A newby trying to set up a freshwater aquarium

[senio]

Hi there i'm new to this so please bare with me! I have recently purchased a 90 gallon aquarium, eheim 2217 filter, heater big enough for the aquarium, substrate (gravel and sea shells) and a bubbler. No decorations yes as I am trying to find information on plants and fish that I would like. I am using well water that has been tested. Ammonia is low, ph is really high 8.86. In the filter I am using eheim mech (mechanical filter medium), eheim substrate pro (bio filter medium), and eheim tore pellets (filter peat, to bring ph down), carbon filter pad on top, and fine filter pads separating the media.

So far I have filled the tank with water and gravel, added API stress coat, and bacteria accordingly. I have the bubbler bubbling and I am trying to figure out the best way to cycle my water without fish!

I have read that adding filter media, gravel, and plants from an established aquarium will speed up this process. I unfortunately don't know anyone with media I can use. I am going to try and get my hands on some gravel, and I would like some suggestions on some beginner friendly plants.

I would like to try adding pure ammonia to the tank, what is the proper way to do this? Also what are the steps? When to test, when to add more ammonia, When I should do a water change? Any other tips you can give me to speed up this process would be lovely! I have read so many articles on the Internet but some get confusing or don't relate to my particular setup.

Also my boyfriend and I are trying to figure out what kind of fish to get. I would like to have a community tank, but I would also like more aggressive fish. I don't want to overcrowd and I also don't want any of the fishies to get hurt by other fishies

 

[Xdarkfaith]

Im not so good at plants im sorry
But if you would like a hardy yet beautiful fish you can try gouramis! sunset gouramis,opaline gouramis etc. or you can try having a cichlid tank!

 

[RussellC]

The article below should hopefully help.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

If there are other questions the article doesn't answer, just ask!

Best!

 

[tiger terror]

Wow that ph is super high...fill a bucket full of your water&let it sit for a day then retest your ph to see if it lowers..this could be an issue if it remains the same...

 

[Crawdaddy]

If you don't have one yet, I would suggest getting a good liquid test kit. Most on here suggest the API master freshwater kit. They are usually less than $20 on amazon, but you should be able to find it at our LFS.

 

[tiger terror]

Use amazon to purchase the liquid test kit(api),much cheaper than any lfs would price it on the shelf...

 

[Borderlesscott]

Best piece of advice I can give you, throw out the stress coat and buy Seachem prime, it is so much better and will save you a fortune - 5ml will dechlorinate around 60 gallons, buy a 1ml syringe to measure when doing water changes.
As its a large tank and your aiming for a low pH I assume you want to do South American Cichlids.
There are a lot of aggressive fish i would not add as it will severely limit what else you could put in the tank, ie Green and Red Terrors, Convicts etc

You could do a mix of the following

3-4 fish in total of the below mid sized cichlids male and female pairs or a pair with a single male Firemouth or Blue Acara,
Sajica
Rainbow Cichlids
Keyhole
Firemouth
Blue Acara
4 Angel fish

With a mix of small or dwarf cichlids 5-6 - I would stick to males
Bolivian Rams
German Rams
Cupid Cichlids
Festivum
Red Breast Acara

2 mid sized schools of Tetra
7 Lemon Tetra - I would recommend the wider bodied type
7 Bleeding Heart or Rummy Nose

7 Sterbai Corydoras to help pick up any mess on the substrate, 1/2 Bristlenose at some point, Amano Shrimp - I have had them with all of the above fish without any problems.

Stacks of plants you could do depending on your lighting, I have Anubias, Hairgrass, Cabomba, Vallisneria, Amazon Sword - I would also recommend you use lots of bog wood, make sure there is lots of caves and hiding spots.

Don't add to many fish at once! and remember even if you have some of the above mentioned fish and all is peaceful, there will be a change when eggs appear, this is the reason you do not want to many male/female pairs and do not want to overstock the tank.