My 50 Gallon with a home made stand

[mdl76]

Hi all! Just wanted to thank eveyone on this site for the great info and nice pics. here is a pic of my tank I just filled up tonight. I built the stand myself and I have a matching canopy in the garage that is still getting its finishing coat. I tested my water and I think is all good. PH = 7.25, kh = 6 GH = 8-9 ( if i recall the KH & GH correctly). Anyhow, Im going to add plants and fish when the time is right. I just need to read more to find out the right time! I may add more light and CO2 in the future but none for now. I will probably rearrange stuff when my girlfriend can give me some advice when she gets home.
Im suprised how clear the water is for only being filled about 3hrs from the time I took this pic.
I have a lot more to do/buy for this, its just the start
Anyhow, I just felt like posting it so thanks for looking!
--mike

 

[travis simonson]

That looks great Mike And welcome to AquariumAdvice! I like the finish on the woodwork, it really brought the grain out. I wish I could build a stand for my tanks without worrying that it would collapse as soon as I added water

I'm surprised at how clear your water is too. It's not often that you see it clear up that quickly after adding it in. It could be a sign of good things to come

 

[TwoHobbies]

Welcome:

Your stand looks great, I don't have the skill, and or tools to build that. Great job. That filter must be working good ( that water is clear)

You could add some plants right away if you would like to. I'd add prime or something like it to the water.

You're off to a great start, Have fun

 

[Meredith]

That is very nice! I love the color!

 

[rich311k]

Nice looking tank.

 

[Ryehard]

That stand is beautiful. I'm hoping to do that sometime in the future for a 75 gallon so now I have the perfect inspiration. Lets hope I have the skills as well . I can't wait to see more pics as the tank progresses!

 

[GodOSoot]

Doesn't Eco-Complete come with live bacteria in it, and wouldn't filling up with untreated tap water kill them?

 

[mdl76]

I did treat the water for chlorine and chloramine. I did some checks and all looks good but obviously my ammonia is 0 and the nitrite and nitrate is 0. I was running the filter for a week on a establised tank so I think the filter has the bacteria in it but now I need to add some ammonia. how much sure I add? 1tbs? and when I add this ill see the ammonia go up then as the bacteria gets going it will go back down I take it and the nitrate will go up? with eco-complete there is already bacteria that will ride of ammonia right?

rich311k
I read this in one thread
"I test for everything everyday when I am cycling. It probably is not necessary to run nitrates until you see nitrites. Try to keep your ammonia at 2 until you see nitrites then keep it a 1"

Lonewolfblue
"I generally only watch ammonia when I'm cycle. Then when it runs to 0ppm, I'll then watch both ammonia and nitrite. When both go to 0pp, in a day, I do a 50-75% pwc and add fish."

I know all I need to know is in these forums but its a bit hard to locate it all and piece it together

I only have a sponge and 2 stages of polyfiber in my fluval 304. should I be using fluval bio-max rings in the filter for more area for bacteria population? thanks for all the kind comments and feedback.

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/bcycling.htm

this is a great article

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Yeah, I'd use the biomax rings, or some other biological media (the rings came with it right?)

In my 304 I run Sponge -> Floss(bottom chambers) -> Seachem Matrix(biorings of a different flavour) -> Floss in the top chambers. and it seems to effectively remove just about everything that goes in.

I love what you've done with the driftwood, it makes some very neat levels of gravel.

I would plant the tank, then slowly add fish, plants consume ammonia directly FYI. if you get enough for your bioload, it's instant cycle (different kind of cycle that doesn't depend on bacteria)..

 

[mdl76]

Yeah, I'd use the biomax rings, or some other biological media (the rings came with it right?)

In my 304 I run Sponge -> Floss(bottom chambers) -> Seachem Matrix(biorings of a different flavour) -> Floss in the top chambers. and it seems to effectively remove just about everything that goes in.

I love what you've done with the driftwood, it makes some very neat levels of gravel.

I would plant the tank, then slowly add fish, plants consume ammonia directly FYI. if you get enough for your bioload, it's instant cycle (different kind of cycle that doesn't depend on bacteria)..

yah, im going to be getting plants real soon. i just didnt know if the bio max would make it harder for the plants to get their nutrients.

