Beginner Small Tank Diary

[darryl864]

Thanks for the advice.

I first saw pics of endlers on this site [topic="116208"](this post)[/topic] and also had the luck of finding them in a garden centre on the outskirts of Bath (UK) only yesterday. Having seen them I think they would make a good addition to a small tank and as they are quite small this would mean that I could get quite a few.

 

[darryl864]

Got my Ammonia today so all ready for my fishless cycle. Ammonia cost £1.11 at Lifestyle Pharmacy in Bath!

 

[waterdrop]

Got my Ammonia today so all ready for my fishless cycle. Ammonia cost £1.11 at Lifestile Pharmacy in Bath!

no foam when shaken, we hope!

 

[mark.w.jones]

Suitable small tank species:

Sparkling Gouramis
Pygmy cories
Endlers Livebearers
Harlequin rasboras
Neon tetras
Dwarf Rasboras
Shrimp

 

[darryl864]

Got my Ammonia today so all ready for my fishless cycle. Ammonia cost £1.11 at Lifestile Pharmacy in Bath!

no foam when shaken, we hope!

No foam the Ammonia is called Starpax Household Ammonia Solution for household cleaning and is 9.5% w/w and here is a pic!

 

[darryl864]

Arcadia Classica Aquacurve

At last here it is my new tank!

In this pic I have added my substrate (Tetra Plant Complete Substrate 2.8kg) it says to add in 2 cm and in the end I just put the lot in.

Next I added the gravel however I only bought a 2Kg bag thinking that this would be enough but it looks a bit thin so I may have to buy some more?? The gravel is Natural Lakeside as pictured.

The tank came with small 8w natural light, Filter, Heater and a couple of freebies (pictured) which I thought was good for £50 (having looked everywhere). I didn’t realise that this tank came with a heater so I had bought one already. The one that came with the tank is now on ebay!

I have also noticed that this is not the tank I wanted as I wanted the Rectangular model (H38 D28 L44 cm) whereas this is the bowfront model (H39 D34 L36 cm). However after the amount of time it has taken me to get this I couldn't send this one back and besides I only noticed after I had filled it up!

Next up is filling, adding heater and filter and starting off the fishless cycle! Beyond that is planting and decorating!

Filling

I wanted to be careful not to disturb the gravel and substrate when filling so I used the sieve AND a plate at the bottom!

Went great but when I put too much Ammonia in later on I had to take out some water and replace with new. Guess what I didn't use the sieve and blew a hole in the gravel at the bottom.
Note to self: Don't be so hasty at pouring in clean water!

 

[mark.w.jones]

Sounds like you are going about the things the right way ie. researching before doing anything! You'd be surprised at how many new owners don't. Just keep asking questions, keep us filled in and we'll offer as much advice as we can. Your fishless cycle will probably take 3 - 5 weeks. With mature media this can be reduced to less than 2 weeks. Use the time to research and post your stocking ideas. There's a link in my sig. for suitable 10 gallon tank fish.

 

[darryl864]

Tank Ready

I have now added the filter and heater and filled up the tank. The filter comes with two different attachments, a tube that draws air in and mixes with the flow. And a bar which squirts water into the top. See photos:
Tube

Bar

Would one be better than the other or is one designed for a certain type of fish? I am currently using the tube for the fishless cycle mainly because it is quieter. Any ideas?

Darryl

 

[waterdrop]

I can't see that there would be much difference between the tube or the bar. As you know, the main method of increasing gas exchange (both oxygen and co2 etc) is by movement/disturbance of the surface. Both your devices look like they do that about equally.

The tank my son & I are cycling is in his room and noise has always been a worry, sounds like it might be for you too? We have to turn off the airstones at night (airstones mostly are another way to disturb the surface, the extra surface area of the bubbles doesn't really add significant extra surface area as one might think from looking at it.) I have queried in forum whether loss of this extra oxygen aid during night hours might be significantly bad for fishless cycling but noone has known.

The pictures are great!
~~waterdrop~~

 

[backtotropical]

The tank my son & I are cycling is in his room and noise has always been a worry, sounds like it might be for you too? We have to turn off the airstones at night (airstones mostly are another way to disturb the surface, the extra surface area of the bubbles doesn't really add significant extra surface area as one might think from looking at it.) I have queried in forum whether loss of this extra oxygen aid during night hours might be significantly bad for fishless cycling but noone has known.

We might have an answer to your cycling problem here, Waterdrop. When you switch off the airstone at night, is there any other surface agitation going on? If not, maybe your water is becoming depleted of oxygen during the night and recovering again during the day, only to be starved again when night comes around. This would surely stall the progress of the cycle.

The oxygen would deplete quite quickly too, unless you also turn down the temperature at night?

Just a thought.

BTT

 

[darryl864]

Actually the noise isn't much of an issue as the tank is in the dinning room. And after giving it some thought I might go with the spray bar as the water splashes up a lot from the bubbles when using the tube. When I open the lid a lot of water drips off the lid down the back of the tank. Is this normal? It's probably due to the fact that I am cycling the tank and have the temperature turned up to 32[sup]o[/sup] C.

