Cycling invert tank?

[Sooooopy]

Hi all, new here! I'm a bit of a bug nut and just recently fell in love with aquatic isopods, sowbugs, water louse, whatever you want to call them. I thought perhaps setting up a nice little tank with them in it would be kind of interesting.

My problem is a lot if not all cycling guides take into account the fact you'll eventually be putting fish into the tank whereas what I've read about aquatic isopods pretty much tells me they'll do well in a non-cycled environment. Since a lot of guides suggest setting up your entire tank plants and all before you start the cycle would it be safe to assume I could scape and plant the entire tank and pop the little buggers in without much worry? Should I leave the water for a while? Should I cycle anyway? I have a 30x30x30 25l with a 5w light sitting ready for me to buy, and I was looking at hardy plants that require little CO2 to grow to put in it, but I have no idea if I'm overthinking things or if I'm on the right track. I was planning on dechlorinating the water I put in the tank beforehand regardless.

Completely new to this kind of thing so any help is appreciated!

 

[Yohance1130]

Hi all, new here! I'm a bit of a bug nut and just recently fell in love with aquatic isopods, sowbugs, water louse, whatever you want to call them. I thought perhaps setting up a nice little tank with them in it would be kind of interesting.

My problem is a lot if not all cycling guides take into account the fact you'll eventually be putting fish into the tank whereas what I've read about aquatic isopods pretty much tells me they'll do well in a non-cycled environment. Since a lot of guides suggest setting up your entire tank plants and all before you start the cycle would it be safe to assume I could scape and plant the entire tank and pop the little buggers in without much worry? Should I leave the water for a while? Should I cycle anyway? I have a 30x30x30 25l with a 5w light sitting ready for me to buy, and I was looking at hardy plants that require little CO2 to grow to put in it, but I have no idea if I'm overthinking things or if I'm on the right track. I was planning on dechlorinating the water I put in the tank beforehand regardless.

Completely new to this kind of thing so any help is appreciated!

Most of the cycling they are talking about are taking account you are going to be adding fish in the tank, For an invert tank you do not have to cycle your tank unless you are going to have shrimp, crabs,crawfish. you can cycle your tank to be on the safe side but it is not needed since the amount of waste created by the critters will not be excreted in high enough amounts to cause a problem.

Most of the time while you are cycling your tank you will spot some population of critters crawling or swimming around your tank.

I believe you will be able to scape your tank and pop the little critters in without much worry. They are so tiny, I can not see them causing a huge problem especially in a 25L aquarium. People even keep them in bowls and have no problems.

You are not overthinking you are just trying to do what's best for your critters! You are one the right track!

When your aquarium plants start establishing themselves and start to grow they will be able to take care of most of the waste made by the critters.

Hardy plants.

Anubias
Java Fern
Amazon sword
Dwarf sagittaria
Water Sprite
Water Wisteria
Java Moss
Hornwort
Salvinia(most floating plants)
Marimo Moss Balls

There are a lot more choices than the ones I just mentioned. You will find a lot more choices if you search online.

Goodluck!

 

[FishGuest5123]

I do snails in uncurled tanks all the time to add some waste and feed the cycle. I give them a little fish food.

 

[Slaphppy7]

"Uncurled" tanks?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Most of the cycling they are talking about are taking account you are going to be adding fish in the tank, For an invert tank you do not have to cycle your tank unless you are going to have shrimp, crabs,crawfish. you can cycle your tank to be on the safe side but it is not needed since the amount of waste created by the critters will not be excreted in high enough amounts to cause a problem.

Most of the time while you are cycling your tank you will spot some population of critters crawling or swimming around your tank.

I believe you will be able to scape your tank and pop the little critters in without much worry. They are so tiny, I can not see them causing a huge problem especially in a 25L aquarium. People even keep them in bowls and have no problems.

You are not overthinking you are just trying to do what's best for your critters! You are one the right track!

When your aquarium plants start establishing themselves and start to grow they will be able to take care of most of the waste made by the critters.

Hardy plants.

Anubias
Java Fern
Amazon sword
Dwarf sagittaria
Water Sprite
Water Wisteria
Java Moss
Hornwort
Salvinia(most floating plants)
Marimo Moss Balls

There are a lot more choices than the ones I just mentioned. You will find a lot more choices if you search online.

Goodluck!

Good advice...I would only add to be sure and use a water conditioner, if necessary...

 

[Sooooopy]

This is late but thank you for your replies! I've ordered a lot of stuff, plants, decor, the tank, lights and such. The only thing that has changed is instead of getting aquatic isopods I got distracted and ended up going after a diving beetle instead.

As far as I can tell I have everything ready and on it's way even with the change of plan, I found a great and concise care sheet for them. Only thing I'm slightly unsure of is dechlorinating, I assume the levels of chlorine in my water isn't too toxic to aquatic invertebrates as it would be to fish. I have a big ikea box currently sat in my bathroom waiting it for it to age as I've read water that stands for 24 hours will get rid of quite a bit of chlorine. Should I bother with dechlorinating the water with a dechlorinator? Any invert safe brands? Or should I just wait? My tank is set to arrive tomorrow, and the beetle will probably arrive a few days afterward, so I can potentially leave the box standing for a good while. I'm just nervous about chemicals and all that.

