ohh...ok...thats good.
i think that the best way is to just take them out the way you do it.

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Celebrating 500 posts



Planted 20 gallon
2 emerald corydoras
2 gold barbs
2 cherry barbs
4 swordtails
2 platies
1 balloon mollies

So I finally got some durned household ammonia. I can't believe it's so hard to find. I'll add some after DS goes to bed, but I still have to figure out how much to put in, as I only have a 10% solution.

So here are the levels pre-ammonia add. I'll probably measure again tomorrow.

Nitrate: ~10 ppm
Nitrite: 0.5 ppm
Hardness: 150 ppm
Chlorine: 0 ppm
Alkalinity: ~120 ppm
pH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0.5 ppm

So I just added one capful of "janitorial strength" ammonia, and the ammonia level is at 6.0 ppm. It's slightly high to start the cycling process, but hopefully it's okay. I'll add a little less next time. Maybe I didn't let the ammonia mix in long enough?

I'd love to graph all this info, but I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how to make a graph on Open Office. Argh!

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Elly

Yay! I finally found a great LFS. The first one I went to turned out to be a dud. Not only was it saltwater focused, but the store itself was gross!! The tanks themselves looked fine, but the walls had mold on them, and the carpet showed extensive evidence of spillage. Of course, my 3-year-old declared "I need to go potty!!" shortly after we arrived, so I had to take him through a junk room to the grungy bathroom in the back. Ugh. (Gentlemen, in case you didn't know this, we women rate stores/restaurants/gas stations based on the quality and cleanliness of the restrooms.)

Anyhow, the second shop I went to had an extensive selection of freshwater fish, and a smaller selection of saltwater stuff. They had an impressive assortment of plants, and I got a nice piece of driftwood, which is soaking away as we speak (type). I'll definitely be buying my stock from this store.

After the bambino goes to bed tonight, I'll do a water check and add more ammonia, if needed. I'm assuming that cycling is already underway since I already have measurable nitrite?? I've got live plants, so I'm hoping that will speed things up.

Today's numbers:

Nitrate: 10 ppm
Nitrite: .05 ppm
pH: 8.4
Ammonia: 4.5 ppm

I'm assuming the increased pH is due to the presence of the basic ammonia. I'm not adding any ammonia today.

Oh, and I figured out how to graph this stuff on Open Office. Don't ask me how to do it, though, because I have no idea....

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Elly

Here are today's numbers:

Nitrate 10 ppm
Nitrite 2 ppm (up from previous readings)
Ammonia 4.5 ppm (slowly decreasing)
pH 8

In other news, my aquarium light is flaking out on me. The bulb has to be twisted in the socket *just so* and it keeps coming untwisted. Duct tape comes to mind, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. (Don't want it to melt, the fluorescent light still gets a bit warm.)

Driftwood still soaking.

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Elly

Today's numbers:

Nitrate: 10 ppm
Nitrite: 4 ppm
Ammonia: ~5 ppm

It looks like I'm getting a nitrite spike, which means my tank is cycling, I guess. Ammonia is still high, though. I've only added one capful of ammonia from the hardware store. Should I be adding a capful every day, even though the ammonia level isn't going down yet? One source I've been looking at says to add ammonia every day once you've figured out how much it takes to get it to ~5 ppm, but it's at 5 ppm already from ammonia I added several days ago.

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Elly

Argh! I'm a bit frustrated right now, as the light keeps turning ever so slightly so as to turn itself off. I may just have to tape it. Also, my Anacharis is turning to mush. Don't know if it's the lack of light or what. My sword plant looks nice, though.

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Elly

Today's numbers:

Nitrite: 80 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Ammonia: 0.5

Hoping to add my driftwood this weekend.

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Elly

Driftwood is in! Tank looks great, and I moved some of the plastic plants around too. I'm hoping it's near the end of the cycle, as ammonia has gone down for the first time and I'm seeing nitrates for the first time. Still trying to decide what to stock.

Maybe I'll go back to my LFS and write down the species they carry that I'm interested in and figure out which ones and how many I'll get. I also want to get a moss/marimo ball. I saw some at the shop, and I was intrigued. I might buy another plant as well, as my Anacharis turned to mush.

Alright folks, I think I've decided that this will be the fish I get:

6 guppies
5 panda cories
6 neon tetras

Am I heartless and cruel if I want to keep guppies but not the fry?? I wasn't going to do anything special about them, so I assume they'll be eaten, right? I don't want to have to constantly cull offspring.

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Elly

Congratulation with successful cycling your tank!

