I Have The Tank - What Else?

[without_reason]

Today I bought a used Elite Style 60 aqurium.
Now I want to start my fishless cycle sometime this week or next week, and for this I shall buy the API Master freshwater testing kit.

But firstly should I buy a new filter? The one that came with my tank is the Hagan stingray filter and I've heard it's not very good?
Is the heater that came with the tank okay?

What else would I need with the tank, such as water treatments etc? Whilst I'm doing my fishless cycle.

Also, my tank came with blue gravel, which I don't like perticularly and some fake plants and fake bogwood. I would much rather have sand or at least more natural coloured gravels, but is it necessary to change to this before the fishless cycle? Or can I change it during?
Also the same with the fake plants and fake bogwood? Should I exchange them for real plants before I start the fishless cycle, or is it okay to do this during?

Sorry if there's too many questions.. I've never kept tropical fish before, and just want to make sure I'm doing things right as because I bought the tank used, there isn't an instruction manual or anything..

Thank you.

 

[alchemist]

Hi - Welcome to the forum!

Good choice on your test kit

From personal experience with the stringray filter - Yes - I would replace it now before you get started. Have a look at internal fluvals.
There is nothing particularly wrong with the filter - but you need to be aware that it uses zeolite and carbon in its cartridges - which need replacing on a regular basis. Zeolite removes ammonia, which is a good thing for your fish but an expensive thing for you. If you do a proper fishless cycle then you do not want the zeolite to interfere with your cycle and once you have a properly cycled filter - you will not need zeolite anyway.

There should be no reason to change the heater.

You will need to get some water dechlorinater to treat your tap water and remove chlorine.

It is a real pain to change the substrate once the water is in. So I would go ahead and get the sand / gravel now definitely get what you like before the fish go in - Argos do cheap childrens playsand.

Some people say that the raw ammonia you add during the fishless cycle can effect plants. Personally I think it is a good time to try things out - have a go at aquascaping and try out different things whilst you are waiting for the tank to cycle. You can always replace the plants.

Good luck!

 

[gaz gun man]

never used the filter so I cant comment, however;

I have found it alot easier to get the substrate right before having a tank full of water, but during a fishless cycle it dosent really matter which way round you do it. Mininimal amounts of beneficial bacteria live in the gravel anyway, so swapping it over mid-cycle wont disturb anything.

With plants - you can add them in cycle, but you'll have to have the lights on for 8 or so hours and dose with ferts for best growth - which can add unnecessary costs - I'd say the best way to do it would be to continue your fishless cycling, then when you've finished, add the plants and fert and carry on cycling for a week to strengthen the bacterica, do the big water change then add fish.

 

[without_reason]

Okay, I have looked at fluval filters and would the two plus be good in my tank?

Also, is play sand okay to use in aquariums? And which out of gravel or sand is cleaner? Or better for plants?

 

[gaz gun man]

yes the 2+ would be okay in your tank

and yep play sand is okay too in your tank. I believe gravel and sand are equally as good for growing plants, so it is really a matter of prefrence.

 

[Geoff1991]

Im fishless cycling the same tank.

Im using the same heater but i got a fluval 2+ filter.

Ive used playsand as substrate.

Heres a picture...

I hadnt finished planting it or anything then, looks quite bare. But you get the idea.

(Im too lazy to take another picture.)

It also looked like this before, just to give you some ideas as to what you can do.

 

[without_reason]

Ohh it looks nice Thank you for posting the pictures up.

So I shall need:
AVI master freshwater testing kit
Fluvel 2+ filter,
Declourinater,
Ammonia for the fishless cycling, and
Play sand.

Is this correct?

 

[arobinson1984]

Sounds to me, have you had a read through the fishless cycling guides in beginners section?

I too used to have the elite 60 tank and I wasn;t overly impressed with the stingray filter.

