Just a few more questions

[Reaper216]

*Update for anyone following along* I'm still in the midst of cycling my tank. I got a test kit online so Im waiting for that to arrive but I got my water tested at my lfs. Found an amazing employee who truly cares about the fish and has been very helpful since my catastrophe.

My ammonia has come down from "danger" to "stressed" in the last 3 days. Doing a 30% WC tomorrow morning but it seems like I'm on track.

I hooked up a canister filter, and have a million micro-sized air bubbles floating all through the tank. I've checked the water coming out of the new filter and it remains clear. Could the flow be 'bursting' the air bubbles let out of my air stone?

Second, I want to redo the decor in my tank. I was thinking about doing sand in the front area, then make a 'shelf' out of rocks that will have some caves within. And ontop and behind the rocks fill in with gravel. Any tips/ideas?

I have been looking into live plants. Being a beginner, should I just stick to getting fish in my tank and keeping them healthy, and look to plants later on? Or, are they easy enough to care for now? Do I need Co2 or would the fish give off enough?

Lastly, Do I need an air stone? I want a natural looking tank, and the constant air flow looks unnatural. Not to mention the lines of air tubing running down the back of the tank.

 

[Masha]

I'm a beginner too, so keep that in mind when following my advice. Pinch of salt!

Some plants are very easy, like Java fern and Java moss. They are good for the water (remove some nitrates) and I think fish like them better than fake plants.

Dont get a too bright light, they dont need it and that might cause algea.

I've just started adding a little Seachem Flourish to help them along and they are doing great. You can also get those floating plants, dont know what those are called. They grow quite quickly and look nice too.

I don't believe you need CO2 with these plants, and you only need an airstone if the water flow in your tank is inadequate.

I like your decor ideas, going to look great! I want to make a little cave too, but that will have to wait

 

[Caliban07]

Hi reaper.

Going off the info you have given me I'd suggest that you wait until you stabilise the tank with its current set up first and see if the fish are ok.

It sounds to me like you have ammonia problems and may not have finished your cycle yet. I'm not sure what advice you have already been given on here and I'm probably repeating what others have already said but here's a few reasons why you gave high ammonia.

Tank not cycled.
Too many fish too quickly
Overfeeding
Failing to remove dead fish
Failing to remove rotting plantation.

I would suggest skipping feeding for a couple of days if you have fish in and do a 50% water change.

If you have removed the filter that was already in place for the canister filter then this will stall the cycle even further because that's where most if your good bacteria live. unless you put the sponge from the other filter in the new canister filter but I'm not sure if this can be done having had no experience with canister filters.

Also there are already small colonies of good bacteria on the ornaments/decor, plants and substrate and if you change this then you are going to stall your cycle and ammonia is going to continue to be a problem.

 

[Reaper216]

Ammonia is high from failing to cycle in the first place. And no I left the other filter on there, I figured 2 filters were better than 1 heh.

 

[Caliban07]

That's good. I would just wait till cycle completes and take it from there.