Hi i'm new :)

[starlight682]

Hi i'm new to the forum
i picked up a 29 gallon freshwater tank, which i'm doing a fishless cycle on right now
my ammonia is up to 3ppm with the shrimp method on day 3 of the cycle
i have a few questions
1. do i pull the shrimp out when the ammonia gets to 4-5 ppm or do i leave it in during the whole cycle ( it's starting to stink lol)

2. i want to do a planted tank with mosses and low light plants so i'm wondering what co2 system i should get if any for mosses, i've read conflicting info on it

3. what does moss attach to best drift wood or rock ?

thanks so much everyone happy to be here

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Welcome to AA.
I have moved your thread to the getting started section so you get more responses.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

to AA!
Unfortunately I can't help a lot but I think on #1 you can remove it to add in new. #3 I think it all sticks better to driftwood when not using any type of glue.

 

[starlight682]

to AA!
Unfortunately I can't help a lot but I think on #1 you can remove it to add in new. #3 I think it all sticks better to driftwood when not using any type of glue.

thanks for the welcome and reply, it just stinks so bad lol but the ammonia is going up so it's doing what it's suppose too i guess i'm just worried if i take it out when the nitrites start to eat the ammonia that the good bacteria will die if i remove their food source completely but also don't want the ammonia levels to go over 5ppm either

also i was thinking the drift wood would be better because it has more to grip on to thanks for the feedback

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Your BB won't die off that fast but if it sticks and I couldn't stand it it would for sure be coming out.

 

[starlight682]

yeah i'm thinking at this point the pure ammonia way would have been a better option guess for my next tank i'll do it that way
live and learn i guess

 

[librarygirl]

If ammonia is up to 3 I'd say it's safe to remove it for now. As ammonia levels fall you'll either have to put it back in to get ammonia up again or start using pure ammonia.

If you're going to use low-light plants and mosses you won't necessarily need co2. I have low-light plants and moss without Co2 and everything is growing well.

Pretty much any moss will attach to driftwood or rock. Java moss is the most common but there are others like Peacock (my personal favorite), Tawain, Christmas moss, etc. You'll have to tie it down with something at first (cotton thread or fishing line) but as it grows it'll start attaching itself.

 

[starlight682]

thanks for the info i just pulled the shrimp my readings were between 4-5 ppm this morning i just didn't want them to get too high, i do have another shrimp so when the ammonia starts to go down again i'll throw a small chopped section in or just get so regular ammonia which seems to be easier to monitor

good to know about the moss's and plants do you use any special stuff for the plants and moss's? i was looking at flourish wondering if that's a good idea or not ?

thanks again for your help

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I just use the tabs

 

[brennae]

Welcome to AA and good luck on your tank!

Some nice lowlight plants are anubias and swords. My swords grow well with root tabs.

 

[librarygirl]

thanks for the info i just pulled the shrimp my readings were between 4-5 ppm this morning i just didn't want them to get too high, i do have another shrimp so when the ammonia starts to go down again i'll throw a small chopped section in or just get so regular ammonia which seems to be easier to monitor

good to know about the moss's and plants do you use any special stuff for the plants and moss's? i was looking at flourish wondering if that's a good idea or not ?

thanks again for your help

Sounds like a good plan in terms of the shrimp. 4-5ppm of ammonia is good to start with, you wouldn't want it to get any higher than that.

I don't use anything for the plants I have (Vals, java fern, moss). I might throw in some Flourish once a week or so if I remember but the plants do fine without it. Some plants would benefit from root tabs (swords or crypts especially) but my java ferns are growing without those too. Just be careful when planting anubias or java fern; they mostly like being attached to wood or rocks; if the rhizome is buried they tend to die off. It will depend on your light too; the more light you have the more nutrients the plants need. So if you have more light then you'd likely have to dose some sort of fertilizer. What lights are on your tank now? Most stock lights that come with the tank are considered pretty low-light so if you stick with low-light plants and maybe add some root tabs you should be fine.

 

[starlight682]

sorry for the delayed response i'm just using the led lights that came with the tank i got the marineland 29 gallon tank kit so the lights are built into the hood
i was thinking it would be ok for low light plant but might get on of the t5's if i have any problem with the plants

 

[starlight682]

here's my tank thus far not much but a rock some substrate and a sword plant lol
my ammonia is a 4-5 ppm right now i had to do a small water change because my ammonia spiked over night to7-8 ppm but i got it back down
my nitrites are between 0-.25 they have been this way for a day or 2 though so maybe with the water change it will get the cycle back on track (fingers crossed)

 

[starlight682]

ok so i guess i use this thread to record my progress

today's readings
Ph: 8.2
Ammonia:4-5 ppm
Nitrite: 0-.25 ( looks a little purplish to me)
Nitrate: 0ppm

 

[starlight682]

so i got an active filter from Angels plus it's installed hoping it speeds things up a little
any one know what can stall a cycle besides low PH
my ph is at 8.2
ammonia : 3-4 ppm ( did a little water change becasue the ammonia was a littler higher than i wanted and though that might be stalling the cycle)
nitrites: 0-.25 ( still looks a little purplish)
nitrates: 0

also how long till i see results with the active filter ?

