My First Ever Tank

[Pickle]

Hi guys, i thought i would share my experiances with my first tank and getting it ready to stock.
 
The tank is a 64 Ltr bow fronted tank from Pets at Home.I have already upgraded the filter to a Fluval U2.
 
So far i have added a rock and pot along with a few plants and moss balls.
 
Here is a pic from when it was blooming.
 

 
Today i had to remove that flat leaf plant that is behind the Java Fern on the left as it was turning to slime.
 
My testing kit arrived today so i did my first test (a week after setting it up) and got the following readings:
 
PH - 7.5
Amonia - 1.0 ppm
Nitrates - 5.0 ppm
Nitrite - 0.5ppm
 
Can anyone give me some feedback on these levels and what should i be doing next?

 

[Zikofski]

that is good levels are good, well done for doing a fish less cycle, in the process of doing mine as well but having mine is taking slow, you should do nothing until u see your ammonia drop to 0 once that happens add 3ppm of ammonia into the tank i presume that is what you had done before? your nitrates should rise and your nitrite should rise too. its waiting for the nitrite to drop to 0 thats the slow and annoying part haha good luck lovely looking tank btw

 

[Pickle]

I havnt added any amonia yet im assuming its coming from the plants and the odd dead leaf in the tank. Should i add amonia to bring it up to 3?

 

[kcoscia]

Love the look!

 

[Dandyman3]

Nice looking tank. What are you thinking of adding? Looking into shrimp's or particular fish? 
 
Where is your local Pets at Home? Mine had some Orange shrimp in the past week but I wasn't there someone told me about them, went to go have a look and they were gone. The guy who was working had no idea about them... 

 

[Pickle]

Im thinking of starting with some Tetras and maybe some Mollys. I do want some assassin snails and shrimps also,
 
Im lucky in that we have 3 or 4 P@H here in Liverpool so i can pick and choose lol.

 

[Pickle]

Latest pic after adding a few more plants. There seems to have been some growth on the originals which is good news. 
 
 

 
I am wondering if it would be ok to add a few snails or shrimp at this stage or should i wait for the cycle for them too?

 

[starlitsunrise]

Hi

I would say you should wait to finish the cycle. While snails could probably survive, it most likely wouldn't be good for them to be exposed to all of the ammonia/nitrites. 

Also, your tank looks beautiful, i'm jealous

 

[Pickle]

I added 1.26ml of ammonia 48 hours ago to bring the tank up to 3ppm as recommended. I noticed a little bit of a bloom yesterday and today's readings are as follows:
 
Amonia: 2ppm
Nitrates: 5ppm
Nitrites: 5ppm
 
Is this the spike i am looking for or is something not working properly.

 

[BettaBrightEyes]

I actually really like the look of the gravel, even though I'm not a "coloured-gravel" kind of person. I like my aquariums to look as natural as possible, but that being said, yours still looks great! You did a good job! The moss ball is a nice touch as well, I have several but I struggle with where to place them. Yours seems to blend in, it's all symmetrical. Good job for your first tank!