Is My Tank Cycling? Noob To The Hobby - I've Also Read The "re

Baccus said:
The other thing I forget to mention with using zip ties (cable ties) is that once the plant naturally attaches to what ever you had it tied to you can usually then remove the zip ties. It might take a few months to be certain the plant is well attached by its own roots, but worth it in the end. It is also possible to make "trees" with your attached plants if the wood is a branch with different lengths, just stagger the heights off the plants your attaching.
One thing I have learnt that almost no plant (except pest algae) will attach to is anything plastic, so any plastic ornaments live plants just wont cling to, but put them on natural things like rock and logs and watch them thrive.
 
This anubius has only fairly recently been attached to this piece of timber, you should be able to see the zip tie.

 
 
This anubius has been attached to the rock for ages now and no longer needed its zip tie.

 
The only thing I would warn about using zip tie (cable ties) is don't do the tie up so tight that you squeeze the stem of the plant to death or damage it. Only do the zip tie up tight enough to stablise and secure the plant where you want it. Just remember to be creative and artistic, have fun with your plant attachments.
 
As for stocking your tank, the size/ volume of the tank will be your main issues, active shoalers need room to move while larger sedate fish could just end up too big in the long run. A group of around 5 male (and ONLY male) guppies can look very nice and they will still be very interactive with each other although you will see at least one male that will end up being bullied by the other males. That is just natural heirachy behaviour and would be a hundred times worse if females where present. Another option and generally slightly smaller is Endlers. I fell in love with blackbar endlers the first time I saw them, the electric colours where amazing. It can be hard to find pure endlers since they hybridise readily with guppies, but once again a group of 5 or 7 males would be very pretty.
I see threadfin rainbows have been suggested, and a stunning fish they are, but there are small species of Blue Eye that are suited to hard water too and they could also be well worth keeping an eye out for.
I have seen where Siamese Fighters have been suggested for hard water ( I have always considered them more soft acidic with plenty of tannins) a soriety of females may work for you in the tank. I kept a soriety of females at one point and they did not disappoint and just as beautiful and full of character as their male counter parts.
Thank you :) the cable tie idea is such a good one. Will do that at some point this week. I'm going to keep one anubias part buried. I kinda like the way it looks - almost like a trunk of roots.

Fish wise, I've decided now that I'm going to have either red cherry or ghost shrimp once the tank has established. The hard bit is what I fill the top portion with. In reality I know I should go for easy, Hardy fish. Otherwise I'm going to be put off too easily. Male endlers or male guppies sound nice for some colour - my LFS has some particular colour strains on both which are unbelievable.


I just then have room for maybe 5inches more of fish... I'm then just lost
 
I'm a happy boy this morning :) cycling wise, the results are still showing the same :( But, my anubias's are looking much nicer since raising them out of the substrate a little. My weird sword thing has some baby leaves/stems or whatever you'd call it. I've got tiny little bits of 'grass' popping up around the grassland things at the front. And the grassy/leafy things at the back are also growing new shoots :D
 
The key with anubias and java fern is that their rhizome (looks like a horizontal green stem) MUST be out of the substrate and in the water flow.  If not, the rhizome will rot and the plant will die.   You can bury the brown stringy 'roots', though I think they are called something else, anchor/holdfast or something like that... not sure.  But the rhizome CANNOT be buried.  
 
I've had anubias plants that went through the ringer of an algae epidemic that I just couldn't get in front of.  Eventually, I just removed EVERYTHING from those plants, except the rhizome.  And a few days later... out shot new leaves.  Amazingly hardy plants, as long as the rhizome is happy.  
 
I've also taken the rhizome and attached it to a piece of slate.  Place the slate on top of the substrate and kicked (gently) just a little substrate over the edges of the slate.  Looks 'planted' but the plant is still happy as can be.  Can't tell you how many 'plantlets' that java fern threw out at me over the years.  Dozens and dozens.  Maybe not into the hundreds, but more than 50.   Eventually, that 'mother plant' got so bushy itself that I had to remove it and cut it into smaller sections.  And mind you... this was all 'LOW TECH'.   No fancy light, no fertilizer of any sort, no fussing with the plant.  Just removing the leaves with plantlets attached once I was satisfied that they were 'big enough' to grow on their own.   When the biggest leaf on the plantlet got to about an inch long or so.
 
