsure of exactly what fish I want to stock it with. I just bought these Danios to see if the tank could support life.
Thanks again. All suggestions welcomed. I am trying to learn it all. hahaha

The claims that thing makes sure are interesting!!! lol... I'm not sure I'd trust it. It's funny that it makes sure you know it's "harmless" (lol...) I wonder if anyone else can comment on the claims it makes... someone who knows more on the scientific side.

 

[Whitester]

I understand what you are saying about the bacteria. I wonder why my LFS didn't help me out with mature media filter. Unless I am mistaken, I wouldn't need the actual filter, just some of the bacteria right? I think I am going to head down to another fish store. This other one is just fish only. They have a huge selection.
Thanks again! I am like a sponge soaking up all that is fish.

 

[waterdrop]

One pretty much has to have actual pieces of media (cuts of sponges, pieces of ceramics etc.) to get a good mature media seeding. This is what's being talked about when mature media is discussed here being transferred between different households. The exception, which is usually a situation -within- a household or perhaps an extremely nearby friend, is when you literally clean a mature filter in the water of an immature tank. Squeezing the entire sponge and doing dunks of trays of ceramics or bioballs, in short a big cleaning can accomplish a lot. More distant transfer of just water that had received a lot of gunk like this somehow doesn't work nearly as well though.

~~waterdrop~~