Hello there! A few newby questions!

[paultheairman]

Hi! We are Pablo and Mercedes, from switzerland, looking to get into this small universe of fishkeeping. We live in the mountains and love animals. We work long hours out of hour house and cant keep a dog or cat, we would have to leave our pet alone for more than 10hrs a day, so we opted for fishes!

We are about to buy our first aquarium tomorrow! After some research we opted for the Juwel primo 70.

We would love some advice on a starter kit (the aquarium comes with a filter, pump, heater, and led lights) we got on the side, 500ml of Tetra aquasafe, a siphon, a siphon starter pump, and a small net. Is there anything else we absolutely need to start the water cycle tomorrow?

We are going to go with fishless cycle, but we would like some plants, which plants would you recommend for our tank (70lt/20gal) with an 8wt / 624 lumen led light?

Any advise is welcomed!
Looking forward to your answers!
PyM

 

[Autumnsky]

Best bet is to start with the article in my signature just to verify you haven't missed out an any special bits of information which would be useful!!!

Welcome to the community and the actually very large small world of fish keeping!

Great choice for a leave the pet alone for 10 hours pet!

 

[Delapool]

Welcome

 

[paultheairman]

Welcome

Thank you! Any word of advice?

 

[paultheairman]

Best bet is to start with the article in my signature just to verify you haven't missed out an any special bits of information which would be useful!!!

Welcome to the community and the actually very large small world of fish keeping!

Great choice for a leave the pet alone for 10 hours pet!

Thank you for the guide, very useful indeed. I cant seem to find the API test kit in my area. Have you ever heard of a brand called jbl? They sell some test kits, but without mean of measuring Ammonia. Is it crucial for the first cycle of the tank to measure ammonia?

 

[TMaier]

I haven't used jbl but Delapool has! Hopefully he will see your post.

Testing for ammonia is really important. You could wait until you see nitrates on your tests but that won't be enough indication your done with cycling. Ammonia can pop back up on us!

 

[V227]

Welcome.
As for your first plants, I believe low light ones like the anubias varieties and java fern would work. If you go that route you will need a few rocks and maybe a small piece of driftwood to attach the roots. Low light plants are hard to kill, just got to keep the leaves algae free.
Although easy to maintain, the low light varieties still need nutrients. Mine have done fine on just fish waste but if you are going fishless for a while some type of fertilization might be needed.
There are some very accomplished aquarium gardeners (AA members) who regularly post. I'm sure more information will become available to you.
As for water testing kits, I can't help you there, never used them. Then again I've always cycled new tanks old school. Cycling fishless probably increases the need for testing.
There are some awesome tanks posted on AA by members who test regularly.
Good luck with your new tank.

 

[Autumnsky]

Ammonia test is really important. Can you order the test kit online?

 

[toolman]

Java ferns, Java moss and anubias are good starter plants. Wisteria is also a good choice, I couldn't kill it. Lol

 

[Delapool]

I haven't used jbl but Delapool has! Hopefully he will see your post.

Testing for ammonia is really important. You could wait until you see nitrates on your tests but that won't be enough indication your done with cycling. Ammonia can pop back up on us!

Plus one on this - need ammonia test. The JBL PROSCAN I have covers nitrites but you need an ammonia test kit. Helps later on for checking after e.g. filter cleans as well imo.

 

[paultheairman]

Plus one on this - need ammonia test. The JBL PROSCAN I have covers nitrites but you need an ammonia test kit. Helps later on for checking after e.g. filter cleans as well imo.

I have ordered it from amazon. I should have it next week!

Meanwhile I got a Anubias in the tank, with some fertilizer and Im adding some fish food in little doses every night.

I got the right ammonia, Im now waiting for the testing kit to start dosing it.

 

[amethystfern]

Any anubias variety is a good start. Sagittarias are easy and hardy plants, same goes for banana plants. Marimo moss balls are always easy and helpful, as well. I have some of each that I've mentioned. I've been tank keeping for less than a year and these are the ones that have done well for me.
From my experience so far, the only thing I wouldn't recommend is hornwort. I found it wasn't easy to keep in my goldfish tank. It died gradually which created a huge mess that I was cleaning from my tank for months.