Bogwood. Tannins. Ph. Boiling

[Maxta]

Thanks for the info monkey. So do you use any additional products? Or do you not need to because you maintain your tank well?

Based on what youve said above, it could just be down to cycling alone, because...

....the tank downstairs which uses the same water and conditioners has a constant and stable pH and the fish are doing fine. Except that tank used fish to cycle and im using ammonia.

Im about to test my ammonia again soon, im hoping these 2 water changes havent disrupted the bacteria, id hate to start from scratch i want fish bad lol! Also gonna test for nitrite and nitrate.

Oh and BTW monkey, i tested for nitrates 2 days ago and they were around 5 ppm. I dont check that one daily, just now and then. Sorry for all these posts, im a complete newbie and want to do things right. I also bought some seachem matrix which should be with me in a couple of days, so il be replacing the carbon pieces with that - better for bacteria to attach to i heard.

 

[Maxta]

Just did water stats 10am (12 hours on from adding ammonia to a level of 2ppm):


pH ~6.4
Ammonia ~0
Nitrite ~2
Nitrate ~10

These stats look okay?

About to add more ammonia as i speak. Looks as though i didnt kill my beneficial bacteria afterall Thank goodness. Just waiting for that nitrite to drop, been at 2 ppm for almost a week now!!

 

[Maxta]

Water stats 10pm

pH ~6
ammonia 0.5
nitrite 2

Added ammonia back upto 2 ppm

 

[Monkeyseemonkeydo]

Hi maxta. No I don't use any buffering products in most of my tanks as I keep a lot of soft water species. Most are very lightly stocked as well. I'm running one brackish set-up so I add crushed coral to the filter in that one to maintain a higher pH and hardness.

What you say about using ammonia to cycle instead of fish is true. With fish there'll be wee amounts of ammonia being added slowly.
With pure ammonia you're chucking in concentrated amounts of the stuff, so as tessla said readings can jump about all over the place as things happen much quicker. You've got a nitrate reading now which is cool, it means the cycle is completing itself.

pH ~6.4
Ammonia ~0
Nitrite ~2
Nitrate ~10

These stats are fine. The fact ammonia is at 0 and nitrite is also absent means you can start to add fish soon. When nitrite is also 0 is the time. Keep adding the ammonia as you're doing until then. And mate, don't worry about asking questions and posting a lot. It's totally the right attitude. I might have missed this further up the thread, but out of interest what's going in the tank?

 

[Maxta]

Hi maxta. No I don't use any buffering products in most of my tanks as I keep a lot of soft water species. Most are very lightly stocked as well. I'm running one brackish set-up so I add crushed coral to the filter in that one to maintain a higher pH and hardness.

What you say about using ammonia to cycle instead of fish is true. With fish there'll be wee amounts of ammonia being added slowly.
With pure ammonia you're chucking in concentrated amounts of the stuff, so as tessla said readings can jump about all over the place as things happen much quicker. You've got a nitrate reading now which is cool, it means the cycle is completing itself.

pH ~6.4
Ammonia ~0
Nitrite ~2
Nitrate ~10

These stats are fine. The fact ammonia is at 0 and nitrite is also absent means you can start to add fish soon. When nitrite is also 0 is the time. Keep adding the ammonia as you're doing until then. And mate, don't worry about asking questions and posting a lot. It's totally the right attitude. I might have missed this further up the thread, but out of interest what's going in the tank?

Havent entirely decided tbh.

Im liking bettas more by the day, but dont know what i could put in with them.

My original plan was to get 5 or so tetras, 3 peppered cory cats and then a feature fish. I know people say dont keep corys in that small of a tank, but iv seen many people on the forum do it without a problem, besides if they do become too big and stressed i can put them in the tank downstairs.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tessla]

Corydoras are fine in small tanks so long as you get a pygmy variety that stays around 1" or so, I wouldn't go for the more commonly found larger corys though. I keep all of my bettas as community fish, some people freak out over the idea of keeping bettas with other fish but I've never actually had a problem with them. While the tetras aren't such a great idea they do fine with bottom feeders, I have pygmy cories in with one of my bettas and kuhli loaches in with another.

 

[Maxta]

We have 7 neon tetras downstairs and they never bother any of the other fish, and none bother them. Wonder if neons would get on okay with a betta.

Anyways, pygmy cories, i know for certain my LFS's iv been to dont sell them. The site i was planning to get fish from at the start doesnt have them, cant cant find them on ebay either. My LFS just got a new batch of peppered cories in and theyre small compared to the ones weve got, which is why i was considering them.

The cories in both LFS's just sit around on the bottom. Even the ones we bought were jus sitting there in the tank. When we put them in our big tank, they acted like iv seen them in the shop by just sitting around and occasionally swimming, after a few hours they were buzzing around the tank like crazy - we got two types and they split off in pairs, occasionally they get back together. But boy they are the most active fish in the tank, they never stop moving and are crazy and fun to watch - always picking at the gravel and swimming up and down and along the glass.

Rather good fish!

 

[Tessla]

I'll agree, they're excellent fish! You aren't just limited to one species of pygmy cory, there are quite a few that stay under 2".

Corydoras pygmaeus
Corydoras hastatus
Corydoras paragua
Corydoras gracilis
Corydoras habrosus
Corydoras cochui

These are all under 2", I'm sure you can find a few more if you search Planet Catfish by similar size. Peppered Corys unfortunately get close to three inches, so I'd avoid those unless they're for the larger tank.

Neons aren't a good idea to keep with bettas as they will nip the long fins. This does however depend to some extent on the fish, you could try a few neons from the larger tank with a betta in the smaller tank and see how things work out. I've had no trouble with mine but others have had problems.

 

[Monkeyseemonkeydo]

Maxta I know where you can get pygmy cories around here. Shoot me a pm if you're interested. You'll also be able to keep a Betta no worries provided you pick tankmates wisely.

 

[AndreaC]

I soaked my wood for 3 days in hot water, kept topping up it hot every day. Once in Tank it has never tirned the water off colour.

I often think about people soaking wood, but what if you have a large peice that wont fit in a pan!! lol.

I have a male Betta in my tank with neons, penguins, panda corys, mollies and a ram

 

[Maxta]

PM'd monkey.

On a good note, the new bit of bogwood that iv been boiling and leaving overnight in boiling water, seems to have stopped leaching tannins. Im gonna boil it for half an hour later to confirm.

Oh and whilst im at it, readings for this morning are

11am:

ammonia ~1
nitrite ~2

Nitrite still staying firmly put at 2.

ANDREA, do your tetras bother your betta?

 

[Maxta]

Updated my graph, as you can see nitrites not budging but ammonia is: