so confused!

[leryasa]

I tried to fill out the conversion chart but I didn’t know what I was doing. I just started a 32 gal tank with 50 lb peagravel. I put Stress Zyme (which adds natural bacteria)and Stress Coat for the tap water in yesterday. My test strip reads as follows Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 75 (soft)
Alkalinity 40
PH 7.2
I didn’t have these numbers when I went to my pet store to buy fish, the salesgirl said my aquarium will get cloudy first then clear up, then I can buy fish. Should I wait a few more days?

 

[AtomicFish]

I tried to fill out the conversion chart but I didn’t know what I was doing. I just started a 32 gal tank with 50 lb peagravel. I put Stress Zyme (which adds natural bacteria)and Stress Coat for the tap water in yesterday. My test strip reads as follows Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 75 (soft)
Alkalinity 40
PH 7.2
I didn’t have these numbers when I went to my pet store to buy fish, the salesgirl said my aquarium will get cloudy first then clear up, then I can buy fish. Should I wait a few more days?

I am am sad to say if your doing a fish less cycle it would take several weeks for it to be ready for fish. The Nitrogen Cycle takes time to develop.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Indeed, the salesgirl at your LFS was not quite correct in saying you can get fish into the tank once it’s cleared up.

You will need to carry out a fishless cycle, basically this means making your tank and filter to make the water safer for any livestock.
This is done by growing certain bacterias to deal with the ammonia that the livestock will produce by breathing and toilet waste as well as dead leaves from live plants and so on and so forth.

So I would encourage you to read the fishless cycling article to help you gain a better idea of why this should be done and how.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

This will take little while to complete but well worth doing to save you a lot of stress, work and harm to livestock if you were to simply add fish in a few days.

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

I tried to fill out the conversion chart but I didn’t know what I was doing. I just started a 32 gal tank with 50 lb peagravel. I put Stress Zyme (which adds natural bacteria)and Stress Coat for the tap water in yesterday. My test strip reads as follows Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Hardness 75 (soft)
Alkalinity 40
PH 7.2
I didn’t have these numbers when I went to my pet store to buy fish, the salesgirl said my aquarium will get cloudy first then clear up, then I can buy fish. Should I wait a few more days?

You need to wait awhile. I waited about two weeks, but that might not even be enough.

 

[Essjay]

You don't give an ammonia reading, so I assume you have strip testers? To cycle a tank you need to be able to test for ammonia, so you will need to buy a separate tester for that.

Stress Zyme is not one of the most highly regarded bacterial starters. The best way to use it is to speed up a fishless cycle - the link that Ch4rlie gave you. That way, if it doesn't work no fish are harmed.




There is one other way to cycle a tank which you may want to consider; a silent cycle. This involves using live plants, quite a few in 32 gallons. Fast growing stem plants and floating plants are better than slow growing plants. The theory behind a silent cycle is that plants use the ammonia excreted by fish as fertiliser. The tank is planted and then left until the plants show obvious signs of growth. Fish are then put in the tank a few at a time, and the water tested daily for ammonia and nitrite. If they remain at zero, the next batch of fish can be added.
If you do not want to grow live plants, fishless cycling is the way to go.

 

[leryasa]

I just purchased an aquarium test kit today. I want to do this right. The aminia reading is 0, so I guess I need to add something to creat amonia. I am trying to follow the cycle post.

 

[Essjay]

The cycling post does look intimidating at first, but once you get into it it isn't as complicated as it looks. Even if you don't understand it all, as long as you follow what's written about testing and when you get to these results add this much ammonia you can't go wrong.