Thanks for that tip :D i guess this was a mistake of mine. Im sure therell be more to come :(


After a few days of nitrites off thr charts i wake up today and theyre down to 1ppm :D
 
eaglesaquarium said:
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 Progress
 
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Made me think of this :
 

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From calvin & Hobbes (one of my favourites :) )
 
Gotta love a good calvin and hobbes reference.

Also, i feel like ive made this cycling process far more of a rollercoaster than necessary xD almost warranting a journal post haha
 
marnold00 said:
Gotta love a good calvin and hobbes reference.

Also, i feel like ive made this cycling process far more of a rollercoaster than necessary xD almost warranting a journal post haha
That may be true.  Many folks actually go through that as they learn about the nitrogen cycle.  Doing it once though teaches you such a great lesson, that you rarely struggle with it again.  
 
So, if someday you are looking to start a new tank, you can clone your current colony by putting some media, maybe a bit of substrate, etc. into the new tank, and dose as you would to start the cycle.  The difference is that you WOULDN'T wait and would start testing after 24 hours to track how well the seeding helped move things along.  
 
Well this hobby is ticking the box of giving me something to do and learn about outside of work...
 
marnold00 said:
Well this hobby is ticking the box of giving me something to do and learn about outside of work...
 
Well, the good news for you is that that box will remain ticked for quite a while.  There's seemingly a limitless number of things.  Different species of fish, different species of plants, different biotopes you could recreate, breeding...  And then there's the whole 'dark side' of being an aquarist.  :lol:   (It's just marine.  Affectionately called the dark side.)  Oh... and then there's brackish!
 
 
Freshwater offerings:
Biotopes (African Rift Valley lakes, Amazonian tributaries, Southeast Asian, etc.)
Plants, plants and more plants.
Breeding programs.
 
Marine:
FOWLR - Fish only with Live Rock
Complete Reef system
Coral propogation
Inverts
Macroalgae
 
 
Brackish:
Species - Mollies, puffers, archer fish, etc.
 
So i need my current tank (gotta keep your first), a fry tank, a large freshwater tank for big community fish, carnivorous tank, brackish tank, a few speciality tanks, a micro marine tank, and a huuuuuuge marine tank...

Oh and a betta tank and a shrimp tank.


Im gonna need a bigger house...
 
that's basically MTS.  
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A buddy of mine has a 350 G marine.  He would have gotten a 425G but it wouldn't fit through his door, the 350G was as big as he could go.  He literally bought a house that could handle his 'fish room'.  He has a 100+G as a sump/refugium on his 350G marine... and countless smaller tanks placed around.  
 
Yessss ive already had someone tell me over private message that they think in gonna have MTS... haha


Well. The unthinkable happened this morning. The nitrite test stayed a lovely sky blue colour!
 
:)
 
Thats part of the hugely rewarding aspect of being a fish keeper, finding rewards in doing successful fishless cycles is a good one, that feeling of satisfaction and learning abotu how the notrogen cycle works does indeed help a LOT when it comes to future tanks and what is acheveable.
 
MTS on the other hand is a curse and a blessing, blessing in getting these fish you really want, curse as in lack of space, cash and sanity :lol:
 
I think a LOT of us is guilty of MTS at one point or the other, I certainly am with currently 3 tanks running, I'd have more but due to space am unable to do so but have plans in my mind for when we plan move house :devil:
 
 
And as for that sky blue colour of nitrite, not much beats that ;)
 
marnold00 said:
Yessss ive already had someone tell me over private message that they think in gonna have MTS... haha


Well. The unthinkable happened this morning. The nitrite test stayed a lovely sky blue colour!
 
Awesome!  Congrats.  Let the MTS begin!!! :lol:
 

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