How to start tank with Amazonia? / nano cube resetup

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Puckhog429

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Apr 23, 2012
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So I ended up getting enough Amazonia for the 4 gallon cube. I have about 3/4 inch of power sand and a bit more than 2 inches of Amazonia. Once I figure out the hardscape and plants how do I go about flooding? I heard nitrates leach from it for a while? How long til fish can go in? Would it be ok to not run a filter until the nitrates leach out? This is my first time using Ada in fact any other kind of substrate besides dirt so some help would be great. I plan on keeping rcs and a betta. Right now I have 5-6 rcs in another tank with the filter heater and light from the 4 gal. If I have to wait for nitrates to leach out should I be running a filter? I think that lots of wcs would be sufficient until the parameters are balanced out. Does this sound good? For the scape I wanted to keep it pretty simple. One really big black river stone ( hehe ;) ) with a bunch of smaller ones and pieces of branch dw tied together positioned over everything.

Lighting: Finnex Fujeray r clip on
filter: azoo palm
ferts: excel and leaf zone until i get pps pro

For plants I was thinking a narrow leaf chain sword carpet with baby tears and ludwigia cuba background and maybe some fissidens tied to the dw
thanks for the help
puck
 
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1406944348.204853.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1406944361.222795.jpg
The tanks 10 by 10 by 10. The black stone in front is the kind I want to use in the scape but im probs gonna have trouble finding more of it.


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Hi Puckhog,

Amazonia is a mighty fine substrate once you get past the initial leaching of ammonia (not nitrate). I'd do a 50% PWC every other day or at least twice a week, for about a month. The time the ammo takes to be reduced and hit 0 varies (weeks to a month). You should "seed" your tank and filter with beneficial bacteria ( BB ) to speed up the cycle. BB takes ammonia, as you may know, and breaks it down to less toxic forms through the nitrogen cycle. So the leaching of ammonia is beneficial to this process and allows for fish-less cycling. I would try to plant as heavy as possible after your hardscape. Live plants that come from established aquariums are coated with BB, thus providing the "seeding" your tank needs to balance out that AS. If you have establish media, add that to your filter and run it. If not, still run the filter to help with circulation and to clear up your tank (AS can be a little cloudy the first day or two).

To not disturb the substrate and mess up your hardscape, dislodge plants, and reduce cloudiness, flood your take very slowly and carefully. You can use something to deflect and disperse the water more gently as you pour it in. You can use something like a bowl or plate. I use one of those plastic breeder boxes that works great. Like this:
http://www.petco.com/assets/product_images/0/010838102555C.jpg

Here's my GF flooding her scape for the first time. You can use a paper towel under it too. Or if you use a plate or bowl, fill it with a towel or paper towel to help prevent too harsh of a flow.



Maybe after a week after your initial flooding, test your water with a liquid test kit the day after a pwc to see where your at in the ammonia leaching and cycle.

Good luck.. BTW, nice looking rimless cube and good choice on substrate, lighting, and ferts (PPS-Pro, when you switch)!
 
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I did a 12x12x12 and took me 62 days until it was safe to bring my betta in. But just like Brian said, it varies based on a bunch of things (amount of amonia chewing bacteria, depth of substrate, water flow volume, etc)


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Wow thats a long time. How often do you think I should test water. Once a week? Still didnt get it going. Need to find some hardscape material


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I had no experience when I did mine, tested pretty much every third day or so. When I do it again, next time I will not even bother for the first 10 days. Make sure it is 1)seeded with a strong colony (1 year old tank or so) and 2) heavily planted, so the cycle can go somewhere.


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Alright. Yeah ive had the filter running for a good 2 years now. Its just been moving around. Started out filtering a 2.5 then i got the cube and it filtered that for a year with dirt. Did you do the water changes the booklet suggests you to do?


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I had no experience when I did mine, tested pretty much every third day or so. When I do it again, next time I will not even bother for the first 10 days. Make sure it is 1)seeded with a strong colony (1 year old tank or so) and 2) heavily planted, so the cycle can go somewhere.


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