Yep, yet another newbie who rushed into buying fish with nfi what they were doing.
Bought a 20ltr (5gal) tank set up with a small filter and on advice of the LFS bough two platys and a male guppy. I was warned about guppy breeding but not platy. Less than a week later the small tank was full of dozens of platy fry. When I googled what to do, I learned about the nitrogen cycle and heaps of other stuff.
From there, I bought a 200ltr (52 gal) tank, better filter etc. This was second hand and needed some work to set up. In the meantime all the fry died and so did one of the platy's. I was doing regular water changes and bought some prime.
The remaining platy and guppy are now in the large tank. I am doing water changes every 2-3 days and testing the water regularly. Yesterday parameters were ammonia between 0 and 0.25ppm and 0 for everything else. pH 8.0 but they seem happy and I've read not to fight too hard against tap water pH. I only plan to stock the tank with easy to care for, peaceful community fish.
I want to use the 20ltr tank for one betta fish. I opened the cheap filter it came with and it contained one coarse sponge, some filter wool and a tiny donut shaped canister of carbon. I have removed the carbon and replace it with as much seachem matrix that will fit.
I want the tank to be completely cycled before I get the betta. What is the best way to go about this? Put the small filter in the big tank (will both filters cycle at the same time?)
Bought a 20ltr (5gal) tank set up with a small filter and on advice of the LFS bough two platys and a male guppy. I was warned about guppy breeding but not platy. Less than a week later the small tank was full of dozens of platy fry. When I googled what to do, I learned about the nitrogen cycle and heaps of other stuff.
From there, I bought a 200ltr (52 gal) tank, better filter etc. This was second hand and needed some work to set up. In the meantime all the fry died and so did one of the platy's. I was doing regular water changes and bought some prime.
The remaining platy and guppy are now in the large tank. I am doing water changes every 2-3 days and testing the water regularly. Yesterday parameters were ammonia between 0 and 0.25ppm and 0 for everything else. pH 8.0 but they seem happy and I've read not to fight too hard against tap water pH. I only plan to stock the tank with easy to care for, peaceful community fish.
I want to use the 20ltr tank for one betta fish. I opened the cheap filter it came with and it contained one coarse sponge, some filter wool and a tiny donut shaped canister of carbon. I have removed the carbon and replace it with as much seachem matrix that will fit.
I want the tank to be completely cycled before I get the betta. What is the best way to go about this? Put the small filter in the big tank (will both filters cycle at the same time?)
