From The Ashes. Another Planted Journal

[FishFanatic04]

Thanks I'm a little edgy over everything now is all.

 

[Mcbenthy]

Is it different then a stranger on aquabid? Thats the debate I am having now. Saving a few bucks isn't the goal: I'm trying to get stock into my tanks after cycling these filters, otherwise I'll have ammonia spikes when I order the fish that I have to get online. The angels are going to be close to $180 or more if I get the BN's there. Shipping is expensive. I can't buy a few at a time and pay multiple shipping charges.

Adding 6 angelfish and 2 or 3 bn's to a tank at once could leave me with an ammonia spike and a water change adds ammonia. My filter will be overwhelmed the $180 in fish stock will be overly stressed and exposed to ammonia and nitrite poisoning. I will not add them to a tank that can't handle their bioload. I also will not add them until the tank is more mature.

I am trying to do this thing the right way, and be cost effective. I cant shop at my LFS. The only option is a chain store. I can't stock my tanks they way I need to without going to Petsmart. Petsmart has a warranty on fish as well. I can QT them for a few days, feed a medication laced food and if they are healthy they go in the big tank.

Please don't knock the chain stores in my thread. That's a good way to get my journal closed.

Which is the better supplier I can't and won't comment on. However from a cycling POV, remember that the filter bacteria colony will be the correct size to deal with the waste you have been generating in that tank. i.e. if you have been putting in enough ammonia daily to simulate that amount of fish, then waiting a couple fo days for it to be completely processed and adding in that number of fish will not result in a spike.

From the point of adding enough ammonia, that's a toughy! what you could look at doing is adding in the correct amount of food per day (as that is all that can be converted to waste and therefore you cannot get any more ammonia / day from the fish than the ammonia / day from their food being broken down). A good way to possibly approach that may be to add some small fish you can move on shortly thereafter (I would suggest a prolific livebearer as their population will soon reach an appropriate level from a small number of starting fish, and when you add the Angels, any fry you couldn't fish out, the Angels will deal with ). another option being the slightly longer route of adding shrimp and using them to clean up.

TL/DR: Don't worry about a cycle so long as the filter is fed enough prior to addition

 

[FishFanatic04]

I appreciate the thoughts. I also understand that no one in their right mind would go read through my whole thread when I type faster then I think and it all gets put out there

The issue I was having was that I am almost at the end of my cycle and my original plan was to add 1 or 2 fish from my stock list at first, but then all of my bacteria I have just built up will die back. It's a financial issue, or I would buy my whole stock and dump them in. When I am no longer on a budget and the tank has matured for a few months I will add 6 angelfish and 2-3 Bristlenose's, but at that point it could create an ammonia spike for a few days as the bacteria have to multiply enough to handle the added bioload.

I was basically looking for a way to keep my filter cycled to it's full capacity while at the same time allowing the tank to mature with fish in. I could just add ammonia for a few months and no fish, however the tank doesn't truly "mature" without actual livestock. That's why a lot of the more sensitive fish shouldn't be added to a brand new cycled tank.

 

[gregswimm]

Just add angels last. I wouldn't consider BNs sensitive fish.

 

[FishFanatic04]

The angels and the Bn's come from the same place so I am ordering them at the same time.

 

[gregswimm]

If you are worried about ammo, I would stick a HOB from another tank on that tank or cut a piece of media off a tank that has been up for a while and stick it in the new tank. Some of the 'maturity' will rub off.

 

[Biulu]

If you are worried about ammo, I would stick a HOB from another tank on that tank or cut a piece of media off a tank that has been up for a while and stick it in the new tank. Some of the 'maturity' will rub off.

Gregg, both her tanks are cycling at the same time!
FF, I just learned yesterday during a club meeting that if you have a cycled tank with a certain amount of bacteria, the bacteria will multiply very fast to cope with a new bioload. Within 1.5 days there will be enough bacteria to deal with the new load. So, you could just do an extra water change during that time and you will be fine.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I am at the point in my cycle where I have had too much time to think I could probably just dose prime in that one day since water changes add ammonia anyway.


Well ...I had 0 ammonia and under .25ppm nitrites this morning which is nice. I'm betting I'll be through 2 weeks from today.

 

[gregswimm]

Ohh snap, I thought you were done cycling....
I totally forgot that you don't have an old tank, derp.

 

[ian]

Don't worry over this cycling malarke in a planted tank. Don't buy hat ammonia away either. What you need is some nice stems to still behind the island. Three or four pots should do it, and water change. The plants are what's helping the cycle go quicker. It is entirely possible to not even cycle a filter in a planted tank. Don't tell the fresh water section, but you can add you fish (little by little) from day 2 or 3.

 

[gregswimm]

Don't worry over this cycling malarke in a planted tank. Don't buy hat ammonia away either. What you need is some nice stems to still behind the island. Three or four pots should do it, and water change. The plants are what's helping the cycle go quicker. It is entirely possible to not even cycle a filter in a planted tank. Don't tell the fresh water section, but you can add you fish (little by little) from day 2 or 3.

*GASP* say it's not so! lol

 

[FishFanatic04]

I was going to add some fish tomorrow. I like to make sure the tank can at least clear the ammonia in my tap, which it does.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I wrote about it in my other thread, but I got some fish today!!!

This tank isn't ready yet,and I couldn't find stem plants anywhere we went. There was still an ammonia reading this morning and this tank is still having a high nitrite spike.

The 46g however WAS ready, but the plant load there is higher.


He picked 3 guppies and 3 platies. The Bolivians are in there too but they will be moved the this tank when it is ready for fish. It was only $15 for all of the fish and I had a gift card leftover from a return. woohoo! It may not be my planned stock, but I am happy now to have something.

 

[gregswimm]

Speaking of guppies.... I got 12 endlers for my 29 krib tank 2 days ago, and Im totally in love . They constantly graze on algae and school all awesome like.

I always thought platies were brackish

 

[FishFanatic04]

Mollys like a little salt. Platies don't though. I thought about trying endlers in my 10g at some point. Can't find them locally though.

Been peering in at the poor fish since I got them They all look very healthy and had their first day of medicated food during acclimation. They did have slightly reddened gills, but after testing the water from the bag and seeing high nitrites {and ammonia, but that was expected} I put a drop of Prime in the acclimation bucket and everyone settled down prettily quickly. The store must not be testing for nitrites.

The Bolivians are dark, I hope they color up by tomorrow and look lovely. My last group were so golden and barely had any darkening that you often see in photos of them.