 

[librarygirl]

I wouldn't worry yet; you're barely two weeks in. It often takes that long or longer for the ammonia to start dropping. If you are seeing nitrites already that's a good sign. Also the active filter should help a lot; if it does the results should be pretty quick, within a few days I'd say, at least that's what happened when I used mine.

 

[starlight682]

Update time

well tank has been fully cycled for about 2-2 1/2 weeks now thanks to the angelplus filter
readings are
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
NitrAte:30 or less

i started adding fish slowly as not to overload the new bacteria
to date i have
-3 Julli cory cats (i love these guy they are awesome and way more active than i thought they would be
-2 peppered cory cats- also awesome
i also have these guys
5 long finned zebra danios
2 long finned leopard danios

8 ghost shrimp and a few ramshore snails

all my fish are great but the danios are kinda driving me nuts, they chase each other and nip each others fins and they steal all the food i put down for the shrimp and the cory cats

well here's the tank picture not a very good one as the tanis is still leaching from the driftwood
also still need to get a background not sure what color i should get any advice on the back ground color would be great
also i am going to be moving the heater to the side later this week and also going to be adding more plants in the tank
not completely happy with the driftwood set up but i can't figure out what else to do with it right now so i just left it till i can figure it out or get another piece of driftwood in there that works better

 

[jmeheliboy]

Update time

well tank has been fully cycled for about 2-2 1/2 weeks now thanks to the angelplus filter
readings are
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
NitrAte:30 or less

i started adding fish slowly as not to overload the new bacteria
to date i have
-3 Julli cory cats (i love these guy they are awesome and way more active than i thought they would be
-2 peppered cory cats- also awesome
i also have these guys
5 long finned zebra danios
2 long finned leopard danios

8 ghost shrimp and a few ramshore snails

all my fish are great but the danios are kinda driving me nuts, they chase each other and nip each others fins and they steal all the food i put down for the shrimp and the cory cats

well here's the tank picture not a very good one as the tanis is still leaching from the driftwood
also still need to get a background not sure what color i should get any advice on the back ground color would be great
also i am going to be moving the heater to the side later this week and also going to be adding more plants in the tank
not completely happy with the driftwood set up but i can't figure out what else to do with it right now so i just left it till i can figure it out or get another piece of driftwood in there that works better

Are you using carbon that will clean the water for u

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Update time

well tank has been fully cycled for about 2-2 1/2 weeks now thanks to the angelplus filter
readings are
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
NitrAte:30 or less

i started adding fish slowly as not to overload the new bacteria
to date i have
-3 Julli cory cats (i love these guy they are awesome and way more active than i thought they would be
-2 peppered cory cats- also awesome
i also have these guys
5 long finned zebra danios
2 long finned leopard danios

8 ghost shrimp and a few ramshore snails

all my fish are great but the danios are kinda driving me nuts, they chase each other and nip each others fins and they steal all the food i put down for the shrimp and the cory cats

well here's the tank picture not a very good one as the tanis is still leaching from the driftwood
also still need to get a background not sure what color i should get any advice on the back ground color would be great
also i am going to be moving the heater to the side later this week and also going to be adding more plants in the tank
not completely happy with the driftwood set up but i can't figure out what else to do with it right now so i just left it till i can figure it out or get another piece of driftwood in there that works better

The background would look great black, you can easily do this with a black trash bag, paint it or by buying a backer from a lfs. My first thought was the tank looks great. The background and plant growth that will come over time will make it even look better also driftwood placement I like. I even kinda like the tannins in your set up, maybe a little to much but it will calm down over time with water changes. Did you boil the wood at all?

Are you using carbon that will clean the water for u

That isn't going to help very much

 

[librarygirl]

+1 to a black background. Petsmart and Petco sell black backgrounds pretty cheap or you can make your own with a black trash bag (as Andrew said) or some black fabric attached with Velcro.

Danios can be nippy; they're probably establishing territories. As long as no one is getting hurt I'd let it play out and see if it calms down.

Feeding corys can be tricky. you mght want to add some shrimp pellets or an algae or veggie wafer at night after you turn the lights off so the corys have a better chance of getting some food.

The tank looks great. Congrats on your fish!