Edit: Just learnt more about chloramine (!) and I've ordered some Seachem Prime. I'd only need to use maybe like 1ml of the stuff for a 25l/6.6 gal but I want to be more safe than sorry. My water company hasn't published any reports for the water quality in 2020 or 2021 and that's somewhat concerning.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Yes, get some Seachem Prime, and dechlorinate your water.
Your tap water most likely has chloramine in it, not chlorine...chloramine levels won't drop out of the water like chlorine would after standing...chlorine is rarely used anymore....

 

[Yohance1130]

This is late but thank you for your replies! I've ordered a lot of stuff, plants, decor, the tank, lights and such. The only thing that has changed is instead of getting aquatic isopods I got distracted and ended up going after a diving beetle instead.

As far as I can tell I have everything ready and on it's way even with the change of plan, I found a great and concise care sheet for them. Only thing I'm slightly unsure of is dechlorinating, I assume the levels of chlorine in my water isn't too toxic to aquatic invertebrates as it would be to fish. I have a big ikea box currently sat in my bathroom waiting it for it to age as I've read water that stands for 24 hours will get rid of quite a bit of chlorine. Should I bother with dechlorinating the water with a dechlorinator? Any invert safe brands? Or should I just wait? My tank is set to arrive tomorrow, and the beetle will probably arrive a few days afterward, so I can potentially leave the box standing for a good while. I'm just nervous about chemicals and all that.

I would just buy a dechlorinater bottle imo, not worth the hassle of waiting 24 hours and hoping all the chlorine is out, chlorine is not as toxic to invertebrates as it is to fish but it is still toxic. Most aquarium water conditioners that are safe for fish are safe for inverts also. it would be easier to just add a couple drops of water conditioner in to your water, and then you can immediately add the water into your tank since it well be free of chlorine and heavy metals almost immediately just make sure to stir the solution.

A brand I would recommend is seachem prime. you do not have to use a lot of it since it is highly concentrated you only need like a couple millilitres for a 10 gallon to put in so it well last you a long time especially since your tank is smaller than a 10 gallon, also when you put it inside your tank it detoxifies ammonia and Nitrite in your aquarium for 24-48 hours.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Dosing for Prime is 1 ml/10G
I use a medicinal syringe to measure out my Prime, they are usually marked in ml increments, makes dosing Prime easy and accurate.

 

[Sooooopy]

I have some small syringes lying around, I use a few of them to water my spiders, I should have a spare tiny one lol.

With the dechlorinator should I add it to the tank after I fill it up with tap water? Or should I try and fill the tub with the right amount of water I need and add the dechlorinator in there to give it a bit to mix in before adding it to the tank? Reading up online people seem to recommend either way but I'm still a little confused about it.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Add it to the tank as you fill the tank...you'll do the same during water changes

 

[Essjay]

For filling the tank, follow what Slaphppy said.

For water changes, since the tank is 25 litres, just put dechlorinator in a bucket at the dose for the amount of water in the bucket then run new water into the bucket at full speed. You may need a dropper/syringe to measure the dechlorinator. As you are in the UK, the way you warm the water depends on the the type of boiler you have. With a combi boiler you can use hot tap water to warm the water in the bucket; if you have a hot water cylinder in an airing cupboard, boil a kettle to warm it.

My water company hasn't published any reports for the water quality in 2020 or 2021 and that's somewhat concerning.

Water quality reports are produced annually and can't be published until after the end of the year as results for the end of December could be part of the report. The data will all be in for 2020 but they have to be checked and written up so they are probably still working on the 2020 document, and will be published in due course.
And the data for 2021 won't finish being collected for another 11 months yet.

 

[NannaLou]

@Essjay - linking into this question, I’m about ready to fill my low tech tank and wanted to go “chemical free” if possible. I got a full water report from the water company and it lists chlorine but not chloramine - would that be listed as a separate substance? The reports is several pages long and has the most amazing list of things in it!!

Is chlorine be a risk to plants..?

 

[Essjay]

To be honest I don't know. Chloramine is chlorine and ammonia joined together so it could be they only report the chlorine half.

You could try calling them to ask. I once emailed my water company and asked if they used chlorine or chloramine and the reply just had the water quality report which did not answer the question. Phoning might get a proper answer.
I'm not sure how effective this would be, but water with chloramine should give a tiny reading for ammonia. Maybe test water straight from the tap, and water with some dechlorinator added to see if it has ammonia in.

As for the plants question, I don't know enough about plants to answer that. But I do know that if your water has chlorine you can leave water to stand 24 hours and the chlorine will gas off.
That won't work with chloramine though as it doesn't gas off.

 

[Colin_T]

Is chlorine be a risk to plants..?

The amount of chlorine in tap water for human consumption, will not affect plants.