On The 7th Day........i'm Thinking Of Throwing In The Towel

[fishman3]

feels pretty lonely at times or loney as our friends from across the pond will prob point out later

You just couldn't resist...lol

-FHM

hahahahaha you know i have nothing but respect for y'all.........

 

[Christi_22]

Ahh ok. Must admit didn't read the thread in its entirety. (sorry). Also lost a bit on the Loney/Lonely bit lol.

On another note, I believe washing plants in warm salty water gets rid of unwelcomes. especially snails. (not soaking in a bleach solution as someone recently advised me) Although that may be good just don't want to try it)???

 

[fatheadminnow]

feels pretty lonely at times or loney as our friends from across the pond will prob point out later

You just couldn't resist...lol

-FHM

hahahahaha you know i have nothing but respect for y'all.........

One big happy fish fanatic family!

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

 

[fishman3]

Right guys I did another 3 days of testing and monitoring and concluded that the Nitrite blip must have been something i did wrong i.e test kit or tap water or something because the tank was taking 5/6ppm of ammonia back to 0 in less than 12 hours with the associated nitrites in the same period. MY nitrates were going up and up and up every day and so i thought this is it its time for fish.....

Now dont shout at me for not waiting for a whole week again for my qualification week as I was prepared to run the risk for 4 days early after already completing 6 days of my previous qualifying week..........

So meet my inhabitants....

3 amano shrimp
6 rummy nose tetra
4 serpae tetra
4 peppered corys
2 honey gouramis (male and female pair hopefully!)
6 guppies (4 female 2 male)
2 red dalmation molly's (male and female pair)

Using the inch per gallon rule i know that I am over however a more complex calculation relating to biomass of the fish and filtration etc on thinkfish.com said that I could have upto 196cm of fish in my tank. I asked the question on here whether this was indeed the case and was given the answer that thinkfish was highly inaccurate based on, from what I can gather, was a personal opinion. I listened to the advice offered that as the tank matures i could go upto 1.5 - 2 inch of fish per gallon but not over and decided that having put in all the work to cycle the tank and ensure the water quality is exceptional I would now enjoy the fruits of my labour and stock my tank.

Now taking a pragmatic approach to the thinkfish situation and the advice given on here I reduced the size of my tank and declared filtration method so as to build in a factor of confidence (based on peoples opinions on these boards) I arrived at 115cm which is about the stock level here (minus the shrimp).

I will not be letting my hard work go to waste or indded putting the fish in an uncomfortable situation and will be doing 25% water changes every couple of days (with gravel vacs) for the first couple of weeks as I have less hardy (rummy nose) fish in there that I want to ensure get the best possible start.

I have been doing 2 checks per day on the water stats friday night (added 1st fish friday afternoon), sat morning, sat night (added 2nd fish sat afternoon), sun morning, sun night and this morning I have fed them once since adding them and have no traces of nitrites a slight tinge of ammonia detectable to a trained eye but not enough to turn the pale yellow to any sort of green. I have done 1 25% water change and will complete another tonight / tomorrow.

The rummy nose tetra lost all their colour on the ride home from the lfs but after 24 hours in the tank they are bright red beacons of success!!!

Obviously I welcome your opinions positive or negative if you feel i have done to much too quickly etc then i dont mind you discussing after all i have found out on here that there are so many opinions on basic things such as heaters, filters, water changes etc that i think in the end its what works for you. I

dont believe that I have put the fish at risk with my actions but as always I welcome your thoughts guys...


Phil

 

[fatheadminnow]

Looks like things are moving in a positive direction for you! Way to go!

The 1 inch of fish per 1 us gallon is more or less a guide, and once your tank becomes more established and mature, you will be able to exceed that to 1.5-2 inch of fish per 1 us gallon as you mentioned.

Make sure your water parameters stay good, just because tetras can not handle much if the water parameters go bad.

Tetras should not really be added to a freshly cycled tank, but if your parameters are spot-on, stay up on water changes, you should be just fine!

Well done!
-FHM

 

[fishman3]

Looks like things are moving in a positive direction for you! Way to go!

