Planning a hundred litre (22 gallon) tank please help!

[Byron]

My PH is 7.4, my KH is 6d and my GH is 8d.
It’s very confusing online as most people use another measurement that gives the kh and gh values in the hundreds which I don’t quite understand but in terms of dkh and dgh I think these values should be fine.

Essjay gave you the equivalents in post #15, I will just give you the formula to convert back and forth.

The number to remember is 17.9 as you divide ppm by 17.9 to obtain the equivalent degrees, and you multiply dGH by 17.9 to get the equivalent ppm. So 8dGH is 8 X 17.9 = 143 ppm. And ppm (parts per million) happens to be identical to mg/l (milligrams per liter) which some water authorities use. There are other units some of them use that have different calculations, but dGH (or dH) and ppm are the hobby common units.

Thanks for letting me know about the group size as all my lfs’s suggest max 4 at a time!

Thank you for all your help I had so many questions and was really confused ( i think I read too much and had an information overload) .

One important thing we have all learned (usually the hard way, after a failure) is that staff in fish stores rarely know very much about fish species and related issues. If one is lucky (like I was) to have an independent store owned by a hobbyist and staffed by hobbyists, you can usually get more reliable advice. But never chance it, as once you have fish "x" you may not be able to get rid of it if it has problems, and the poor fish usually suffers as a result. Researching fish species is easy with the internet. One of my local independent fish stores has a PC terminal available for customers to use to do research. But you can always do it yourself, or ask here. There is a lot to keeping fish healthy and "happy" beyond putting them in a tank of conditioned water. And there is a lot (unfortunately) of misinformation and long-held inaccurate myths in this hobby. Keeping fish is a scientific hobby from first to last, and it takes some knowledge, all be it minimal (just the basic concepts), to have success.

I’m letting the plants grow out now and am fertilising once a week so once I see lots of growth I will think about adding the fish. You suggested not to dose with ammonia since I have plants but will the bacteria in my filter die if I don’t feed them ammonia? I will also be doing 50% water changes once a week to cope with the nitrates and when I add the fish I will up it to 60-70 %.

As seangee said, plants take up ammonia/ammonium, and provided the tank is not overstocked (i.e., beyond its natural biological capacity) you will never have ammonia or nitrite. And nitrate will be much lower, not because plants take it up, but more because they take up the ammonia so there is much less nitrite and nitrate resulting.

The nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas sp and Nitrospira sp) will still appear and colonize surfaces, but with live plants this will be sort of "in the background," which is why this method of using fast growing plants is often referred to as a silent cycle. Floating plants are best here, plus they provide the shade almost all fish we keep prefer, so they are a double benefit. Water changes sound excellent.

 

[Retired Viking]

I also used the silent cycle for my 55 gallon tank and agree with byron. I started out with 15 marimo moss balls which are great at absorbing ammonia and several different plants along with hornwort floating and also planted in my tank. I then add a small group of fish at a time so I did not overstock it. I started with 5 red eyed tetras then 5 ember tetras, up to 21 fish now. I am new to having live plants so I have been taking my time but I never had an ammonia spike and all the water test were good so far.

 

[seangee]

Just to clarify on a couple of points that have been raised that may be confusing.

Corys are neither lazy nor shy. They are fish and not workers. They need to be fed in their own right and should not be regarded as some magic cleaning fish that will hoover up any excess waste. However they are sociable fish and need to be in a decent sized group of their own kind. Not having this need fulfilled causes stress and changes their behaviour. This affects different species in different ways, but for corys the most likely response is to go into hiding or stay in a "cave" because they do not feel safe out in the open in daylight.

Secondly on the cycle. The advice from @Retired Viking and @Byron is spot on. A tank does not become uncycled. If ammonia suddenly appears it is because its biological capacity is exceeded, the most likely cause is overstocking and/or overfeeding (but inadequate maintenance can contribute). Your water change proposal sounds perfect and with actively growing plants in the tank I would not expect any problems.

 

[Funkyfishgorl]

Just to clarify on a couple of points that have been raised that may be confusing.

Corys are neither lazy nor shy. They are fish and not workers. They need to be fed in their own right and should not be regarded as some magic cleaning fish that will hoover up any excess waste. However they are sociable fish and need to be in a decent sized group of their own kind. Not having this need fulfilled causes stress and changes their behaviour. This affects different species in different ways, but for corys the most likely response is to go into hiding or stay in a "cave" because they do not feel safe out in the open in daylight.

Secondly on the cycle. The advice from @Retired Viking and @Byron is spot on. A tank does not become uncycled. If ammonia suddenly appears it is because its biological capacity is exceeded, the most likely cause is overstocking and/or overfeeding (but inadequate maintenance can contribute). Your water change proposal sounds perfect and with actively growing plants in the tank I would not expect any problems.

