Hi From Perth :)

[tunagirll]

Hi there!
 
I'm from Perth and a relative newbie to fish keeping, having managed to kill a number due to my lack of knowledge and learning the hard way as I go.
 
I joined because this has been the site where I have gained the most information, so thank you!
 
Right now I have started cycling a small 25L tank in preparation for adding a betta and some shrimp. It was an impulse buy of a system someone else bought from a pet store and despite their 'help' the fish died.
 
Here's what I received:
 
25L tank
25W heater
Aquaone 100 filter
8W light
a pH testing kit with pH up and pH down
Stresszyme
water conditioner
 
Here's what I went and bought:
 
Complete testing kit (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)
A cute piece of gold vine
5mm cream gravel
a few live plants (hairgrass, ambulia, and one with little round leaves I think is bacopa?)
 
I've had the tank sitting for 3 days and left the plants in their little pots as I'm not sure if I should change the gravel for sand or very small gravel to suit the shrimps. The vine is still being weighted down with a glass bowl so I haven't arranged anything until it's waterlogged.
 
Here's my current test readings:
 
pH 7.4 (used a little pH down to adjust it from 7.8)
ammonia 1.0ppm
nitrate 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
 
lights are on during the day for the plants ~ 12 hours
 
heater is mounted near the filter and the thermometer is mounted on the opposite wall. The heater is set for 27 degrees C and the thermometer sits at 22 degrees C (+- around 3 degrees with ambient temperature during the day in the house around 15 degrees C).
 
Here are my questions if anyone could help as I'm starting to panic lol:
 
Do I need to get a larger heater as this one seems to be struggling - get a 50W or a second 25W?
I'm new to live plants so do I need anything more for them?
There's a fine white film on the gold vine, I'm assuming this is just a little mould?
Is it okay to add a few shrimp now to help the tank cycle? I don't have ammonia.
Also can I put a little sand over the gravel for the shrimp or is the large gravel okay for them.
 
Thanks heaps
 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

to the forum. Quite a few Aussies on here, you'll see the others soon enough .
 
I wouldn't recommend adding shrimp as they're quite sensitive to water parameters (i.e high ammonia and nitrite), they also don't produce much waste.
If you can't find any ammonia then there are three things you can do....
1. Add shrimp from the supermarket to some unused pantyhose and put it in the tank, let it rot and wait about 6 or so weeks and the tank should be cycled.
2. Feed the tank with fish food as if there were fish in there, as the fish food begins to rot, it will produce ammonia and start the cycle.
3. Get some mature filter media from a friend/LFS and replace the media in your filter with the mature media, your tank would be instantly cycled this way and you could add fish. 
 
Don't worry about using the pH up and down, its better to buy fish suited to your pH rather than mess around with the pH and have it fluctuate, causing stress and possibly death to your Betta and shrimp.
 
Have you added anything to your tank that could have caused that 1.0ppm of ammonia?
 
What brand is your test kit? Is it liquid, tablets or strips?
 
Adding another 25W heater could help. But, if you want to save some tank space and have more power plugs, a 50W heater would be better.
 
The lights don't need to be on so long, 6-8 hours is enough. If you have them on too long then you will start to get a lot of algae problems.
 
If you want, you could get some plant ferts or add CO2. 
A good plant fertiliser is Seachem Excel.
Have a look around in the plant section for information on CO2.
 
Try giving the vine a good scrub and see if the white film comes off.
 
The large gravel should be fine, if you wanted though, you could make some of the tank sand, like, say a corner of it sand and the rest gravel. I'm not sure how that would look but it could be something to think about.
 
I think that's all your questions answered, if you have anymore, feel free to ask them

 

[tunagirll]

Thank you for the welcome and the comments
 
Cycling - I added a little bit of fish food that came with the tank to help it get started, that would be where the ammonia came from. I did ask the LFS for some filter media but they just looked at me blankly so I gave that idea up! I could add a prawn, plenty of pantyhose around Would it make a problem for the plants?
 
