Below is a report, replete with photos and test result log, of the establishment and silent cycle of a 10 gallon I will be using as a QT tank then turn into a shrimp tank.

Tank was acquired for free from my gf (she commandeered the tank from her sister after her sister killed her tenth fish from neglect). Used an AquaClear 50 with a foam prefilter and full limited, a generic heater (unknown wattage), a standard hood with a 17W 5500K Aqueon Floramax T8 fluorescent plant bulb. The ballast is on its last legs, so my next project will be to replace the hood with a glass top and a 36W T5HO fixture, then add DIY CO2.

Test Day1 Day 3 Day 5 Day 7 Day 9
pH 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.4 7.6
KH 7 deg 7 deg 7 deg Untested 7 deg
GH 7 deg 7 deg 7 deg Untested 8 deg
NH4 1.0 ppm 0.5 ppm 0.5 ppm 0.25 ppm 0.25 ppm
NO2 0.25 ppm 0.25 ppm 0 ppm 0 ppm 0 ppm
NO3 40 ppm 40 ppm 20 ppm 10 ppm 40 ppm
Cu 0 ppm 0 ppm Untested Untested Untested
PO4 Untested 10 ppm 10 ppm 5 ppm 5 ppm
Fe Untested 0.1 ppm Untested Untested Untested

Initial setup with lined sides of used Fluorite and middle bottom layer of mineralized topsoil (MTS)


Detail of MTS


2nd layer of 100% pure silica sand acquired from Craig (mod) on AquaticUtah.com. 10x this amount for $15


Note: Under the sand is a thin layer of used sphagnum peat moss


Top layer of Fluorite

The Fluorite and peat moss came from a previous tank which had been decommissioned. The substrate had been left submerged but completely unattended, so it was assumed that the majority of the nitrifying bacteria in the substrate had perished.

Mopani driftwood as the structure in the tank.


Filling the tank


Minimal debris was disturbed in the filling process. Everything was plugged in and run. The light is run on a 12-on 12-off schedule.


The tank was filled with RO water treated with SeaChem Equilibrium, SeaChem Alkaline Buffer, Plantex CSM+B, KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, and ferrous iron gluconate (chelated iron supplement).

Notes:
Day 1: Added 4 sprigs of wisteria from other 10 gallon. Ordered moss and vals from aquariumforum.com. It would appear the cycle is well on its way 24 hours into the process. AC50 has foam prefilter, filter floss, and BioMax media in it.


Day 3: After 3 days phosphates are VERY high, and nitrates have not declined, leading me to believe I have added too much fertilizer to my RO water. That, in conjunction with the fact that it wiped out all 20 RCS I got my girlfriend for her tank yesterday, and caused a cyno outbreak.

Day 4: Discovered some Malaysian Trumpet Snails still alive in the tank. They had survived in wet substrate with no heating for at least a month, and I counted two on the tank walls. Adding an algae wafer as an ammonia source tonight

Day 5: Phosphates are still not down from 10, indicating they are either holding steady or are off the chart. I’m going to stop dosing phosphate fertilizer altogether. Also, nitrites are 0, leading me to believe the cycle is either stalled or has not begun. The algae wafers are decomposing already.

Day 7: Planted all of my plants and attached moss to driftwood; photos below. Phosphates finally dropped, down to 5 ppm from 10.



Day 9: Yesterday topped off the tank with treated RO water (about a half gallon) to boost nitrates. Unfortunately, it probably elevated the phosphates as well. Day 7 I ended up (after good test results) offering to quarantine one of my gf’s neon tetras which had come down with some sort of what appeared to be an internal infection. The tetra is doing fine now, two days later, without medication, so I think I can safely say my tank is cycled, and must be going through a silent cycle with the amount of plants in the tank


Hope you enjoyed my post! Comments and/or any thoughts are appreciated.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Looks good. Deep substrates always look strange on small tanks to me. Seems like it uses up so much space, of which you're already limited.

Thanks for sharing guy, interesting!

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

In some part I envy you.. you like the tinkering.. Another part say's you may be into the hobby not for fish keeping but for the challenge... Not trying to be critical.. as I'm sure some will read, but do wish I had some more attention to the detail that you seem to enjoy so much!..
Me?.. I'm of the KISS persuasion.. Bill in Va.

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12 Tanks, 900 gallons. Discus/Angels/Malawi/Lake Victorias. Just added a 135 & 2 - 29's..

Yeah, I'm one of those nerdy tinkerers. I get bored with established tanks that need little to no maintenance.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!