New Tropical Tank

[Phil Crane]

just done my ph test and it was at 7.0 now as far as im aware thats perfect for housing tropical fish also with a nice temprature of 24 all my plant life is in also have added 2 wooden reef type ornaments and 2 coral reef ornaments which were all out of my brothers tank so there used to the tropical conditions already and should be housing some bacteria im presuming

 

[white9870]

you need more than a ph test, you need to test the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and using ornaments wont really have much bacteria on it, if any at all, you would need a part of some filter media as that is where nearly all the bacteria would be. so before even thinking about fish, you need a liquid test kit (not the paper strips) and you need to do a fishless cycle (which involves adding some household ammonia to the tank, which you should know now as you have been told by many to read up on) which should take around 4-6weeks to complete

 

[mike455555]

or you could do a fish in cycle as that would produce ammonia (one or 2 small hardy fish)

 

[white9870]

well no one on here would actualy recomend in doing a fish-in-cycle as it is very damaging to the fish in the long run and will end up killing then eventualy, nearly everyone would say to do a fishless cycle as it is the safest and no fish are casued any suffering from high ammonia levels

 

[mike455555]

true true... iv only ever done fish in cycles...(besides one) but thats just personal ... i prefer something to look at for 4 weeks or so... while it cycles everyone on here uses house hold ammonia as well.. but afew flakes of fish food will produce ammonia as well (although not measurable it still starts the cycle)

 

[white9870]

you mite have something to look at for 4 weeks, but in them 4 weeks the high ammonia levels would be damaging the fishes healh alot, and i done it using the fish food way and it worked for me, i done it that way as i could not find any bottled ammonia at the time

 

[Phil Crane]

well ive been using the chlorine kit and the bactaria kit since i started it up about a week ago

 

[mike455555]

the bacteria kits dont work... there a con... there in a bottle with no supply of food for however long? they are most likey to be dead ...my ammonia Has not ever pasted 0.25ppm in a cycle... so its not that bad. if you do water changes fairly often

 

[white9870]

well all the chlorine kit does is remove chlorine from the water, it does nothing for the bacteria, and as for the bacteria in the bottle, you may aswell shelve it as it doesnt halp in anyway, bacteria needs moving runing water with ammonia sorce to survive, which you dont get in a bottle, so for just running the tank for a week would of done nothing im affraid

 

[mike455555]

best thing you can do is supply the tank with ammonia and maybe squeeze some of your bro's filter pads in your tank - to give it a kick start on bacteria

 

[white9870]

i agree with mike. when was you planing on adding fish?

 

[mike455555]

i agree with mike. when was you planing on adding fish?

*cough* could add 1 today to supply ammonia and do a water change every other day (1 fish in about 150L of water wont get ammonia levels high enough to kill it or have bad effects on it) water changes will prevent a massive build up

 

[minnnt]

I'm sorry but anyone considering doing a fish in cycle after finding this site and reading all the advice and info haven't got their fish's welfare at heart and doesn't deserve to keep them.

The comment regarding having something to look at for 4 weeks whilst cycling is outrageous! that is 4 weeks of being exposed to ammonia which is highly toxic and potentially lethal.

A very poor attitude towards fish keeping!

OP, you won't be able to keep more than one red tail shark in a tank due to aggression and them being territorial.

Please read all the beginers guides on this site and please keep your fish's welfare as your number 1 priority.

 

[mike455555]

I'm sorry but anyone considering doing a fish in cycle after finding this site and reading all the advice and info haven't got their fish's welfare at heart and doesn't deserve to keep them.

The comment regarding having something to look at for 4 weeks whilst cycling is outrageous! that is 4 weeks of being exposed to ammonia which is highly toxic and potentially lethal.

A very poor attitude towards fish keeping!

... im not going to do the maths but 1 fish in 150L would not produce enough ammonia to harm it in anyway... i doubt over 3 days that the conc of ammonia wouldn't hardly rise above 0.10ppm (at a guess , like iv said iv not done the maths) ... yes ammonia is poisonous to fish but in next to nothing concentrations its not going to impose a danger to the fishes health after 2 or 3 day's there would be a reduce in the conc of ammonia because of a water change ... naturally in the wild fish are going to have some fluctuation in the conc's of there environment... i agree in a small tank fish in cycles arint good because it would have a higher conc of ammonia but in a 4F tank its going to be so widly desperesed the fish wont even notice it

its not a poor attitude to fish keeping its logic and chemistry. a 4F tank would be fine to cycle with 1 small fish without any harm to the fish

 

[minnnt]

It's not logic at all... It's unthoughful. ANY ammonia present in a tank will have an effect on fish whether it be a slight irritation or full on ammonia burn. Why expose a fish to this just because you can't wait for it to cycle properly?

Fish in cycles work, and work very well, but anyone choosing this option AFTER they have found one of the best sources of information regarding fish care, needs their heads looking at! Fish in cycles require alot of work, water changes most days, not knowing how much ammonia is going into the tank, unstable nitrites and nitrates, lethal levels of all poisoning fish etc.

Fish-less cycles are much more reliable as you can control what is being added to the tank, and if it goes wrong then you won't kill any fish or throw any money down the drain... You can give maximum thought and do as much research as you need to regarding what fish work, what they need, how they behave etc. You can also scape the tank how you want (apart from plants) and get it perfect. There is plenty to do and read whilst the tank is cycling.