 

[czcz]

Plants and bacteria will naturally compete for ammonia, but do not worry too much about this since in the end the plants can meet their nitrogen requirement through NO3. A great plan is to keep a lot of biomedia in the filter and plant heavily to provide a sort of redundancy, as you'll have plenty of space for an estabilished bacteria colony to grow should there be trace ammonia left by the plants. You could also move forward with the current media in the filter and many fast growing plants to help through initial fish stocking. A good way to have fun with this is to add your plants and dose known amounts of ammonia (say, 2ppm) and measure how long it takes to drop.

Very attractive tank!

 

[mdl76]

ok.. after looking I dont feel like driving 1000 miles to find pure ammonia!

so I add about 2oz of my very own urine. If this works well I will be selling it on ebay as organic fishless cycling liquid.

All the forums I read on this subject are all just DEAD ENDS. no answers but 1 guy did say he does it and it works well. I seen many people dis this idea, but they have no proof. So I will find the answer.

ill kepp you posted on the results

 

[ringfinger]

8O

Couldn't be too much different than fish pee...

 

[7Enigma]

I do not believe that was a good idea. Urea and ammonia are chemically different and I do not know how well you will establish the kind of bacteria you need. With my limited chemistry background the energy required to use the nitrogen in ammonia would be significantly less than that of urea, and thus the bacteria would grow more slowly. Compound that with the fact that Urea is NOT the only thing present in urine (other salts and waste material), and I would NOT dose anymore urine!

Use a raw shrimp in a bag if you cannot find pure ammonia.

FYI

NH3 is ammonia

CO(NH2)2 is urea

EDIT: Just looked up the composition of human urine (almost looks like Flourish )

Thanks to wiki

Great looking tank btw.

 

[GodOSoot]

Once you get past the Creatinine and Uric Acid it looks to me to be a good all around fertalizer.

Urea is also good for plants because of the nitrogen it holds.

I see no problem in what your are doing. I personally wouldn't it try it with fish in the tank though. Although getting a fully planted but otherwise unstocked tank started seems to me like a it would work just fine.

 

[7Enigma]

GodOSoot,

My problem (as already mentioned) is that it requires more energy to use the urine for metabolic purposes than it does for ammonia. Also keep in mind you are only getting a maximum of 2.05% of usable nitrogen. You would need to add 15 times as much to get the same concentration of ammonia (using a 30% stock solution), not to mention if you are using medical grade powdered ammonia (I used 1ml for 3-5ppm in my 20gallon).

 

[GodOSoot]

Well if it is all he can get...I agree it is definetly not the best way. Just enough to get it slightly started, fish or pure ammonia would obviously be much better.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

don't add any if you've been drinking the night before

And, yes. that looks like a great fertalizer if you could remove the acid and creatine (not sure what that is).. but otherwise it looks like the ingredient list for some fertalizers..

Raw shrimp would be a chemically more stable method.

 

[azn_fishy55]

ewwwww *twitch* *twitch* that idea is sorta grotesque.Why cycle a planted tank,if your gonna have heavy plating all you need to do is add some fast growers and some other plants some CO2 and your plants will absorb all the ammonia,just don't add too much at one time because plants can't keep up.My suggestion is add all your plants(mostly fast growers e.g hygrophila sp.) and run the tank for a few days.After a week or so add your first fish like algae eaters is your seeing any algae(my preferred species are SAEs but they are hard to come by) and slowly increase the bio-load.This cycling method doesn't apply to tanks without plants,why build up a LARGE bacterial colony when your plants are gonna use most of the ammonia produced anyways?

 

[mdl76]

Rest all, I FOUND PURE AMMONIA!! Ace Hardware has their own brand. I did dump about 1/4 cup of my wee into the tank and it took about 12 hrs to get a reading of about 0.5-1.0. I am not adding anymore wee. I put in 1/2 a cap of the ammonia and let if simmer for about half an hour and took my reading. im at about 4-5 so I think its good for now. im following a table like this:

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/flc-data.htm