Fishless Cycle - Results So Far

[Miss Wiggle]

nice choice, some of my favourite fish there. generally apisto's are a bit more fiesty than rams, rams can be kept in pairs, apisto's also can but it's sometimes recommended you have a couple of extra females.

if you've room get a decent sized group of apistos, the sparring and displays between the males are really something special and they make a beautiful addiion to a community tank.

we've a big group of nanacara anomala in our tank at the moment, fascinating to watch.

important thing to remember with apistos is they each need their own territory, so make sure the decor has enough caves for each fish to have one and a few left over.

you may get a bit of scrapping over territories at first but don't be too concerned, if the fighting ever gets bad then re-arrange the tank, this gets rid of the territories and gives them a level playing field to start from.

add them together if you can, don't worry hugley if that's not possible though, if you can't do them together then do the ram's first followed by the apistos

 

[stormy78]

nice choice, some of my favourite fish there. generally apisto's are a bit more fiesty than rams, rams can be kept in pairs, apisto's also can but it's sometimes recommended you have a couple of extra females.

if you've room get a decent sized group of apistos, the sparring and displays between the males are really something special and they make a beautiful addiion to a community tank.

we've a big group of nanacara anomala in our tank at the moment, fascinating to watch.

important thing to remember with apistos is they each need their own territory, so make sure the decor has enough caves for each fish to have one and a few left over.

you may get a bit of scrapping over territories at first but don't be too concerned, if the fighting ever gets bad then re-arrange the tank, this gets rid of the territories and gives them a level playing field to start from.

add them together if you can, don't worry hugley if that's not possible though, if you can't do them together then do the ram's first followed by the apistos

Thanks for the pointers MW! I have a few slate caves/alcoves (about 4) on the left of the tank and a large peice of bogwood with a decent sized cave beneath it. Should I add more 'caves'?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

how many rams and apisto's do you plan on getting? remind me how big the tank is.

they don't all need to be conventional caves made from rocks and wood though, we've some wood which is overrun with java moss, this gives them loads of cover and hiding spots and they're all always playing around in it. so you can mix things up with some plants if you don't want too many rocks or so on.

another pointer with apisto's, really only relevant if you get them as juvi's, is feeding. when they're v small they're quite shy and will struggle to feed in a community tank with bigger and greedier fish. so best getting them and waiting until they've grown up a bit before you fully stock the tank, or preparing to target feed them.

 

[stormy78]

Its a Trigon 190 corner tank, so it hase about 37/38 Imperial Gallons usuable space give or take. I was planning on maybe 1 pair of rams and then 1 male Apisto's with 2 or 3 females, however I may consider another apisto instead of the ram.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i'd be tempted to go for a larger group of apisto's and leave the rams too.

get 2 males and 3/4 females or something like that. make sure they've each got a cave/hiding space and then you've 2/3 more hiding spots.

 

[stormy78]

Thanks MW your a star! I think I may just do that... I'm looking into some creative ways to add somemore caves... coconuts and all that lol!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no probs

 

[stormy78]

Day 31 (Tuesday 13th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 2.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00pm
NitrAte: I did not test
PH: 6.8

Tested Ammonia at 8.30pm
Ammonia: 0.50ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 6.8

 

[waterdrop]

I see your Nitrite spike stage appears to be continuing?

 

[stormy78]

I see your Nitrite spike stage appears to be continuing?

Hi waterdrop It looks that way, the NitrIte tests are a deep dark purple almost instantly. The ammonia processing seems to have sped up though. The PH is high from the tap until it goes into the tank them it seems to hold steady at 6.8. Could this be down to the Caribsea Eco complete substrate and the bogwood? How long should I leave it before another water change?

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Stormy,

You can do water changes as frequently as you like, really.

The pH may however not be a problem. Often, water straight from the tap will give a false high pH reading because it is full of chlorine which is very basic (will raise the pH) amongst other things. If this water is left to settle for, say 1 hour, and then the pH tested again, often the pH will be lower as the chlorine gases off.

This could be what is happening to your water, or it could be the substrate. Regardless, if the pH is holding steady at 6.8 theres nothing to worry about. Just so long as its not dropping.

If you want to change some water to bring pH back up again, by all means. After all, the bacteria you are trying to grow prefer an alkaline pH (7.0+).

Cheers

BTT

 

[waterdrop]

I do think that 6.8 will be slower than say, 7.5, but I'm not sure it would be worth messing with if you are patient.

 

[stormy78]

Cheers guys! Well Ammonia is definatly being processed, this mornings test showed 0 Ammonia and 0.25 Nitirite and the PH was still 6.8. I may take a sample to the LFS to get their opinion on the PH as the API shades on the results card are all so close together at the lower end is can often depend on what light you read the results in as to what you believe the PH is!

 

[stormy78]

Day 32 (Wednesday 14th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.25pm
NitrAte: 10>
PH: 6.8

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 5.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 7.2

 

[stormy78]

Day 33 (Thursday 15th May)

Tested Ammonia at 8.00am
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
NitrIte: 0.00pm
PH: 6.8

Ammonia was raised to 5ppm

Tested Ammonia at 8.00pm
Ammonia: 1.00ppm
NitrIte: 1.00ppm
NitrAte: 40 ppm
PH: 6.2

PH Crashed!

I did a 50/60% water change.

Ammonia reading after water change: 0.50ppm
PH reading after water change: 6.8