New to aquariums, just wanted to introduce myself.

[EdgarMedina1010]

My tank is up an running! It was fun to set up, and I am following some of the cycling tips and articles from here and many other sites.

Trust me. Id never use live fish while cycling, I think that it's cruel.

There are a lot of bubbles everywhere...on the plants, filter, heater, and glass. Is this normal and how long do they take to go away? I should add in that I used Top Fin conditioner thirty minutes after first running the filter.

Cool, and its very good that you think cycling with live fish its cruel...(even though many people dont care!) And yeah i guess the bubbles will go away, thats what happens to my tank when ever i do a water change...Good luck starting your aquarium.

 

[SparKy697]

I would get some Mbuna (African Chiclids

While these are beautiful and colorful fish, I think your tank is on the marginal size for these fish. They also tend to be a little aggressive and will limit the number and types of other fish you can have in the tank with them.

For the fish I want to keep, I guess I want small colorful ones

These would make small colorful treats for the larger colorful cichlids!

 

[Marconis]

Alright, so I added a small amount of food to get this cycle going. Did I do the right first step :? ?

 

[jamesrm]

Alright, so I added a small amount of food to get this cycle going. Did I do the right first step :? ?

Nope, go to the grocery store or have a parent swing by and get one large frozen shrimp and toss into the tank. Eat the leftover shrimp from the package fried with a bit of garlic and butter.

Or, get some pure ammonia and does in capfuls until you get your ammonia up to about 1 or 2 ppm. (Use your liquid test kit to check this). Remember how many cap fulls it took, as you will need to do this occasionally through your cycle to feed your bacteria.

 

[Marconis]

I think I'll buy the pure ammonia. How long will it take to reach 1-2 ppm?

 

[roka64]

I think I'll buy the pure ammonia. How long will it take to reach 1-2 ppm?

You will have to test for that. I agree about the shrimp. I went and got 5 pieces of jumbo shrimp ($.53), unseasoned and raw, dumped them into two tanks and watched them rot. I imagine the FW cycle is almost the same as a SW, from my reading.

 

[Marconis]

I'm gonna have to go tomorrow to buy it because my parents aren't able to bring me to the market tonight. My water temperature is pretty low, just reaching 70, so I guess I'll wait until the water reaches around 80-82 before I start adding the ammonia. I'll just let my tank chill for tonight.

 

[SparKy697]

I would like to suggest that you crank up the temperature to 86 - 88 deg. F. The bacteria will get a bit of a boost from that. Have you read the article on how to do a Fishless Cycle yet? If not, this would be a good time to read it through and get familiar with it.

When you go to buy your ammonia, make sure it has no colors or perfumes added. I found mine a Ace Hardware, it was sold as professional ammonia and was a 10% solution. The formula that worked for me was to add .34 ml to 10 gallons to raise the residual by 1 ppm. I would suggest that you get it up to around 4 ppm to start with. This will give you a little room to play when it starts coming down. Remember, this is food for your bacteria and you don't want them to go hungry for very long... They will start to die off.

It will be slow in the beginning but be patient.

 

[Marconis]

Ammonia added at 5:19 PM, the cycle begins. I am going to do a test at around 6:20. God ammonia smells like crap.

 

[SparKy697]

If that is what Ammonia smells like, you may want to seriously examine your diet

 

[Marconis]

Hahaha

Okay, so I just tested, and I got a reading between 3-6ish, maybe a little over. I stop adding ammonia for today, correct?

 

[SparKy697]

Yes.

You are done for a couple of days. If you are anything like me you will be checking the water a lot in the coming days. All you really want to do at this point is watch for the nitrIte to start to climb. As it does you should start to see the Ammonia start to fall. When it does, add a little more. Your nitrItes will continue to rise and at some point you will see the nitrItes start to fall. When that happens you are gitting close.

 

[Marconis]

. Thanks for the info. In total, how long did your cycle take?

 

[SparKy697]

I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 days. The longest 14 days too I may add.

 

[Gillie]

You should try to find gold occelatus they are a small cichlid that live in snail shells they are small and have alot of personality