ShrimplyTheBest
New Member
Hi all. Sorry in advance for the lengthy post, but I haven't documented our journey yet, so I am including a lot of details.
TLDR is we are a family of 4 getting into the hobby. Currently have a 10 gallon planted tank with 7 neon tetra, 5 zebra danio, 2 gold mystery snails, and 1 nerite snail. Currently have a 20 gallon and a 53 gallon in a fishless cycle. Got plans to get some more fish and snails, and of course I am dying to get myself some cherry shrimp.
We are a family of 4 (dad, mom, son-[5 years old this month], daughter-age1) that is just getting into the hobby. My son became obsessed with fish and wanted a fish tank, so we made him earn one with good behavior and learning to read over the summer. We counted out 300 pebbles of gravel and found an appropriately sized vase that would be close to full when all the pebbles were added. He earned pebbles for completing his daily tasks, as well as reading his beginner's "learn to read" books. We also started playing a math game where we ask him simple math problems (what's 6 plus 2?) and had him retrieve the correct numbers. It motivated him extremely well and he earned his aquarium in only a couple of months. It was kind of amazing to watch him progress so rapidly, and I'm a bit sad that this major motivator is gone.
We got gifted a 10 gallon with accessories from a family member, and I built a stand out of left over 2x4. We set it up, got some plants and used filter media from a friend, and let the tank sit fully set up and running for a few weeks until he "officially" hit his goal and earned a fish tank. We thought the tank was cycled - we had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and very low nitrates. In retrospect I believe the media we moved over was fully cycled, but could only handle an extremely low bio-load, and we also never added ammonia to induce cycling and beef up bacteria numbers (just assumed used filter media would handle it).
We added livestock (7 neon tetra, 2 gold mystery snails, and 1 nerite snail) and instantly our ammonia jumped to 0.5 ppm, nitrite to 0.25 ppm, and nitrates to 5 ppm. One of the tetra died later that night, and we went into panic mode. We treated the water with seachem prime in an attempt to make the ammonia and nitrites less harmful. We also started adding seachem stability daily to introduce live bacteria. And of course performed frequent water changes. The ammonia and nitrite levels stayed the same for the next 4 days, but sadly we lost 6/7 of the tetra.
On the 5th day we dosed with Tetra Safe. Ammonia rose to 1 ppm, but then dropped down to zero 8 days later. Nitrites rose to 2 ppm, but dropped down to zero by day 11. We kept up dosing with prime and doing water changes to keep levels low, but it was rising so fast it was impossible to stay ahead of. Thankfully our 1 tetra and 3 snails all pulled through the fish/snail-in cycle.
Now with ammonia and nitrites finally reading zero we decided it was time to get more neon tetra, so we added 6 more. We thought about only adding a few so as not to shock the tank with increasing the bioload so quickly, but decided it would be less stressful overall to just get them all. The next day ammonia and nitrites were both at 0.25 ppm! &@*#! Thankfully we only had detectable levels for 3 days, and they never got above 0.25 ppm. Finally our tank was cycled, like for real super serious this time (I still test nearly daily and have never detected ammonia or nitrites after this point). We waited another 2 weeks after being fully cycled and added 6 zebra danio. One of the danios died within a day, but he was a runt and I don't believe it had anything to do with our tank parameters. It's been nearly a month since adding the danios and everything in the tank seems pretty healthy and happy.
I wish I had researched more about the nitrogen cycle and the importance of cycling before we got any livestock. I was aware of cycling, but really underestimated the significance of it. If I could redo it I would certainly do it differently without livestock, but our mistakes kind of forced us to complete with fish in. We did gain a lot of experience in a short period of time as well.
When I get into something I tend to be obsessive and go overboard. And I am now far more interested in the hobby than my son, even though I was reluctant to even start. So of course I immediately start trawling craigslist, facebook, and freecycle looking for deals. $20 later and I have acquired:
65 gallon tank with weir and 2 drilled holes (may be a future salt water setup?)
53 gallon tank with lid and stand.
53 gallon tank with lid
20 gallon tank with lid, light, heater, gravel, HOB
5.5 gallon with lid, light, heater, HOB, thermometer, net, food, gravel
5.5 gallon with lid, light, heater, HOB, thermometer, net
Not bad acquiring 8 total tanks for $20. Of course we have ended up buying substrate, new plants, decorations, heaters, air pumps, a siphon, sponge filters, medicine, chemicals, test supplies, etc. to the tune of several hundred dollars. I still think we are doing well considering the stock of aquariums and supplies we now have.
We have the 20 gallon and one of the 53 gallons set up and currently doing a fishless cycle using dr tim's ammonia. I want to breed some mystery snails and have hordes of them in my 53 gallon. I find snails super fascinating. I also am dying to get a self sustaining colony of red cherry shrimp going, probably in the established 10 gallon. I am waiting until all the tanks are cycled so we can move some of the fish, and also ensure the parameters of the 10 gallon are nice and stable for the shrimp. As excited as I am to get shrimp, I want to ensure success.
I'd like to move the danios and neon tetras out of the 10 gallon, and get a few more of each so they have larger schools. DW wants to get some harlequin rasboras. Beyond that we don't have too many plans. We will try that out first and then decide what other livestock we want.