If I was you I'd replace it now before you start cycling, get an internal fluval 2+ they arent that expensive and are a good filter for tank that size

Andy

 

[waterdrop]

Lots of excellent advice in this thread. There are really two paths you can go down here. First, I agree completely with the others that you'll be doing yourself a favor replacing the filter now and figuring out the correct media choices for the new 2+. And your shopping list looks good.. do you have a simple glass thermometer?.. also syringes with milliliter markings are helpful for putting tank water in the test tubes and injecting right amount of ammonia into the tank, although this can also be figured out with teaspoons or whatever if you can't find syringes.

The two paths have to do with substrate and planting like Geoff's or the stark choice ala Gaz man. What will happen in your particular tank with your particular water (post up your tap results after practicing with your new test kit) is not very predictable. You may have no problem with algae or it may be a mess. Geoff obviously is having it go beautifully, with no visible algae in those pictures and enjoying a great tank to look at during fishless cycling. If I'm tallying right in my head, that's a little on the rare side here in the beginners section and more often we see lots of brown algae getting all in the substrate and digging its little tenacles into the plant leaves. Less light can help but its pretty hard to control with all that ammonia in there being a trigger for algae.

So the other path is what Gaz is describing and the most difficult thing is the social and aesthetic problem. You just cycle a "bare" tank, that's right, no substrate and no plants and its even ideal to tape black plastic all over the tank to keep any light out. The problem is usually that the rest of the family can't take this or even you, the cycler, will get pretty sick of the black box by the second month! But its a way to keep your sand pristine and to introduce plants after the ammonia levels have gone down, so it has significant advantages. Either way can work, so you just have to decide where you stand.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Geoff1991]

Lots of excellent advice in this thread. There are really two paths you can go down here. First, I agree completely with the others that you'll be doing yourself a favor replacing the filter now and figuring out the correct media choices for the new 2+. And your shopping list looks good.. do you have a simple glass thermometer?.. also syringes with milliliter markings are helpful for putting tank water in the test tubes and injecting right amount of ammonia into the tank, although this can also be figured out with teaspoons or whatever if you can't find syringes.

The two paths have to do with substrate and planting like Geoff's or the stark choice ala Gaz man. What will happen in your particular tank with your particular water (post up your tap results after practicing with your new test kit) is not very predictable. You may have no problem with algae or it may be a mess. Geoff obviously is having it go beautifully, with no visible algae in those pictures and enjoying a great tank to look at during fishless cycling. If I'm tallying right in my head, that's a little on the rare side here in the beginners section and more often we see lots of brown algae getting all in the substrate and digging its little tenacles into the plant leaves. Less light can help but its pretty hard to control with all that ammonia in there being a trigger for algae.

So the other path is what Gaz is describing and the most difficult thing is the social and aesthetic problem. You just cycle a "bare" tank, that's right, no substrate and no plants and its even ideal to tape black plastic all over the tank to keep any light out. The problem is usually that the rest of the family can't take this or even you, the cycler, will get pretty sick of the black box by the second month! But its a way to keep your sand pristine and to introduce plants after the ammonia levels have gone down, so it has significant advantages. Either way can work, so you just have to decide where you stand.

~~waterdrop~~

Yeah, its a fairly short cycle as i fish-in cycled for about a month before changing to sand a starting fishless. That may have something to do with it. Im getting quite good results as well, Im on my second week and im processing 5ppm of ammonia in just under 24 hours...

 

[without_reason]

Lots of excellent advice in this thread. There are really two paths you can go down here. First, I agree completely with the others that you'll be doing yourself a favor replacing the filter now and figuring out the correct media choices for the new 2+. And your shopping list looks good.. do you have a simple glass thermometer?.. also syringes with milliliter markings are helpful for putting tank water in the test tubes and injecting right amount of ammonia into the tank, although this can also be figured out with teaspoons or whatever if you can't find syringes.

