New Tank Advice Please

[J-Bird]

I screwed up and bought too small of tank (3.5 gallons) it was unfiltered and i proceeded to get some neon tetras (4 of them) and 1 of them die about an 3-4 hours after i got them. Took him back and my water was good so i got a replacement and bought 2 more because they like to be in groups of 6 or more. Well 1 week later 1 more had died and they didn't look so good after doing 2 water changes in the week and signing up on here i realized i needed something better. So i went out and bought a 29 gallon tank with a heater and filter and got it all set up on saturday. I filled it with hot water about 90 degrees and added some Cycle bateria adder chemicals and some amonia to get the new tank up and running.

Well sunday rolls around and the fish in the small tank aren't doing so well so i test the amonia in the bigger tank and its at .25 ppm and i decided that the fish would be better in the bigger tank then in the smaller tank so i turn off the heater and wait for the temperature in the bigger tank to get down to room temperature. Added the 5 remaining fish to the bigger tank in the proper method and quicly one of them died (he wasn't doing so good). Got home from work on monday and the 4 remaining fish seem to doing alot better now, swiming around more and their color is alot better too. Well i woke up today tuesday morning and tested the amonia and its about 1 ppm now.

Is there anything i should be doing to help speed up the cycle process that won't harm the fish?

How often should i be doing water changes and at what % to keep the amonia levels down and will the reduced amount of amonia and nitrite in the tank slow down the growth of the benifical bacteria?

Thanks for ur help.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Try to keep the ammonia below .25 ppm, and nitrIte below .25 ppm. I can't give you a number of water changes since that depends a lot on how much waste the fish are producing, how much you are feeding them etc. Same goes for %...if it's .50 ppm then you'd have to do 50%...if it's a larger number than .50 ppm I'd do a series of smaller water changes. I had to do 2 water changes per day when I was fishy cycling...and unfortunately neons are not the most hardy of fish.

 

[J-Bird]

Update. Did 2 water changes of about 35% yesterday and tested the water again today at about noon and the amonia levels r down to 0-.25 ppm now.

 

[backtotropical]

Update. Did 2 water changes of about 35% yesterday and tested the water again today at about noon and the amonia levels r down to 0-.25 ppm now.

Nice one . Now monitor the levels carefully and try to keep it <.25ppm! Water changes as required.

 

[J-Bird]

2 days after the 2 water changes and the levels of amonia are still appear to be at the .25 ppm. Went out and bought a Nitrite tester tonight and after testing it the Nitrite in the tank is still at 0 ppm. I am plannng to get another couple buckets of water ready before i go to work tomorrow so i can do another 35% water change tomorrow evening.

Are my 3 little neon tetras in the 29 gallon tank just not producing enough amonia to show any significant increased levels of amonia in the tank? Or is the Cycle bacteria adding stuff i added to the tank working already to remove the Amonia and Nitrite?

I am giving then about 4 granuls of Nutrafin Max Complete Micro Granuals for small fish per fish twice a day is this enough food for them for should i be giving them more? Or less?

 

[J-Bird]

Also as for stocking i was thinking of once the tank is running good picking up another 5 neon tetras to bring the neon tetra total to 8 and then after another couple more weeks picking up 8 glow light tetras.

Is that an acceptable level of stocking for an averagly filtered 29 gallon tank?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

It's possible that your neons aren't producing much waste (they are very small fish after all).

Most of us are very doubtful that Cycle contains the bacteria needed for aquariums because aquarium bacteria is too sensitive to heat, and needs to be fed too much to survive in standard storage conditions.

As for how much you've been feeding them...if they gobble it up in less than a minute then it should be okay.

As for stocking levels...16 tetras would be fine, and you could in my opinion get away with a group of small species cories.

 

[Fish2u]

Hey J-Bird,
HOW ABOUT SOME BIO-SPIRA ? (it is a cycle aid)

 

[J-Bird]

It's possible that your neons aren't producing much waste (they are very small fish after all).

As for stocking levels...16 tetras would be fine, and you could in my opinion get away with a group of small species cories.

I'm guessing thats y the amonia levels haven't increased yet is simply because they haven't been producing enough waste.

It the neon tetras and the glow light tetras school together? Will a group of Cories tend to make the tetras stay more in a group. Right now the 3 neons get along great but the also spend alot of time swimming around alone and i would like them to stick together a little more. Its a little easier to keep track of them