New To The Forum.

[car.crash]

hi guys ive recently got myself a aqua one evo 120 tank and have just added substarate and water. the filter is up and running and the plants are in. im going to leave it a week or so and test my water again and look forward to having some fish in there when the water quality is right.
the tank is used as is my filter and media so hopefully it will help get the tank established faster, i also added some water treatment in.
i look forward to getting some bogwood and decorating it as it looks bland right now.

 

[ZoddyZod]

welcome to the forum, it's a great place for advice.....especially when you are starting!

I recommend a good read of our beginners section, particularly the section about 'cycling'. This topic is VERY important!

 

[mattlee]

hi and welcome to the forum.

take a look in the cycling section of the forum as this is what you will need to do before adding any fish. even though the filters and tank are used, and will have had bacteria needed to keep the tank stable, if they have been left to dry out or even kept wet and not had an ammonia supply then they will be as good as a new filter with no bacteria im affraid.

the ammonia supply will have come from the fish when the tank was set up prior to your purchase which will have kept it cycled, but no fish = no ammonia supply and the bacteria needed will die off as they grow to the levels of ammonia in your tank water. reading and understanding the nitrogen cucle will be a great help too before you get started

it looks a decent size tank and while the tank is cycling you will have the choice of thousands of fish to add into it so research and ask away with any questions regarding compatability, aggresiveness etc etc of different species as we are all here to help

but please dont listen to the shop about leaving the water in the tank for a week as this will be no different from the day after it was put in. they will just try to sell you fish that will probably end up dead due to ammonia poisoning, if not dead then ill. its a big money making scheme by the shops to sell you more fish, medicins and water treatments. all you need is a good water dechlorinator and an ammonia supply, try boots they sell it in litre bottles

 

[car.crash]

thanks for the heads up guys . i want to do this right so a cycle sounds best.
i have done some water tests so far but if im honest i dont quite understand the results.

day one

day 2 today

ammonia today

 

[mattlee]

for better results it may be as well to buy a liquid based kit rather than a strip test. the API freshwater master kit is a decent kit and can be found cheapest on ebay

at your stage a good test kit is invaluable

 

[car.crash]

whats wrong with what i have?

 

[mattlee]

the test strips are known to be harder to read and less accurate than the liquid test kits.

the liquid kits are about £16 but do about 800 test, i think...

its not essential but you will be doing plenty of tests on the water daily so you know what stage your at in the cycle.

 

[car.crash]

i cant seem to find anywhere that sells this stupid ammonia .

i may have to pee in the tank.

 

[Salam]

i cant seem to find anywhere that sells this stupid ammonia .

i may have to pee in the tank.

Are you in the UK? Homebase and Nisa have ammonia that is suitable.

 

[car.crash]

ok so i found some ammonia and added 11ml to my 230 litres of water. done a quick ammonia check and came back with this.

where do i go from here??

 

[Salam]

Have you checked the fish-less cycling thread in the resource centre? Basically, if your media is mature enough (did you say it was all in use previously?!) this amount of ammonia should be processed to 0 within 24 hours. Nitrites should also go down to 0 in that time. If there are no bacteria in the filter media at all you have to test daily. Once it is close to 0 again (probably within a week), you dose more ammonia. This will be going on for a few weeks, so yes have a look at the resource centre it describes it all in detail. Very easy and straightforward.

 

[car.crash]

it is used media but has been dry for 24 hours so i was advised its all dead. the tank was in use but that also sat dry for over 24 hours. i got some plants from the local shop so maybe they may have some on the leaves but i doubt its enough to kick start a 230 litre tank.

 

[car.crash]

the tank is now starting to go cloudy, i guess this is the bacteria blooming??

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Yep, it'll go away on it's own in a few days

 

[car.crash]

so i did another ammonia test today day 2, and its looing around 4-5ppm on the chart, its a little less than yesterday. what do i do now?