I;m a novice, please help

[mgkaelen]

thatlouguy just want to say you're in great hands here at AA, i've been coaxed through a million things that i should have been more familiar with(ie diseases) before i invested my time and money into tanks. it looks like you've got everything under control right now... at least you bought hardy fish.

i used bio spira for my tank and it cycled in one day! if you have the means (1 oz is about $15.00 which will treat a 30gal tank) , it will make everything stable and you'll just have to worry about the ich. however with all that fish you do have a lot of waste which should cause the tank to cycle pretty quickly on its own in not too much time.

good luck and keep us posted!

 

[thatlouguy]

Thanks for chiming in mgkaelen! I need to type quietly, the fish are sleeping. All these people have been GREAT. Hopefully this Ich problem will be gone in a week or so, then we can relax. We already started looking into a 10g QT. I have an addictive personality and it don't take long to get hooked.
I've been reading about a lot of different fishless cycling methods. Allivymar suggested extra filter media but others say the bacteria dies as soon as it hits the uncycled water in the QT. I also don't know if I have the room in my whisperflo 2 for additional media. Others had also mentioned the Bio-Spira that you suggested. I also read about just adding straight ammonia to QT water and monitoring the nitrates until the water balances out. A QT is definitely the way to go.
NOTE to Allivymar: I can't wait until I can think of you as an absolute dork.. it takes one to know one. Glad you weren't offended by my last post. I reread it after I posted and though it may have been taken as rude.
G'night all and thanks again!