Need your expertise

[Vio]

Hi,

I'm new at this! So i bought a 26 gallon from someone with all equipment : filter, heater, air pump, even some used gravel.
He emptied it few days before i got it. So the filter still had bacteria i suppose, and the gravel.
I filled it with tap water, waited few days to measure chlorine, it was at 0 after 4 days. I then put the filter on, heater, more gravel and few new plants, rocks. The filter head makes litlle surface movement and i have a air stone (now 2).
i then began to measure the water parameters. Gh kh and ph were low, so after few days i added crushed oysters shells and 1 tsp baking soda. Which helped. I also added a handful of my compost as i read it was good for bacteria, and some bread. Then i begin to add 1 tsp of fish food flakes everyday. Quickly,
gh went from <3 to >4, kh went from 3 to 4.5, Ph took longer, went from 6.4 to 6.8 in a week. For info, this parameters are back to start after 1 more week.
Nitrite went from 0.25 to 0 in a week and still is.
Nitrates went 18 to 25 in a week then >25 since a week. But <50.
I did not have the stuff to measure ammonia, but i have been since 4 days and its at 0.
So now, my question is : is it cycled or i messed up??
Should i add more food to see if ammonia spike? But when should i measure?
And what to do for gh, kh, ph?

Thank you for any help, advise!!

Ps: the plant arent dead, there is even new stems.
And there is fluffy stuff on the bread and food, and a gluey white stuff on tubes, etc...and the water is clear but the window would need a clean.lol

 

[Aiken Drum]

Adding fish food is a really poor way of dosing ammonia. To be considered cycled you need to be introducing an amount of ammonia, and with slowly decomposing fish food how do you know how much food is needed to get that amount of ammonia?

You should be adding enough food daily to feed a fully stocked tank, and if you are doing that and seeing zero ammonia and nitrite then you should be cycled. The only way to really know if you have been adding enough food for long enough is to dose some ammonia/ ammonium chloride to 2ppm and see if cycles out in 24 hours, or get some fish and see what happens.

You have quite a lot of nitrate that suggests your bacterial colony is established to some degree (unless the nitrate is present in your tap water). But is it enough to consider yourself "cycled"?

Its safe to add a few fish, monitor things, and increase the number of fish slowly if the parameters stay stable.

Not sure what you mean by "what to do for*gh,*kh, ph?"

Some fish like soft acidic water, some fish like hard alkaline water. Most fish will do well if the parameters are somewhere in the middle like yours are. Its far more important to keep things constant than try and chase a number you consider ideal which usually leads to fluctuating parameters that is stressful for the fish. If you can maintain those parameters with the measures you are taking then no need to try and further alter them unless you plan to keep fish that prefer the extreme end of the hard/ alkaline scale. If you plan on keeping fish that like soft, acidic water the measures you are taking arent needed.

The fluffy stuff is probably mould. Another downside to using food as an ammonia source.

 

[Vio]

Hi,
Thank you for your reply. So if i add some neon tetras, do i change the water before or only after a few days? And do i clean the mould first or it will go away?

 

[Vio]

Also today, which i thought was dirt on the glass, was 2 mini snails! Must have come from the aquatic plants or the previous gravel?!

 

[Autumnsky]

Also today, which i thought was dirt on the glass, was 2 mini snails! Must have come from the aquatic plants or the previous gravel?!

Probably the plants. if you can get pics you could post them for a possible ID.

 

[Vio]

I think they are ramshorn snails because of shape and behavior?!

They are so tiny, but here pics.

 

[Autumnsky]

Oh yes, RH looking snails.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Hi,
Thank you for your reply. So if i add some neon tetras, do i change the water before or only after a few days? And do i clean the mould first or it will go away?

I would do a big water change, like 75%, to get your nitrate down below 10ppm before adding fish.

While doing your water change take the opportunity to syphon out any left over food, if you can syphon out the moldy bread do so, otherwise manually remove it. Im really not sure what the point of the bread is. Not something ive ever come across doing.

 

[huma-huma]

I would do a big water change, like 75%, to get your nitrate down below 10ppm before adding fish.

While doing your water change take the opportunity to syphon out any left over food, if you can syphon out the moldy bread do so, otherwise manually remove it. Im really not sure what the point of the bread is. Not something ive ever come across doing.

Def 2nd a big WC and removing any mold/debris/ foreign objects from the tank BEFORE introducing fish

 

[Vio]

Thank you!!!

 

[Vio]

Im really not sure what the point of the bread is. Not something ive ever come across doing.

I read somewhere that any food will do to add ammonia, and i had old bread lol i thought would decompose nicely. Was pretty gross but i did it once and bought some flakes instead. But apparently not ideal either.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I suppose it would be an ammonia source. I was wondering if maybe you had read that the yeasts in bread supplied beneficial bacteria that would help the cycling and that would have been interesting.

Ive read that a dead fish can be good as an ammonia and the bacteria present in the dead fish guts can help with cycling. Cocktail shrimp are often used to cycle.

 

[Vio]

So with what my local pet shop has available, im thinking of getting tetras, danios and gouramis.
Should i begin with the danios? As my plants are growing?
And should i put sand on top of the fluorite for these 3 types of fish?
Its not for now, but i really dont know which tetra to get, they are all so pretty!
What variables could make me decide??
And how many fish can i have? Is there a way of calculating once i know the type of each? I heard the 1inch rule isnt really good.
Thanks

 

[Aiken Drum]

If you are going for gourami then i would avoid dwarf gourami. Its estimated that 30% of the DG sold in the aquatic trade are infected with dwarf gourami disease. It cant be treated, is fatal, and once your tank is infected it can only be removed with complete disinfection and do-over. Honey gourami are a suitable alternative that are much less prone to be carrying the disease.

Danios would be a good choice to add first. They are quite hardy and tolerant of less than perfect water quality. Note that zebra danios are intensively bred, largely for medical experimental. As such they are prone to genetic defects. About 50% of the zebras ive bought over the last couple of years end up with twisted spinal defects. They seem happy enough, it just looks unsightly. Im really liking glowlight danios at the moment (not to be confused with glofish danios that are GM versions of zebra danios).

Given your tank is likely cycled to some degree id start with 6 fish.

 

[Vio]

Yeah i was thinking glowlight danio too because they are very pretty.
Thanks for all the infos!
Im excited to get my first fishes!!

 

[Vio]

They dont have them finally, i will go tomorrow and have a look what they have
But today a new occupant appeared! This time i think its a bladder snail!
I might just have a snail aquarium...