Plants we have:
Water lettuce
duckweed
hornwort
guppy grass
sword? of some kind
java fern
java moss
ludwigia repens
ludwigia triple red
caroliniana bacopa
TLDR is we are a family of 4 getting into the hobby. Currently have a 10 gallon planted tank with 7 neon tetra, 5 zebra danio, 2 gold mystery snails, and 1 nerite snail. Currently have a 20 gallon and a 53 gallon in a fishless cycle. Got plans to get some more fish and snails, and of course I am dying to get myself some cherry shrimp.
We are a family of 4 (dad, mom, son-[5 years old this month], daughter-age1) that is just getting into the hobby. My son became obsessed with fish and wanted a fish tank, so we made him earn one with good behavior and learning to read over the summer. We counted out 300 pebbles of gravel and found an appropriately sized vase that would be close to full when all the pebbles were added. He earned pebbles for completing his daily tasks, as well as reading his beginner's "learn to read" books. We also started playing a math game where we ask him simple math problems (what's 6 plus 2?) and had him retrieve the correct numbers. It motivated him extremely well and he earned his aquarium in only a couple of months. It was kind of amazing to watch him progress so rapidly, and I'm a bit sad that this major motivator is gone.
We got gifted a 10 gallon with accessories from a family member, and I built a stand out of left over 2x4. We set it up, got some plants and used filter media from a friend, and let the tank sit fully set up and running for a few weeks until he "officially" hit his goal and earned a fish tank. We thought the tank was cycled - we had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and very low nitrates. In retrospect I believe the media we moved over was fully cycled, but could only handle an extremely low bio-load, and we also never added ammonia to induce cycling and beef up bacteria numbers (just assumed used filter media would handle it).
We added livestock (7 neon tetra, 2 gold mystery snails, and 1 nerite snail) and instantly our ammonia jumped to 0.5 ppm, nitrite to 0.25 ppm, and nitrates to 5 ppm. One of the tetra died later that night, and we went into panic mode. We treated the water with seachem prime in an attempt to make the ammonia and nitrites less harmful. We also started adding seachem stability daily to introduce live bacteria. And of course performed frequent water changes. The ammonia and nitrite levels stayed the same for the next 4 days, but sadly we lost 6/7 of the tetra.
On the 5th day we dosed with Tetra Safe. Ammonia rose to 1 ppm, but then dropped down to zero 8 days later. Nitrites rose to 2 ppm, but dropped down to zero by day 11. We kept up dosing with prime and doing water changes to keep levels low, but it was rising so fast it was impossible to stay ahead of. Thankfully our 1 tetra and 3 snails all pulled through the fish/snail-in cycle.
Now with ammonia and nitrites finally reading zero we decided it was time to get more neon tetra, so we added 6 more. We thought about only adding a few so as not to shock the tank with increasing the bioload so quickly, but decided it would be less stressful overall to just get them all. The next day ammonia and nitrites were both at 0.25 ppm! &@*#! Thankfully we only had detectable levels for 3 days, and they never got above 0.25 ppm. Finally our tank was cycled, like for real super serious this time (I still test nearly daily and have never detected ammonia or nitrites after this point). We waited another 2 weeks after being fully cycled and added 6 zebra danio. One of the danios died within a day, but he was a runt and I don't believe it had anything to do with our tank parameters. It's been nearly a month since adding the danios and everything in the tank seems pretty healthy and happy.
I wish I had researched more about the nitrogen cycle and the importance of cycling before we got any livestock. I was aware of cycling, but really underestimated the significance of it. If I could redo it I would certainly do it differently without livestock, but our mistakes kind of forced us to complete with fish in. We did gain a lot of experience in a short period of time as well.
When I get into something I tend to be obsessive and go overboard. And I am now far more interested in the hobby than my son, even though I was reluctant to even start. So of course I immediately start trawling craigslist, facebook, and freecycle looking for deals. $20 later and I have acquired:
65 gallon tank with weir and 2 drilled holes (may be a future salt water setup?)
53 gallon tank with lid and stand.
53 gallon tank with lid
20 gallon tank with lid, light, heater, gravel, HOB
5.5 gallon with lid, light, heater, HOB, thermometer, net, food, gravel
5.5 gallon with lid, light, heater, HOB, thermometer, net
Not bad acquiring 8 total tanks for $20. Of course we have ended up buying substrate, new plants, decorations, heaters, air pumps, a siphon, sponge filters, medicine, chemicals, test supplies, etc. to the tune of several hundred dollars. I still think we are doing well considering the stock of aquariums and supplies we now have.
We have the 20 gallon and one of the 53 gallons set up and currently doing a fishless cycle using dr tim's ammonia. I want to breed some mystery snails and have hordes of them in my 53 gallon. I find snails super fascinating. I also am dying to get a self sustaining colony of red cherry shrimp going, probably in the established 10 gallon. I am waiting until all the tanks are cycled so we can move some of the fish, and also ensure the parameters of the 10 gallon are nice and stable for the shrimp. As excited as I am to get shrimp, I want to ensure success.
I'd like to move the danios and neon tetras out of the 10 gallon, and get a few more of each so they have larger schools. DW wants to get some harlequin rasboras. Beyond that we don't have too many plans. We will try that out first and then decide what other livestock we want.
Plants we have:
Water lettuce
duckweed
hornwort
guppy grass
sword? of some kind
java fern
java moss
ludwigia repens
ludwigia triple red
caroliniana bacopa
