55 gal set-up and cycle

[zparticle]

I did the same thing on my first dosing. It took several water changes to get it down to 4ppm.

 

[Deckape]

Me too

I did the same thing on my first dosing. It took several water changes to get it down to 4ppm.

You arent alone...I found that with my 55 gallon 5 ml dosed up to 4-5 ppm... I used an old liquid tylenol cup, and hid it between uses for safety concerns.

 

[FishieMomma]

Day 2:
Ammo: 4 (wasn't expecting a change yet)
The water looks a little cloudy, white cloudy.

I forgot to mention I put in a few tiny, crumbled, flakes of fish food in yesterday with the ammonia. Also have a long bubble bar going.

Today I raised the heater setting to 82 degrees and covered the tank with paper bags. (I was out of black plastic bags.) I read that keeping out the light will decrease or remove any possible algae bloom.

Should I be checking and reporting on anything besides the temp and ammonia levels?

Btw: active filter from AnglesPlus ought to be here tomorrow.

 

[Heera]

So far so good. Congrats on ur tank.

Test ammonia, nitrite,nitrate each will go up as it cycles.
Also check PH and temp.

 

[librarygirl]

Oops. 1 spilling capful of the Ace brand janitorial ammonia is waaaay too much. Reads 8.0ppm at least. Doing a 50% PWC.

Yeah that's potent stuff isn't it LOL When I started my fishless cycle with a 20 gal I put in 1 teaspoon and I thought I was being conservative. When I tested ammonia it was almost black Now I know to add a few drops at a time.

Your tank looks great, btw. I LOVE the background. I want to get one for mine too, but not sure if I want a background with a scene or just plain black. Your tank would look great with some larger decor pieces in there, maybe some large pieces of driftwood (fake ones would do fine) and some rock formations.

 

[librarygirl]

Day 2:
Ammo: 4 (wasn't expecting a change yet)
The water looks a little cloudy, white cloudy.

I forgot to mention I put in a few tiny, crumbled, flakes of fish food in yesterday with the ammonia. Also have a long bubble bar going.

Today I raised the heater setting to 82 degrees and covered the tank with paper bags. (I was out of black plastic bags.) I read that keeping out the light will decrease or remove any possible algae bloom.

Should I be checking and reporting on anything besides the temp and ammonia levels?

Btw: active filter from AnglesPlus ought to be here tomorrow.

It could be a while before you see any movement. You could test every day but you might drive yourself nuts. I waited a full week before I started testing mine, then I tested every 2-3 days, now it's mostly every day, sometimes I skip a day for my sanity lol. It's up to you, if you want to test every day you can. If you see any changes you aren't sure of you can post them here.

Do you know the PH of the water? It should be fine, but just to make sure it isn't too low or too high.

On my first fishless attempt I too covered the tank with black bags. But this time around I didn't, I found it was too depressing. My tank isn't in direct sunlight but is in a room with ambient light and so far I haven't had any algae issues.

 

[FishieMomma]

Your tank would look great with some larger decor pieces in there, maybe some large pieces of driftwood (fake ones would do fine) and some rock formations.

Great idea. I was wondering how much open space versus decorative stuff should be in there. I want a small school of cory cats and they probably want more hiding spaces

 

[FishieMomma]

Do you know the PH of the water? It should be fine, but just to make sure it isn't too low or too high..

the Ph is 7.4. But that was when I filled the tank.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[librarygirl]

the Ph is 7.4. But that was when I filled the tank.

Thanks for all your help.

That's a good level (and we have the same PH )

 

[FishieMomma]

Day 3

The active filter from AnglesPlus arrived! I ordered it priority two day mail and it got here on time.

I just dumped it and the water it came in in the tank. I positioned the filter cube over the bubble bar for now. It came with a tube for a air tube and directions to inset in the bottom of the filter as well as a magnet to hold the filter (which has an embedded magnet) in place through the tank wall. Also got a nice sized sample of fish food for meat eaters. A+ experience so far. Looking forward to checking the tank parameters tomorrow.

 

[JimmyA]

I'd put the airtube in the plastic tube then insert it in the sponge. It will act as an additional filter plus the bacteria will get moving. That's the way I have my AngelsPlus filter setup. You won't need to use the air stone for now.