The two paths have to do with substrate and planting like Geoff's or the stark choice ala Gaz man. What will happen in your particular tank with your particular water (post up your tap results after practicing with your new test kit) is not very predictable. You may have no problem with algae or it may be a mess. Geoff obviously is having it go beautifully, with no visible algae in those pictures and enjoying a great tank to look at during fishless cycling. If I'm tallying right in my head, that's a little on the rare side here in the beginners section and more often we see lots of brown algae getting all in the substrate and digging its little tenacles into the plant leaves. Less light can help but its pretty hard to control with all that ammonia in there being a trigger for algae.

So the other path is what Gaz is describing and the most difficult thing is the social and aesthetic problem. You just cycle a "bare" tank, that's right, no substrate and no plants and its even ideal to tape black plastic all over the tank to keep any light out. The problem is usually that the rest of the family can't take this or even you, the cycler, will get pretty sick of the black box by the second month! But its a way to keep your sand pristine and to introduce plants after the ammonia levels have gone down, so it has significant advantages. Either way can work, so you just have to decide where you stand.

~~waterdrop~~

I have already bought the fluvel 2+ and it's been dispatched so maybe it will get to me tomorrow same with the water testing kit
and I don't have a glass thermometer, but I shall add that along to my list of things to buy.

My mum works in a hospital so I shall ask her if she can get me a syringe from the hospital.

Hmm.. Well I plan to cycle my tank with just the substrate (sand or gravel.. still undecided, I'm terrible with decisions! ) and no plants/bogwood but add them at the end of the cycle. Would it cycle quicker without the substrate and with the black taped over the tank?

Also, how long does cycling take? And what happens if I go away on holiday?

 

[waterdrop]

Our threads are filled with talk of "speeding things up." Just reading those words enough times can make one think something fast is going on whem mostly its one of the slowest things you'll ever have to wait for!

It varies greatly (really mean that!) but since we have to say something, we usually say 3 to 6 weeks is a sort of average, if you include the cases where people managed to get mature media from somebody else and their numbers supply some of the 3-weekers. Its not uncommon for it to take 2 months and I've seen a fair number of cases where the big water change finally came somewhere between days 60 and 70.

Of course, what that really doesn't tell is that all during that time you are in a learning session here and asking all sorts of questions, reading all sorts of threads from other people and doing lots of research and planning about how to stock your tank. Stocking takes a lot of planning and back and forth interaction to learn if you want to do it well, so the long fishless cycle is really ideally a great learning time.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[without_reason]

Our threads are filled with talk of "speeding things up." Just reading those words enough times can make one think something fast is going on whem mostly its one of the slowest things you'll ever have to wait for!

It varies greatly (really mean that!) but since we have to say something, we usually say 3 to 6 weeks is a sort of average, if you include the cases where people managed to get mature media from somebody else and their numbers supply some of the 3-weekers. Its not uncommon for it to take 2 months and I've seen a fair number of cases where the big water change finally came somewhere between days 60 and 70.

Of course, what that really doesn't tell is that all during that time you are in a learning session here and asking all sorts of questions, reading all sorts of threads from other people and doing lots of research and planning about how to stock your tank. Stocking takes a lot of planning and back and forth interaction to learn if you want to do it well, so the long fishless cycle is really ideally a great learning time.

~~waterdrop~~

Ohh that's fine, it will be worth it if the fishes will be healthy
But my worry is that I may be going on holiday in a month or so for a couple of weeks. Should I leave the fishless cycling until then? Or would it be okay to carry on once I'm back?

I doubt my mum would carry on with the cycling whilst I'm gone

 

[waterdrop]

The very best option is indeed to be psyching someone up to be your "squirter person" and there can be various ways to entice them. Sometimes if you have them practice with you way early like this and then talk a fair amount about what's going on it can be surprising how they will come through for you. It pays to think about how much you can simplify it for them.

Now another thing people do if that doesn't work out is to just make up a mesh sack of prawns or fishfood to rot. Its not controlled but it may keep things going well enough that you can pick up and recover when you get back. But still the best is to convince a good mate to get into it with you and be willing to do it just like you do.

You've still got a month so you can still be working on finding mature media somewhere too.

~~waterdrop~~