On the water disturbance front have a look at these two pics as I think you will notice that the spray bar seems to do a better job.
Bar Under

Tube Under

Glad to see you like the pics there will be step by step photo's all the way through so keep looking. I feel a lot of posts could do with a lot more photo's .

 

[TigerIssey]

If you are very impatient find a Maidenhead aquatics, the one near me stocks a new product called Soll Bactinettes, they appeared in practical fishkeeping first sight section May 2007. The maidenhead by me stocks them, try looking at their website www.fishkeeper.co.uk for the nearest, give them a ring to see if they stock them.

The product is fantastic, I recently used it following a filter accident where my 2 yr old filter bacteria got killed off (my mistake). It is live bacteria and as such is kept in a refridgerator. My bacteria were restored and testing normal for ammonia nitrite and nitrate in 48 hrs.

With a fishless cycle as you are doing the overall time would be cut considerably. They come in pots for 100l at £5.90. Very reasonable in my opinion. It may stop the constant " can we get the fishes yet" that I am sure you may end up with if the children are anything like I was when little. (Although fishless cycling was not heard of 20 yrs ago, you used hardy fish)

Tina

 

[waterdrop]

The tank my son & I are cycling is in his room and noise has always been a worry, sounds like it might be for you too? We have to turn off the airstones at night (airstones mostly are another way to disturb the surface, the extra surface area of the bubbles doesn't really add significant extra surface area as one might think from looking at it.) I have queried in forum whether loss of this extra oxygen aid during night hours might be significantly bad for fishless cycling but noone has known.

We might have an answer to your cycling problem here, Waterdrop. When you switch off the airstone at night, is there any other surface agitation going on? If not, maybe your water is becoming depleted of oxygen during the night and recovering again during the day, only to be starved again when night comes around. This would surely stall the progress of the cycle.

The oxygen would deplete quite quickly too, unless you also turn down the temperature at night?

Just a thought.

BTT

Why thank you BTT! I'm not too surprised at your answer as I have agonized over this myself, knowing that it might be a factor. Unfortunately the whole family hates me so much for doing the fishless cycling in the first place that I keep losing the fight to move my son back to a different bedroom for the duration (its his new room with the new tank and he's excited to be there, very understandable.) In fact right now as I persist into week 9 I again have a strong milky bacterial bloom and I know more oxygen is needed during those, so I worry when it goes off at night. Your encouragement is good, maybe I'll figure out the psychology end of things... I'll let you know (after all, am I ever one to be quiet about anything? ) ~~waterdrop~~

 

[waterdrop]

If you are very impatient find a Maidenhead aquatics, the one near me stocks a new product called Soll Bactinettes, they appeared in practical fishkeeping first sight section May 2007. The maidenhead by me stocks them, try looking at their website www.fishkeeper.co.uk for the nearest, give them a ring to see if they stock them.

The product is fantastic, I recently used it following a filter accident where my 2 yr old filter bacteria got killed off (my mistake). It is live bacteria and as such is kept in a refridgerator. My bacteria were restored and testing normal for ammonia nitrite and nitrate in 48 hrs.

With a fishless cycle as you are doing the overall time would be cut considerably. They come in pots for 100l at £5.90. Very reasonable in my opinion. It may stop the constant " can we get the fishes yet" that I am sure you may end up with if the children are anything like I was when little. (Although fishless cycling was not heard of 20 yrs ago, you used hardy fish)

Tina

I'll just join in and say that we've all continued to see some good reports about Bactinettes (mostly in UK) and Biospira (mostly in US I think) as the two commercial bacterial-starter products that have a higher percentage chance of seeding the fishless cycling process and speeding it up. For Biospira, one is supposed to hope that the refridgeration has been kept up for the entire delivery and distribution life of the product, I'm not sure about Bactinettes. Personally I would not hesitate to give it a try if I were you, certainly couldn't hurt I wouldn't think. Its always good to be aware, especially if the money comes at a hardship, that there is also a good chance that it won't help at all, its just a very unpredictable thing according to Miss Wiggle and many of the other experts here.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[waterdrop]

Finally (!) back to you, darryl, since this is YOUR thread

"Glad to see you like the pics there will be step by step photo's all the way through so keep looking. I feel a lot of posts could do with a lot more photo's"

Man are your photos great! I haven't got a clue how to do photos (or, more accurately have never taken the time to search and learn how even though I have a nice little digital camera like nearly every other person on earth these days...)

I also don't see how you get them into different sizes and shapes (like the tall skinny one of the ammonia bottle!).. do you put them in photoshop or some sort of software for that? I've never wanted to take the time to take the plunge because I know mine would be too large with all the megapixels of the newer cameras (kinda ironic, you get more megapixels and it makes you more timid to fool with it, but hey!)

Anyway, greatly enjoying the pics of your "dining room project!"

~~waterdrop~~