The 1 inch of fish per 1 us gallon is more or less a guide, and once your tank becomes more established and mature, you will be able to exceed that to 1.5-2 inch of fish per 1 us gallon as you mentioned.

Make sure your water parameters stay good, just because tetras can not handle much if the water parameters go bad.

Tetras should not really be added to a freshly cycled tank, but if your parameters are spot-on, stay up on water changes, you should be just fine!

Well done!
-FHM

Thanks FHM much appreciated.......

I am delighted to finally be watching them and seeing how they all interact (I am keeping a close eye on the serpae's as i didn't realise they were nippy and i could have a problem - however they shoal well with the RN tetras and seem to be ok!). I am pleased that I got some shrimp as well as they have done a lot of cleaning and are quite funny to watch! my opinion of them has definately changed!

Anyway thanks for all your help and guidance in getting me this far and I will post some pics soon....!

Phil

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yay, glad to see you've got yourself some fishies..... remind me of your tank size and I'll comment on the stocking level!

serpae's should be fine in a new tank, rummy's can be a bit risky. it's not all tetra's that can't go in straight after cycling, just some species.

 

[fishman3]

yay, glad to see you've got yourself some fishies..... remind me of your tank size and I'll comment on the stocking level!

serpae's should be fine in a new tank, rummy's can be a bit risky. it's not all tetra's that can't go in straight after cycling, just some species.

ok tank set up is 90 litre Aquaone AR620 with trickle hood filter, lights, heater and an ehiem 3701 air pump powering 1 hagen air curtain and a medium bubble stone (both hidden under gravel to look pretty!! ) I have around 6 live plants, 2 small pieces of bogwood, a stone two hole cave, 8/10 silk and plastic plants, 10 pieces of frogbit, and a plastic ivy type covering for the back of the aquarium (plenty of hiding places!!)

 

[waterdrop]

...just stopping in for a moment before going to let the cat out at lunchtime and happy to see you have fish now (!) Congrats!

(if you're hideously overstocked I'm sure mama wiggle will be on your case )

 

[fishman3]

...just stopping in for a moment before going to let the cat out at lunchtime and happy to see you have fish now (!) Congrats!

(if you're hideously overstocked I'm sure mama wiggle will be on your case )

- i dont think i am by my crude calcs even using the inch per gallon rule i make it this....

Name, Adult size (cm), Quantity, Total Length of Adult Fish

amano shrimp, 4, 3, 12
rummy nose tetra, 4, 6, 24
serpae tetra, 4, 4, 16
spotted corys, 4, 4, 16
honey gourami, 4, 2, 8
guppies (m), 2.5, 2, 5
guppies (f), 4, 4, 16
red dalmation molly, 5, 2, 10

Total 107cm of stock

US Gallons 24 therefore--> inch / gallon rule 60.96cm and 2" / gallon rule 121.92cm

I have used average size of fish as they are not all going to grow to the indicated adult size consistently hence if the information says 3-5cm then i've used 4cm as a pragmatic approach knowing that some will be under and some over etc..

Thanks for your congrats though much appreciated and also thanks for all your help through the process you helped a lot and i would have certainly packed the fishless cycle in sooner had you, miss wiggle and FHM not helped me out.....! big thanks to all.....

***edited due to table not embedding properly!!! so re-typed!!***

 

[fatheadminnow]

Thanks for your congrats though much appreciated and also thanks for all your help through the process you helped a lot and i would have certainly packed the fishless cycle in sooner had you, miss wiggle and FHM not helped me out.....! big thanks to all.....

Your welcome...That is what we are here for!

-FHM

 

[Miss Wiggle]

aye, your calcs are there or there abouts (always some debate over fish sizes), stocking's not an exact science anyway, it's all guidelines not rules, so long as you're somewhere around the mark it's usually fine and you seem to be so

 

[ziouxpioux]

Agreed with WD.

On the last thread you had, I mentioned that in the final week it is not uncommon to have a slight spike in nitrite in your final week.

Like WD said, that is why after you "think" you are done, you must give it a final week.

