My very own 75g stocking / build thread!

[BigJim]

Short answer: Yes, heater wattage is cumulative. Long answer: It's long and complicated and really unnecessary in this case.

Two heaters are generally preferred to one large heater. There's less chance of a tank catastrophe if a heater dies or runs away. The other heater will compensate if one dies and a smaller heater can't heat the water as quickly in the case of a runaway.

 

[MartinBlank]

Ok... so I waaaaaay overdosed the ammonia.... measured off the charts tonight....

2 very large water changes and it is down to 3-5 PPM.

I am assuming that the overabundance of ammonia didn't have an adverse affect on the bacteria from the substrate and filter media I transferred from my established 10?

 

[krap101]

The ammonia won't kill the bacteria, but it could stall your cycle when in high enough amounts.

 

[mommytron]

sounds like you took care of the overdose promptly, i wouldn't worry about a stall or anything.

 

[MartinBlank]

Also, at what point should I start worrying that ammonia levels are not going down?

I did put some substrate and a small amount of filter media from my established tank, but that was a 10 gallon (with 6 small white clouds and a betta). This is a 75 gallon with ammonia readings at around 5 PPM... so I realize that it will probably take a while...

But just wondering at what point I should start being a bit concerned. I like to plan out all my worrying ahead of time

 

[krap101]

I think around 1-2 weeks, if your ammonia doesn't start going down, then you should start checking if there's something wrong.

 

[logansmomma1228]

Also, at what point should I start worrying that ammonia levels are not going down?

I did put some substrate and a small amount of filter media from my established tank, but that was a 10 gallon (with 6 small white clouds and a betta). This is a 75 gallon with ammonia readings at around 5 PPM... so I realize that it will probably take a while...

But just wondering at what point I should start being a bit concerned. I like to plan out all my worrying ahead of time

I took some substrate, a couple decorations, and a filter media from my 5 gallon to est my 29 gal. It cycled in a week, and all that was in the 5 was snails. So hopefully it won't take too long for you. Every tank is different, but I am sure it will be quick

 

[MartinBlank]

Took readings last night and I am pretty confident that ammonia is going down.

Thanks all.

 

[MartinBlank]

Dosed Ammonia back up to 4-5 PPM last Thursday. Was out of town then and on Sunday checked and Ammonia was at 0.

I didn't check Nitrites yet as I promptly dosed the ammonia back to 4 PPM or so and we'll see where it is as tonight. Things are finally getting moving though... very exciting stuff.

 

[meegosh]

Sounds like you are nearing the end! Congrats! Keep us updated.

 

[MartinBlank]

Thanks. It has been a long time coming.

The latest incarnation of my stocking list consists of:

9 white clouds
9-11 cherry barbs
9-11 glowlight tetras
11-13 julii corys
11-13 dwarf neon rainbowfish
4 red mickey mouse swordtails

The White Clouds will be in first as 6 of them are a transplant from an existing tank. But after that, any recommendations on order?

I was thinking:
White Clouds
Tetras
Barbs
Rainbows
Corys
Swordtails

Whatcha think?

And lastly, if my tank is handling 4 PPM of ammonia in 24 hours, how many fish do you think I could add? Could I add the white clouds and tetras at the same time? Or would that be pushing it?

 

[mommytron]

you should be fine to add the tetras and clouds at the same time. especially in such a large tank. sounds like a nice stock list. i just picked up some glowlights myself, very cool i love julii cories, too

 

[MartinBlank]

Ok... so very close.... checking tonight and 0 ammonia... .25 nitrites though... so dosed again and we'll hope to see 0 on both tomorrow!

If the aquarium is handling 4-5 PPM of ammonia.. would it be out of the question to add the white clouds, tetras and barbs? I know that one of the benefits of fishless cycling is so you can add large numbers of fish at a time (for example you can add all the cichlids to a tank so they are all establishing their territory at the same time).

Or is trying to add 27 or so (small) fish just a really bad idea?

And if so, after the White Clouds and Tetras are added... how long to wait before adding the Barbs etc? a week in between adding each species?

 

[meegosh]

I personally play it safe when stocking tanks. I take it really slow just to be sure. I have never added more than 10 fish to a tank at a time. I typically wait two weeks (monitoring water parameters throughout) before adding another group.

 

[MartinBlank]

I personally play it safe when stocking tanks. I take it really slow just to be sure. I have never added more than 10 fish to a tank at a time. I typically wait two weeks (monitoring water parameters throughout) before adding another group.

Absolutely. I guess what I would like to avoid is that with the fishless cycle I have grown all this very nice bacteria... then I add X amount of fish, and half the bacteria starves to death because the bioload plummets from 4 PPM every 24 hours to whatever the fish generate. That's all

 

[MartinBlank]

So quite a bit of very good news.

Thursday evening, I came home with 3 white clouds and 7 cardinal tetras. I got the existing 6 white clouds out of the 10 gallon and the 7 Cardinals went in with the Betta.

Thankfully the betta continued his peaceful nature and basically ignores the cardinals. The cardinals look great and are eating and seem healthy.

The white clouds went into the 75 gallon Thursday night. Friday afternoon 11 cherry barbs and 11 glowlight tetras arrived and were also added to the 75.

So far everybody appears healthy and as of Sunday the water parameters look good. The tank is a flurry of activity. Really fun to watch.

I will post either video or pictures in the next few days.

 

[MartinBlank]

So far overall things have gone very well.

The fish in the 75 continue to do well.

Had a bit of a setback on the 10 gallon though, as we are down to 6 cardinals. One of the cardinals I got was quite tiny, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the betta got him. I can't think of what else it could have been, as he has completely disappeared. He is not in the filter, I checked there.

The other 6 cardinals are doing well, and they are quite a bit larger so I don't think they are in any real danger....

 

[meegosh]

Sounds like you are doing good! We definitely need some pictures or a video! Sorry to hear about your one neon. If it makes you feel any better I only have 2 neons left out of the 10 I started with two years ago. One is having swim bladder issues and isn't responding well to treatments - to boot.

 

[MartinBlank]

Ok, at long last, here is a very shoddy video of my 75.

So far in the tank are the White Clouds, Cherry Barbs, Glowlight Tetras, and the Rainbowfish were added 4 days ago....

Watching the video, I highly recommend bumping it to 480 so it is less crappy. Sorry I didn't stay in one place very long.... very herky jerky.. hard to take in 4 feet of tank with a Flip I guess... trying to catch all the action at once...

A first video.... hopefully my next ones are better:

YouTube - 75 Gallon Community Tank.mp4

Let me know what you think or if you see anything I should be concerned about

 

[Aquarium1]

Tank looks sweet and your fish seem to love it. Great work