Starting 20G Neon Tetra tank

[nibynool]

Hi All!

I'm in the process of cycling a 20G Neon Tetra, planted tank. I'm intending to plant this tank out with Echinodorus parviflorus, Bacopa australis and Echinodorus angustifolious.

Before I even think about adding fish to this aquarium I have a few questions that I'm hoping some of you will be able to assist me with.

My first question is how many Neon Tetras can I realistically keep in a 20 gallon tank?

This leads on to the next question about cycling the tank; I am adding 28% ammonia solution (which I sourced from a scientific chemical supplier), how much of this ammonia solution should the tank be able to process per day so that when I add the fish there will be sufficient bacteria to not cause the fish any stress?

My final question relates to the driftwood for the tank and a bit of background may be required here. I live in a rural area that is predominantly used for cattle farming, not far from my house we have a river running past (I live a fair way up the river system and it is more like a large creek at this point). I'm intending to get some driftwood from the river (prior to adding any fish to the tank), how should i treat the driftwood to prevent it from having an adverse affect on the tank?

Thanks in advance for any advice that you can offer.

 

[allaboutfish]

put it in the oven. (it wont burn)

 

[nibynool]

put it in the oven. (it wont burn)

I'm assuming I should turn the oven on as part of curing the driftwood.

Am I just needing to get it to a high enough heat to kill any nasties (say 100°C) or should I heat it to a much higher temperature? How long will it take to kill the nasties?

I'm also assuming this would dry the wood, so it would begin floating in my tank until it became water-logged again.

 

[allaboutfish]

id bake it a 350F dont know about celcius, and maybe 30 minutes. you could just boil the wood instead.

 

[nibynool]

id bake it a 350F dont know about celcius, and maybe 30 minutes.

350°F is about 180°C (for anyone else who is reading this wants the conversion).

you could just boil the wood instead.

Boiling it would be fairly easy, guess it depends how much I can find after the flood waters go down. If I get too much to fit in the largest saucepan I have then I will go for the oven option.

Thanks for the info allaboutfish, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[allaboutfish]

no problem

 

[titchrules]

Soaking the wood is what we were told to do. However it needs to soak and be scrubbed for a number of weeks. Patience is required! One month on I think our driftwood should be fine.

 

[nibynool]

Soaking the wood is what we were told to do. However it needs to soak and be scrubbed for a number of weeks.

I've added a couple of bits that I got at the river today (after boiling them for an hour) and I have another couple boiling at the moment. They're from the last flood around here (around 6 months ago) and have been out of the water (excluding rain) since then, so the boiling should have killed anything.

Now it's just a matter of waiting for them to sink, I'm not too worried about how long that takes as I'll just keep cycling the tank until they do; then I can plant it

 

[allaboutfish]

well if they arent sinking id go ahead and put them in the oven for 30 minutes bc that will deffinently kill anything.

 

[spoonman]

As far as the ammonia goes for the cycling, you need to have a good liquid test kit and dose to 4ppm. When the tank is cycled it should be able to convert 4ppm to 0 in 24 hours.

 

[nibynool]

As far as the ammonia goes for the cycling, you need to have a good liquid test kit and dose to 4ppm.

Thanks, exactly the info I need. Now to work out the conversion from PPM to millilitres for this tank/ammonia solution combination so I don't have to run 300 tests just to dose the ammonia