Beginner

[jgrieves1976]

Hi Everyone ,

Got myself an 11gallon tank 2 days ago, set it all up with gravel (fully washed) artificial plants live plants, heater, filter, etc...

Added water, added chlorine treatment. On day 1 added some 'stress zyme' treatment and a few flakes of food.

At the end of day 2 tested my levels. All ok except ph slightly high.

Am i fooling myself into thinking that the cycle is complete or is it a case of it not even starting yet?

I'm not really sure what to do next, but don't want to take any chances adding any fish before the tank is ready.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[gixer]

sorry but you tank hasnt even begun to cycle yet... it takes time im affraid.

you need to add a source of ammonia to the tank for it to begin to cycle. adding fish food is a source but it will take quite a while for it to break down into ammonia im affraid so dont expect any quick results. stress zyme is a waste of money in my opinion and will not show any noticable results either.

your best bet would be to either add pure ammonia to the tank daily (will go into details0 later if you want to do this) untill your tank cycles (anything between 2 and 6 weeks) or you can add a few hardy fish to your tank like zebra danios or platties. only 1 fish for every 5 gallons of water will do nicely untill your tank has cycled (usually between 4 and 8 weeks). to help it along you could do with getting anything you can from a disease free established tank. either filter media, gravel, plants, ornaments, bogwood etc. this will have more live bacteria than any amount of stress zyme you could manage to buy.

hope that helps

 

[jgrieves1976]

Thanks Gixer,

I think i probably knew that but being a complete beginner i thought i'd just check.

I think i will get myself a couple of hardy fish at the weekend and try that.

Once the fish have been added, do i just keep testing the levels until they come inline or should i be taking some action.

Could you provide a few details on what i should do once the fish have been added to complete the cycle process.

Many Thanks, your help is appreciated.

 

[tstenback]

once you add the fish then keep monitoring the ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels. Other than water changes there is not that much you need to do. I usually do a water change, about 25% when the ammonia reading gets over 1ppm. and once the nitrites kick in i do a water change when the reading gets over 1.5 or when the fish are not acting normal, sluggish,gills redder than normal etc. Also keep feeding to a minimum during the cycle, perhaps once a day or once every other day. Dont worry the fish wont starve they can go several days without food. HTH

 

[gixer]

for a 11g tank i would use 2 zebra danois (you choice could use platy or black widow tetras). these fish are very hardy and will easily withstand the cycle but you still need to keep an eye on you ammonia and nitrite levels incase they get too high.

start testing after 2 days then daily your ammonia levels will rise pretty quickly afer about 5 days the ammonia levels should peak (no two cycles are the same though remember this is only a guide) and you might need to do small water changes to lower it a little,

nitrite then will slowly begin to rise after about a week and your ammonia should be near or at zero the first stage bacteria will be established.

after about another week the nitrite will get to dangerously high levels and you may need to do small water changes again if the fish show signs of distress.

nitrite will take a lot longer than the ammonia to drop maybe 3 or 4 weeks.

once the nitrite is at zero your tank will be cycled and you should do a quite large water change to get your nitrate levels down before adding more fish.

you then need to stck your tank slowly usually only adding a third of the fish in the tank at a time leaving a week or two before adding any more.

patience is the key to establishing a tank well. please dont rush it. follow this and you will hopefully have a well established tank and health fish in the future.

hope that helped a bit

 

[gixer]

also try you hardest to beg, borrow or steal anything from a diseass free established tank.. it will speed things up no end.