The pH of our tapwater (we are on a rainwater tank) is 7.6pH.
The test kit is the API master test kit (drops)
 
I thought maybe if I picked up a second 25w heater, it would be a bit bulkier in winter but I could remove it in summer and also have a spare?
 
Plants: I'll reduce the time time light is on How do I use plant fertiliser? I don't think I know enough to try CO2 (although I am quite good with chemistry!) and I will give the vine a clean.
 
Thank you again Any suggestions on fish etc that would be okay with a pH of around 7.6 would be much appreciated!
 
Cheers Sil

 

[ncguppy830]

welcome

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Thank you for the welcome and the comments

 
Cycling - I added a little bit of fish food that came with the tank to help it get started, that would be where the ammonia came from. I did ask the LFS for some filter media but they just looked at me blankly so I gave that idea up! I could add a prawn, plenty of pantyhose around

Would it make a problem for the plants?
 
The pH of our tapwater (we are on a rainwater tank) is 7.6pH.
The test kit is the API master test kit (drops)
 
I thought maybe if I picked up a second 25w heater, it would be a bit bulkier in winter but I could remove it in summer and also have a spare?
 
Plants: I'll reduce the time time light is on

How do I use plant fertiliser? I don't think I know enough to try CO2 (although I am quite good with chemistry!) and I will give the vine a clean.
 
Thank you again

Any suggestions on fish etc that would be okay with a pH of around 7.6 would be much appreciated!
 
Cheers Sil

 
Okay, the fish food or prawn idea sound good.
LFS aren't always the most knowledgable lol.
It shouldn't be a problem for the plants. They'll probably love it because they "eat" ammonia.
 
Your pH should be fine for a Betta and shrimp.
 
Thats a good test kit to use, I was just checking as some people use strips and they're hard to read.
 
Another 25W should be fine, just watch the temperature doesn't fluctuate too much over summer without the second heater.
 
For the plant fertiliser, you just dose the recommended level for your tank size. Depending on your plants, some of them might melt (where they go weak and brown), if they do melt, you will have to cut off the melting leaves, they should be replaced with nice green ones.

 

[TallTree01]

Can't really add anything to what my kiwi friend has said. Good job BLF.
Just welcome to the forums and the magical world of fish.

 

[tunagirll]

Thank you! Off to go read about plant ferts.

 

[Jake96]

Hey welcome. I live in SA Australia Its always good to see another fish lover like myself join

 

[Smelliot]

It's nice to see another West Australian. Ambulia is a great plant mine just keeps on growing!

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Welcome aboard tuna! ")

 

[Ch4rlie]

to the forum. Quite a few Aussies on here, you'll see the others soon enough

.

 
Think OP is from UK, more specifically Perth in Scotland.
 
Her profile says UK anyway......
 
So if OP is indeed UK based, then getting hold of ammonia should not be a problem really, so therefore no need for fish food or prawns to get ammonia to start fish less cycle. 
 
Here's a link for a few ideas where and what brand of ammonia you can get. IF you are UK based for sure.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/427161-ammonia-and-bacteria-starter-sources/

 

[Blondielovesfish]

IDK? The OP hasn't corrected me so I guess she is an Aussie?
 
Sorry if you're not, Tunagirll.

 

[Gruntle]

If you are in Australia, do an ebay search for Australia Only and search for Aquarium Ammonia.  There's a seller who has 30ml at 25% concentration. And it's only about $15 with free postage.

 

[tunagirll]

Hi there, sorry yes I am in Australia, not sure why it says the UK? How do I change that?
I've since cycled my tank successfully with ammonia I picked up from a local store, I have heaps left so maybe I should sell it on ebay!
 
Thanks to the forum I am now confidently managing my little tank, Nigel my betta is the picture of health and I even started CO2 injection for my plants!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

If you edit your profile there should be a field somewhere that says something like "where are you located?" or something like that. Sorry I can't be more specific.