Better to have a slight spike in nitrite now, then have it when you have fish.

It looks like you are on the right track....keep up the good work!
-FHM

but WHY?? why is it not uncommon to have a spike? what in the water chemistry has changed for the last 4/5 weeks? and on this cycle run 2 1/2 weeks with bactinettes, filter start, mature media? i really dont know what more i can do.....

it seems everytime i am at the finish line the goalposts are moved, i am forever reading on here about oops i got fish and didnt cycle how do i do a fish in cycle.....and i used to think how the hell do you not research something before throwing in livestock......now i realise it's not people being fortgetful its people thinking s@d this i've been staring at an empty tank for 5 weeks now and i want something in it!!!!!!!!!

my 'kindest way for the fish' side is fading guys, tell me i am doing the right thing!

I do not know what will cause this final spike in ammonia, unless you accidentally added a little more ammonia then before, as the nitrifying bacteria take a little longer to colonize then the bacteria that break down ammonia

All I know is that it happens, and is very common.

It took me 8 weeks for my tank to cycle...If mine took 5 I would be thrilled.

Also, on average it takes about 4-6 weeks for a tank to cycle, so you are right in there, if you give up now, you will loose everything.

You said that the goal post is moving back every time you get near it...well every time it does it moves less and less, and eventually you will pass it.

Hang in there!

Someone will come along that will most likely give you a scientific answer to why this final spike in nitrite happens.

Don't Give Up!
-FHM

Reading of all the tests, computations for adding this or adding that gives me a throbbing head. there is no way I would have tanks if I thot I had to go thru all that. I cycled my 125 very simply. Filled with water, put in heater and set at 80 degrees and of course the filter. No lights, not substrate, nada. Just water. Then I started tossing in flake food maybe a Tablespoon here and there, mostly there. After a couple weeks I pulled about three frozen silversides out of the package and chucked those into the tank and watched them go with the flow of the currents. Eventually I saw them sink, get soft, decompose. Meanwhile I am still tossing in some fish food tho of lesser amounts. After about a month of this, I test water. No amonia and nitrates and trites all in safe area on chart. I did a 25 % water exchange. Started adding substrate as I got it, placed in my huge awesome cleaned rock, and such. Kept "feeding" the tank. Checked parameters, lowered tank temperature and started adding fish, about 5 at a time evert 3 weeks or so. I now have a fully cycled gorgous tank. I still need to add plants but am waiting on payday for that. Karen Campbell

 

[waterdrop]

Reading of all the tests, computations for adding this or adding that gives me a throbbing head. there is no way I would have tanks if I thot I had to go thru all that. I cycled my 125 very simply. Filled with water, put in heater and set at 80 degrees and of course the filter. No lights, not substrate, nada. Just water. Then I started tossing in flake food maybe a Tablespoon here and there, mostly there. After a couple weeks I pulled about three frozen silversides out of the package and chucked those into the tank and watched them go with the flow of the currents. Eventually I saw them sink, get soft, decompose. Meanwhile I am still tossing in some fish food tho of lesser amounts. After about a month of this, I test water. No amonia and nitrates and trites all in safe area on chart. I did a 25 % water exchange. Started adding substrate as I got it, placed in my huge awesome cleaned rock, and such. Kept "feeding" the tank. Checked parameters, lowered tank temperature and started adding fish, about 5 at a time evert 3 weeks or so. I now have a fully cycled gorgous tank. I still need to add plants but am waiting on payday for that. Karen Campbell

The key aspect of this description of "fishless cycling with fish food" (which has long been an accepted method) is the fact that you are experienced enough to know to have the patience to simply not worry about or expect any significant results prior to a month. We rarely get beginners with anywhere near that level a patience. The safe area for nitrites(NO2) is zero, just like ammonia. The more experienced you get, the more successfully you can conduct any of the various types of cycling techniques, each with its various quirks to understand. Whichever one you've done the most will feel the easiest to you I think. Its almost too bad for the "furthering" of these techniques that once one has mature media, its unlikely one will ever do them again, assuming one stays in the hobby continuously.

~~waterdrop~~