 

[FishieMomma]

Thanks, JimmyA. I did that after I read your post. I am leaving the air bubbler on too as I read somewhere that the extra oxygenation will help the BBs get established.

 

[eco23]

Thanks, JimmyA. I did that after I read your post. I am leaving the air bubbler on too as I read somewhere that the extra oxygenation will help the BBs get established.

Good move with the air stone. The nitrifying bacteria are autotrophic and like oxygen rich environments. An air stone doesn't provide a tone of o2 exchange...but every little bit helps when you're trying to grow those little buggers .

 

[FishieMomma]

Day 5
Ammonia still at 4 ppm
Water Temperature: 84 degrees

Used SeaBond to paste background on aquarium. It looks great now! Thanks, zparticle, for the suggestion.

Found a few pieces of aquarium wood at PetCo and boiled them to sterilize them. They are still soaking out the tannins.

Read somewhere that more than 1/4 in of gravel is a bad idea because food can really get down and rot. So it looks like I need to remove some. In addition, I also read that cories need to be on sand so their barbells don't get ruined/chopped off. So I'll be looking for black and smooth aquarium sand at the lfs I am going to today. I'll make the bottom 1/2 and 1/2 but not like a line down the center. More of a think wave along the bottom. Hope it doesn't hurt the cories I want.

 

[zparticle]

I have way more than 1/4" of gavel in my tanks and have had no problems but I'm vacuuming it once a week with the siphon. I also have cories on gravel but the ravel is small and rounded, no sharp points, and they are doing well.

 

[jcolon]

Read somewhere that more than 1/4 in of gravel is a bad idea because food can really get down and rot. So it looks like I need to remove some. In addition, I also read that cories need to be on sand so their barbells don't get ruined/chopped off. So I'll be looking for black and smooth aquarium sand at the lfs I am going to today. I'll make the bottom 1/2 and 1/2 but not like a line down the center. More of a think wave along the bottom. Hope it doesn't hurt the cories I want.

I don't know anyone who doesn't have at least 2 inches of substrate ... food's going to get between gravel if it's 1/4 or 2+ inches. The secret here is a gravel vac and plants ... any uneaten food that rots can be used by them as nutrients.

 

[FishieMomma]

Glad to know the extra substrate is common. It actually looks kinda nice with the black sand on top of the gavel. It was too hard to get a pattern going but it's fine as it is. I remove a lot of gravel as I had put too much in. I'll post pics in a day or so as the water still looks a little cloudy.

Things are starting to get a little slimy in there (like the thermometer and heater and such) which I guess is the bio-film and a good thing. I'm not testing the water for a few days so I don't waste the testing kit. It's not expected to change much this early anyway.

This is day 6, btw

 

[FishieMomma]

Day 7: movement!

Temp: 84 degrees
Ph: 7.4
Ammo: 2
Nitrite: 1
Nitrate: 5

One of my filters isn't working already. Not sure why. Going to exchange it today.

Borrowed a piece of decoration from a friend's son's cycled tank and added it yesterday. Figured it wouldn't hurt.

Water clearing from both the sand being added and what I assume was an initial bacterial bloom.

 

[librarygirl]

Day 7: movement!

Temp: 84 degrees
Ph: 7.4
Ammo: 2
Nitrite: 1
Nitrate: 5

One of my filters isn't working already. Not sure why. Going to exchange it today.

Borrowed a piece of decoration from a friend's son's cycled tank and added it yesterday. Figured it wouldn't hurt.

Water clearing from both the sand being added and what I assume was an initial bacterial bloom.

Wow that's a lot of movement for a week into the cycle, that's great! I'm infinitely jealous lol Yep, anything from an established tank can only help. Sorry about your filter not working...was it OK before you added the sand? Perhaps it's just clogged from the sand particles. You could try rinsing everything off in tank water or dechlorinated tap water and see if that helps. You're doing great so far!

 

[zparticle]

Day 7: movement!

Temp: 84 degrees
Ph: 7.4
Ammo: 2
Nitrite: 1
Nitrate: 5

Excellent, maybe you got a good AP filter like I did on my first one. That would be very cool!