Hi! I’m new here! Am i cycled?

[Jabubaoski]

Hi everyone, I’m Kim and I’m new!
I started my new 29 gallon tank 3 weeks ago after a lot of research, I have some questions that maybe you can help.
1- cycling: I intended to do fishless cycling and started a planted tank with 14 plants (anubias nana, red myrio, fern, red tiger lotus, crypt, etc). I also added used media and a piece of used driftwood from the LFS. 2 weeks in I discovered all sorts of invertebrates (planaria, detritus worms, MTS, mystery snails, copepods, shrimplets and whatever else I can’t see). My tank reading was 7ph and everything else 0. I was advised to add some fish to keep the inverts in check so I added 1 dwarf rainbow, 1 honey gourami, 4 harleys and 4 medaka. 1 week later all my readings have remained the same, 0 everything. I used API master kit + the sticks. I follow instructions and shake vigorously and wait. Is it possible my tank is cycled? What am I doing wrong?
2 - fish fighting/bullying. The rainbow is lonely and chases the 4 harleys a lot. 1 of the Harley (the biggest) chases and nips all the other Harley’s. The other 3 seem to have nipped fins. What can I do? They’d probably benefit from more friends but Is it too premature to add more fish?

Thanks so much!!

 

[Aiken Drum]

A cycled tank would show zero ammonia and nitrite and some nitrate. An uncycled tank would show ammonia and/ or nitrite depending on how far along your cycle is, and possibly some nitrate.

You are seeing nothing. Either you are doing a lot of water changes and essentially testing your tapwater and waste simply doesnt have time to build up. Or there is something wrong with your testing. What has been your water change schedule since adding fish? Can you post a photo of your water test, preferably before a water change.

Those fish are social fish and you are correct that having some more of their own kind will reduce stress. But yes, adding more fish into an uncycled tank would cause issues and as there may be something amiss with your testing we cant be sure whether you are cycled or not.

 

[Jabubaoski]

Thanks Aiken for responding.
I did a 20% water change the first week and a 15% change the 2nd week, I have not done a water change since adding fish. My tap water has fairly neutral PH (7-7.2) and shows no ammonia/nitrite on the API stick test which I did as a baseline. I’m at a loss so I’m just operating as normal until I see a spike of any kind? Maybe my various plants are helping filter/absorb stuff?
I will do a water test tomorrow and take a picture to upload.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Test strips are notoriously inaccurate.

 

[Jabubaoski]

It’s been the same with the api water test kit. I’m due to test tomorrow morning again.

 

[Jabubaoski]

I should add I used API conditioner + Seachem Stability for the first 7 days. I added Stability + Stresscoat the day I added fish. I haven’t added anything in the last week.

 

[Jabubaoski]

Good morning, I did a water test using the API master kit, ph 7 and everything else 0 again. I don’t know how to upload the picture but ammonia is yellow as is nitrate and nitrite is blue…

 

[Aiken Drum]

If your confident you did the tests correctly, you have double checked with a different test kit, get a couple more fish and continue to monitor.

Your test results dont make sense, while its unlikely the plants you have are soaking all the ammonia and nitrate, its possible and is the only explanation i can think of.

 

[Jabubaoski]

Thanks Aiken! I’m baffled and I keep thinking of possibilities or maybe I didn’t administer the test correctly, but I’m pretty sure I followed every step with a timer. I do have a lot of plants, so maybe they’re doing more their fair share, that would be great! The fish do eat and poop regularly that I can observe.

 

[Aiken Drum]

One thing to be aware of is plants need nitrogen and in aquariums that comes from the nitrate. If your plants really are taking up all the available nitrate this will lead to a nutrient deficiency.

If adding more bioload doesnt get the nitrate up above 10ppm you should consider an all in one liquid plant fertiliser that contains a good amount of nitrogen. Most aquarium plant fertilisers essentially contain zero nitrogen. If you live in a country where NA Thrive is available, thats one of the few all in one aquarium plant fertiliser that has nitrogen in it.

 

[Jabubaoski]

Thanks! I currently use API Leafzone weekly, I am keeping an eye on all the plants to see if everything survives/thrives, will note to look for NA Thrive, looks like I can find it on Amazon locally.

 

[Aiken Drum]

The only nutrients in API leafzone are potassium and iron. This excludes many of the nutrients that plants need.

 

[Jabubaoski]

I’m learning this right now! Thanks for letting me know.
Is that why my anubias nanas are showing brown leafs? I do see paler green new leafs sprouting amongst the existing leafs that turned brown. I was thinking perhaps I planted them too deep in the substrate?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Is that why my anubias nanas are showing brown leafs? I do see paler green new leafs sprouting amongst the existing leafs that turned brown.

3 weeks is too short an amount of time to judge plant growth. It could be a sign of nutrient deficiency, but it could also be the plant transitioning from emersed to submerged growth.

Commercially grown plants are cultivated “emersed” rather than “submerged”. This way the plants can easily get their carbon requirement from atmospheric CO2. They can be grown quicker and make the operation much more commercially viable. You take that plant, put it in your aquarium, cut off its source of CO2 and the plant goes into survival mode. It starts to use up its stored carbon and the leafs melt. You may lose all your original growth to melt but new leafs will have a structure more suited to it new environment and get its carbon from the water. Plant melt is a normal stage in aquarium plant growth. To judge the health of a plant look for new growth rather than what might be happening to the original growth, and judge it over extended periods.

I was thinking perhaps I planted them too deep in the substrate?

Try to not bury the rhyzome on rhyzome plants like anubias. The rhyzome can rot if buried and the plant will die. All you really need to do with rhyzome plants is tie or superglue the rhyzome to a piece of rock, driftwood or a plant weight and place it somewhere in your aquascape. These plants dont need to be planted.

 

[Jabubaoski]

Thanks Aiken! That’s very helpful. I was not given the correct advice at the store - I was told to bury the rhizome deep in the substrate, yikes! Should I dig it up now? Or wait and observe? My substrate is Fluval plant stratum on bottom with a layer of fine sand on top.
Thanks again!

 

[Aiken Drum]

One of our members who knows way more about aquarium plants than me has rhyzome plants planted and says they dont rot for him. On the other hand many people report that they do rot and die if the rhyzome is buried. So its certainly not the case they "will" die if the rhyzome is buried. But by taking it out of the substrate you remove the risk. They certainly dont need to be planted.

Its up to you really. If you decide to keep it planted, whatever outcome you see would be useful information to share.

Java fern is a similar rhyzome plant to anubias. I have a lot of java fern and it grows really quickly. I throw a bucketfull of java fern away every month or so, and find it easier to just tie wrap the plant to a plant weight and then i can quickly pull out the plant, remove excess growth, and just drop it back in place. I have 1 anubias and it doesnt grow as fast as java fern but i still like the ease of being able to lift out plants if im able to.

Thats my personal preference though.

 

[Jabubaoski]

Thank you! I’m leaning towards keeping as is because I worry about disturbing the tank too much taking everything rhizomous out as I have 4 anubias nana petite, 1 tiger lily 1 dwarf lily and 1 Java fern that would need digging, that’s 50% of my plants in the tank. The anubias are turning brown and 1 shows signs of melting, others seem ok thus far, I will certainly update this further. I will go brush some sand off the top and see if that helps… I’m learning so much by necessity!