My nano setup - where Im at... PICS

[Bunny]

Picked up about 14lbs of liverock and some substrate (just enough to cover the bottom of a 10g), and was donated a damsel along with 5g of water. Put it all in the 10g with a powerhead and heater- my 36w CP light, nano-sized powerhead and filter come today. I wouldnt usually ever add a fish to a new setup, but I figured since 50% of the water, all 14lbs of rock, and all the substrate came from the fish's home tank we'd be ok.

readings are:

Nitrites: 40 first thing this morning and now 20. Is it typical for them to drop so fast?
Nitrates 0
Ammonia 0
PH ~8.5

When do you guys think it would be safe to add a shrimp or feather duster? I know- patience- and I am- just looking for input The liverock and crushed coral was about a year in the guys tank I bought it from (not less than that- and he bought it from others before that).

 

[roka64]

One note, the beneficial bacteria does not really reside in the water column. It tends to live in your substrate, rock, filter media and other equipment. It almost sounds as if the beneficial bacteria is catching up to the task of converting the ammonia/nitrItes into nitrAtes. I would keep a careful watch and get some PWC ready in the event of an ammonia spike or to reduce the nitrItes.
As for adding anything else living, I would wait till you have 0 ammonia and nitrItes (these two are very toxic to your critters).

 

[Bunny]

Thanks. Forgot to add the part about "after everything hits 0" how long should I wait?

Ive been through this process before, but listened to the store staff instead of the hobbiests with tragic results...Im doing it right this time.

 

[roka64]

When you hit 0s on ammonia and nitrItes do a PWC to reduce your nitrAtes and you can add inverts and maybe another fish.

 

[lando]

moved to nano forum

 

[Bunny]

 

[roka64]

Nice tank. I also wanted to mention that damsel may become aggressive to new tank mates. My yellow tails are the most docile of my damsels.....

 

[Bunny]

Thanks!

This one is the yellow-tailed kind. I had a blue devil before (last setup) but I lost him before he was aggressive. This one was a gift to get the cycle going.


This morning: Nitrites: still 20 Nitrates: 0 ammonia 0

Yesterday the nitrites dropped from 40 to 20, but overnight they havent dropped from 20. How long do you think it will be until theyre at 0?

 

[9g]

Its probably a good time to do a PWC.

 

[lando]

Since you do have livestock in the tank, a water change would help decrease the toxic environment the fish needs to live in. Getting NO2 down would be the best thing for the fish. It will, however, prolong your cycle. Do water changes every other day until you reach a zero reading for NO3. At that time, wait a few days and test the water every day. If NH3 and NO2 remain undetectable then do a large water change to complete your cycle.

 

[Bunny]

Hi there,


Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I went out and got new test kits- it seemed weird that the nitrates always read the same even after a water change. A friend of mine was telling me those test strips are crap! Sure enough with the new test kits everything is at 0.