Regarding fish selection.
Guppy and Neon, hmm don't know ... I would not go with that selection. Neon may nip guppy fins.
Corys are fine in any combination.

Don't put all fishes same time. Start with guppy, they are hardy, then in 3 -4 days add Cory(s).

Guppy fry will be eaten if you leave it in the tank, but if you provide enough shelter (plants, rocks or artificial decor) you will see that some fry will survive.

Ooh, thanks for the warning about neons and guppies. I'd rather have guppies, so I guess I'll go read up on "guppy buddies" . ;)

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Elly

Haven't posted in a few days. Tank still cycling. Ammonia reads 0 when I test, even though I add some every day. Nitrate and nitrite are still high. I left the lid open last night in hopes that the nitrate-eating bacteria might fall in there. (Yeah, I'm a bit weird.)

I've pretty much decided I'm going to stock cories, male guppies (don't want fry!) and rasboras. I did a lot of reading up on those types, and none are nippy or aggressive, and the fish stocking calculator gives it a thumbs up (or at least no warnings in red.)

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Elly

Sweet!! I think my tank is cycled. Nitrate and ammonia are both at zero.

Unfortunately, we have family coming into town tomorrow, AND we're supposed to get a blizzard tonight, so going to the fish store probably won't happen this weekend. It's on my way home from work, but I think it will be a fun outing to bring my 3-year-old along. Plus, adding fish is more of a weekend project.

Does anyone know if I still need to add a little ammonia to keep things going until I can get some fish in there? I need to do a water change before I put the fish in. Maybe do that a few days in advance to let the chlorine dissipate?

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Elly

If it's only a few days it's not necessary. Adding just a pinch of fish food occationally will keep the bacteria going indefinately.

If you do a large waterchange with chlorinated water you will certainly thin out the bacteria population. It would be better to put the water in a seperate container and let the chlorine dissipate before you use it on the water change. Running it through GAC will also work and so will AmQuel although AmQuel is the least effective IMO.

We have fish!!

I got 6 male guppies and a moss ball. I might get another plant next time I add more fish.

Some of the guppies are swimming around near the top. Apologies on the glare.

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Elly

Guppies are doing great! My 3-year-old enjoys feeding them (we put the food in a small dish to control portion, and then he pours the right amount from the dish into the aquarium). They usually hang out in a loose grouping, but I've noticed that one (the only lyre tail) is usually off by himself. Is that something to be concerned about?

I measured the ammonia levels with a fancy liquid test kit (3 reagents and 20 mins later!!) the levels are at 0. Depending on how the weekend goes, I may get some panda cories to add to the tank.

My 3rd fish is harlequin rasbora, but I'm considering getting some more male guppies since I like them so much.

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Elly

I got my panda cories! Those little guys are so adorable!! :D Everyone in the tank has discovered that there is yummy gook around the bottom of my Amazon sword plant. The cories found it first, of course, and the guppies just had to be in on the action. lol

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Elly

The finished product looks great!

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When in doubt, do a water change.

Okay, so it's been a few months since I updated. I don't know what the deal with my guppies is, but they keep getting dropsy and dying. According to my research, the main culprit of dropsy is poor water quality, but my tank is actually understocked, and the levels are all near zero right before I do my water change. There have been 2 times when my water quality wasn't perfect; once when I was in the field for 3 weeks straight and didn't get a chance to do a water change in that interval, and when my 3-year-old dumped the can of fish flakes into the tank. I'm down to 2 guppies from my original 6. :( For comparison, I've only lost one cory as a result of the "flake incident".

My tank is looking a little bare, since my cories are expert hiders during the day. Today, I hope to get some zebra danios and some more plants. Hopefully those guys aren't as prone to dropsy as guppies seem to be.

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Elly

Got my danios in there! They are really lively fish. One of my guppies is hanging out with them, and the other apparently is scared out of his fins, as he is hiding under the driftwood. :(

I added some Italian Vals and Water Sprite. The cories enjoy hanging out in my planted area, which is what I had hoped. Now all the plants in there are real, and the plastic ones are gone. Now I just have to acquire some fertilizer tabs. My LFS didn't have them. I may have to go to a big box store...

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Elly

Well, after hiding for about a week, my other guppy came out of hiding. His pal is really happy to see him. Just added some flourish tabs to the gravel.

I'm about to be out of town for about 8 days, so I want to do a bigger than normal water change before I go.

I just tested my nitrates for the first time. My "master" test kit doesn't include nitrate for some stupid reason. It's at 10 ppm. I'm assuming that's an okay level since tomorrow is water change day? I've been looking around, and "under 50 ppm" seems to be what the sites say, but that seems high.

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Elly