Hi All!
I'm new to the forum, and I need some clear advice on how to go about caring for my new tank. I have a 29 gallon, which i set up on the 9th. I talked to the owner of my LFS, and he gave me pretty simple instructions, and I thought "hey this isn't too hard!" So I filled the tank with filtered tap water, added in the TSS ( to condition the water) & stabilty, then waited 3 days on the advice of my LFS, then went and got a few fish. During the 3 days I waited, I got into reading about the cycle of a new tank, and I started getting a bit paranoid about water testing. When I got my fish, the owner said not to drive myself nuts with testing, to put the fish in the tank, and feed sparingly and let nature take it's course.
But of course, I'm reading everywhere else that I'm a total idiot for cycling with fish, and I need to test 2x a day, and do 50% water changes daily...etc etc.
Now I'm
worried I've doomed my fish. I want to keep them alive, I would never dream of harming an animal and I don't have any test kits, so I'm going nuts thinking I'm certainly dooming my fish. I've done 30% changes every day since adding fish, and they seem to be doing perfect, I'm adding stability, and the TSS ( safe start) into the new water and letting it sit overnight to get to room temp before dripping it in slowly.
I have 3 phantom tetras, and 2 mollies. Total of about 6" all together in a 29 gallon. I surely need to add more to the tetra shoal soon, the LFS said I could come back in 2 weeks and get 3-5 more tetras, then bi-monthly add one or two more fish at a time. My goal is to have 6-8 tetras, 4-6 cories, and a pair of dwarf Gouramis all together, The mollies weren't part of that originally, but they are there now, so I need to plan for them, maybe nix the DG so my load isn't too much.
But now I'm hearing that I pretty much have screwed up everything, and I need to take my fish back and wait 2 months for my tank to cycle by itself before putting any more fish in.
I'm confused. I have fish in my tank, I don't have the testing kit, ( my LFS said it wasn't really essential, just told me to let the tank cycle, not to change until the bacterial bloom, then 2x a week, going down to once a week)
However other sources say I need to be doing 50% or MORE water changes every single day....so what's the real deal with fish in cycling? I just want to do the right thing, I'm so worried about all this now, that I'm not even sleeping at night. Help?
I'm new to the forum, and I need some clear advice on how to go about caring for my new tank. I have a 29 gallon, which i set up on the 9th. I talked to the owner of my LFS, and he gave me pretty simple instructions, and I thought "hey this isn't too hard!" So I filled the tank with filtered tap water, added in the TSS ( to condition the water) & stabilty, then waited 3 days on the advice of my LFS, then went and got a few fish. During the 3 days I waited, I got into reading about the cycle of a new tank, and I started getting a bit paranoid about water testing. When I got my fish, the owner said not to drive myself nuts with testing, to put the fish in the tank, and feed sparingly and let nature take it's course.
But of course, I'm reading everywhere else that I'm a total idiot for cycling with fish, and I need to test 2x a day, and do 50% water changes daily...etc etc.
Now I'm
worried I've doomed my fish. I want to keep them alive, I would never dream of harming an animal and I don't have any test kits, so I'm going nuts thinking I'm certainly dooming my fish. I've done 30% changes every day since adding fish, and they seem to be doing perfect, I'm adding stability, and the TSS ( safe start) into the new water and letting it sit overnight to get to room temp before dripping it in slowly.
I have 3 phantom tetras, and 2 mollies. Total of about 6" all together in a 29 gallon. I surely need to add more to the tetra shoal soon, the LFS said I could come back in 2 weeks and get 3-5 more tetras, then bi-monthly add one or two more fish at a time. My goal is to have 6-8 tetras, 4-6 cories, and a pair of dwarf Gouramis all together, The mollies weren't part of that originally, but they are there now, so I need to plan for them, maybe nix the DG so my load isn't too much.
But now I'm hearing that I pretty much have screwed up everything, and I need to take my fish back and wait 2 months for my tank to cycle by itself before putting any more fish in.
I'm confused. I have fish in my tank, I don't have the testing kit, ( my LFS said it wasn't really essential, just told me to let the tank cycle, not to change until the bacterial bloom, then 2x a week, going down to once a week)
However other sources say I need to be doing 50% or MORE water changes every single day....so what's the real deal with fish in cycling? I just want to do the right thing, I'm so worried about all this now, that I'm not even sleeping at night. Help?