Thank you for saying that Corys need to be in groups, I find it to be quite saddening when people neglect bottom dwellers and argue that corys are shy or boring when they are actually very active and happy fish when in a large group!

Thank you for your help I will be buying some more plants and fertilising for lots of growth.

Happy fish keeping

 

[Funkyfishgorl]

I also used the silent cycle for my 55 gallon tank and agree with byron. I started out with 15 marimo moss balls which are great at absorbing ammonia and several different plants along with hornwort floating and also planted in my tank. I then add a small group of fish at a time so I did not overstock it. I started with 5 red eyed tetras then 5 ember tetras, up to 21 fish now. I am new to having live plants so I have been taking my time but I never had an ammonia spike and all the water test were good so far.

Thank you for your help I will buy some Marino moss balls and some floating plants

 

[Funkyfishgorl]

Essjay gave you the equivalents in post #15, I will just give you the formula to convert back and forth.

The number to remember is 17.9 as you divide ppm by 17.9 to obtain the equivalent degrees, and you multiply dGH by 17.9 to get the equivalent ppm. So 8dGH is 8 X 17.9 = 143 ppm. And ppm (parts per million) happens to be identical to mg/l (milligrams per liter) which some water authorities use. There are other units some of them use that have different calculations, but dGH (or dH) and ppm are the hobby common units.


One important thing we have all learned (usually the hard way, after a failure) is that staff in fish stores rarely know very much about fish species and related issues. If one is lucky (like I was) to have an independent store owned by a hobbyist and staffed by hobbyists, you can usually get more reliable advice. But never chance it, as once you have fish "x" you may not be able to get rid of it if it has problems, and the poor fish usually suffers as a result. Researching fish species is easy with the internet. One of my local independent fish stores has a PC terminal available for customers to use to do research. But you can always do it yourself, or ask here. There is a lot to keeping fish healthy and "happy" beyond putting them in a tank of conditioned water. And there is a lot (unfortunately) of misinformation and long-held inaccurate myths in this hobby. Keeping fish is a scientific hobby from first to last, and it takes some knowledge, all be it minimal (just the basic concepts), to have success.



As seangee said, plants take up ammonia/ammonium, and provided the tank is not overstocked (i.e., beyond its natural biological capacity) you will never have ammonia or nitrite. And nitrate will be much lower, not because plants take it up, but more because they take up the ammonia so there is much less nitrite and nitrate resulting.

The nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas sp and Nitrospira sp) will still appear and colonize surfaces, but with live plants this will be sort of "in the background," which is why this method of using fast growing plants is often referred to as a silent cycle. Floating plants are best here, plus they provide the shade almost all fish we keep prefer, so they are a double benefit. Water changes sound excellent.

Essjay gave you the equivalents in post #15, I will just give you the formula to convert back and forth.

The number to remember is 17.9 as you divide ppm by 17.9 to obtain the equivalent degrees, and you multiply dGH by 17.9 to get the equivalent ppm. So 8dGH is 8 X 17.9 = 143 ppm. And ppm (parts per million) happens to be identical to mg/l (milligrams per liter) which some water authorities use. There are other units some of them use that have different calculations, but dGH (or dH) and ppm are the hobby common units.




One important thing we have all learned (usually the hard way, after a failure) is that staff in fish stores rarely know very much about fish species and related issues. If one is lucky (like I was) to have an independent store owned by a hobbyist and staffed by hobbyists, you can usually get more reliable advice. But never chance it, as once you have fish "x" you may not be able to get rid of it if it has problems, and the poor fish usually suffers as a result. Researching fish species is easy with the internet. One of my local independent fish stores has a PC terminal available for customers to use to do research. But you can always do it yourself, or ask here. There is a lot to keeping fish healthy and "happy" beyond putting them in a tank of conditioned water. And there is a lot (unfortunately) of misinformation and long-held inaccurate myths in this hobby. Keeping fish is a scientific hobby from first to last, and it takes some knowledge, all be it minimal (just the basic concepts), to have success.



As seangee said, plants take up ammonia/ammonium, and provided the tank is not overstocked (i.e., beyond its natural biological capacity) you will never have ammonia or nitrite. And nitrate will be much lower, not because plants take it up, but more because they take up the ammonia so there is much less nitrite and nitrate resulting.

The nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas sp and Nitrospira sp) will still appear and colonize surfaces, but with live plants this will be sort of "in the background," which is why this method of using fast growing plants is often referred to as a silent cycle. Floating plants are best here, plus they provide the shade almost all fish we keep prefer, so they are a double benefit. Water changes sound excellent.

Okay I understand, the plants work better at clearing up the ammonia as it doesn’t convert into another harmful chemical and so a silent cycle is safe and will be more beneficial. You have been extremely informative and I’m very grateful for your patience and help