90 gal setup after years of inactivity

[DanielFZappa]

Long story short, I just got a divorce so the reason for me not having a tank was removed I am getting into it again, and need some pointers on getting it healthy with as little distress to the fish as possible.

Ok, I set it up 2 days ago. I got a fluval 405 which I already love, filled the tanki, put 100 pounds of gravel, cleaned and inserted all the aquascaping and made pretty pretty bubbles. The tank looked great the first night, pretty much clear (although not perfect. For the last 2 days it has been cloudy white. It looks like when you pull hot water from the tap.

Like I said, it's been awhile since I did this, and I think this is ok and normal (I have no fish in there yet), but I wanted to make sure. I just took that picture and today is day 3.

Ok, on to my other question. I want to cycle this tank with as little harm to the fish as possible. I read on the forums here about a fishless cycle where you drop 3 raw shrimp in there and let them decay while monitoring the levels for a couple of weeks. This kind of puzzles me; at what opoint do I put fish in the tank? when the ammonia goes down anf the nitrites spike? It6 seems to me that if I wait for the nitrates to rise, the whoile cycle will fall apart without a constant supply of ammonia. Am I off on this?

Thanks for all your help in advance. You guys are great.

 

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA! A fishless cycle can be done with ammonia, or shrimp. Here and here are a couple of good articles explaining fishless cycling.

As for when to add the fish, you do that once the ammonia and nitrite are both 0ppm, and nitrates of at least 5ppm are present. The shrimp is what keeps feeding the cycling process by constantly producing ammonia to be converted.

 

[LandGhoti]

Welcome to AA!

Leave the shrimp in there until your ammonia is at 0, nitrites are at 0, and nitrates will then usually be 20-40 (or sometimes higher with plastic plants; real plants will help with cycling). When your numbers are there, you are cycled and can add fish and remove the shrimp. I would do a water change before adding fish if the nitrates are too high (>40 ppm).

 

[DanielFZappa]

So the three that I put in there will be enough to last until the cycle is complete?

Also have you guys seen a cloud like that in your tanks?

 

[rich311k]

The 3 should do the job. The cloud is bacteria forming and looking for a place to roost. All you need to do now is test and wait. Leave the lights off.

 

[DanielFZappa]

ok will do, thanks for the info...will post with test results if they come up odd.

Like I said, you guys rock like Twisted Sister.

 

[DanielFZappa]

OK, ammonia is starting to rise, .25ppm atm, so all is going well. I feel bad that I never knew to cycle this way in the past. I guess I needlessly hurt fish. Anyway, that guilt is the Catholic coming out in me, so on to other things...

One thing I never did and want to do now is encourage breeding. I would love to see new life flourish in my tank so I need some advice on that.

Angelfish are a must for me...I love those little buggers. I need info on determining the sex and assisting in the pairing. I remember that I get a bunch and wait for 2 to pair, but if I end up with 6 males I've shot myself in the foot.

I've had any easy time of getting apple snails to lay eggs in the past (without clown loaches present, that was a nightmare) so those are pretty easy, but I would also like to get some gouramis to breed. Any tips on making that happen?

 

[theotheragentm]

The cloud is a bacteria bloom, all part of the process.

 

[DanielFZappa]

Finally, a bacteria I don't need penicillin for.

Thanks!

 

[LandGhoti]

Also, the shrimp will develop a neat little (but totally nasty) bacteria shroud that will grow and grow around them as time goes on. The cloud will disappear after about a week.

 

[DanielFZappa]

Nasty like gross or nasty like keep my assorted body parts out of the water?

 

[tropicalfish]

It is safe to get your arms in the tank...
It just looks.... sickening... haha

 

[LandGhoti]

And smells sickening. But, you know, that's decay for ya...

 

[DanielFZappa]

mmmmmm...decay.

On a side note, am I the only one planning to use my tank to woo women? If any of you have experience in that department, I could use some help. Like what tropicals make a female swoon?

God, I'm pitiful.

 

[jamesrm]

Put in some of those cool underwater LED lighs, and some moonlights (blue leds) on your hood. Toss in Austin Powers and let nature take her course.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

mmmmmm...decay.

On a side note, am I the only one planning to use my tank to woo women? If any of you have experience in that department, I could use some help. Like what tropicals make a female swoon?

God, I'm pitiful.

Travis S.will tell you african Mbuna cichlids worked on making me swoon . But I say it was the plants.

Welcome back and grats on losing the fish hater

 

[corster]

Or you could just go to the pet store and buy all the fish you want to put into the tank (all at once) and be 100% sure there will be no nitrate or nitrite or ammonia spikes (unless not enough filtration [which you appear to have]). I have used this product multiple times with no problems. It's called BIO-SPIRA. The link is below. It does caust a pretty penny. I haven't bought it reasontly (sp) but I think I recall spending 10-13 U.S. dollars on this stuff. It does everything it says it will do, but the other method is cheaper (haven't tried it myself though).


http://www.marineland.com/products/mllabs/ML_biospira.asp

 

[DanielFZappa]

As appealing as BioSpira sounds, there is something romantic about doing it the old fashioned way. Yes, I can see the oddity in assigning romance to anything involving decaying shrimp, but it's a bit more rewarding to do it this way.

I just had a lunch date and she liked the tank itself, but the dead shrimp didn't really make her swoon...well, not in a good way. It's ok though, she'll be back. She's a cichlid girl herself.

 

[theotheragentm]

Get fry. Baby fish are irresistible.

 

[DanielFZappa]

Hellllll no! Baby fish might get the wheels turning! I need some TIME man.

Thirty year old woman + fry = Baby Fever.