10-gal first timer update

[DeSudet]

OK, as most know from my other thread, I'm 4 days into a stocked 10-gal tank that's still early in its cycle.

I had trouble with the test kit I bought, turns out I had too much water in my sample when testing for ammonia. I used a smaller sample and gotten Ammonia readings up to 8ppm or higher right before a 50% change(been doing 30%-50% changes each evening; spending a lot of time anticipating the completion of the cycle).

I'm also seeing a disturbing fluctuation in temps. I've seen it get as low as 78F(mornings before light goes on for the day) and spike at 84F-86F(evenings before the light goes off for the night). I blame the light, but don't have any clue what to do about it. Thermometer is the strip that came with the tank, mounted just below the waterline opposite the heater (which I haven't seen come on since the first day). Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The strip is not accurate. They read the temp of the glass, not the water. Purchase a digital thermometer for about $6 and you won't have that problem anymore.

 

[Guest]

how many fish in the tank??? Its gonna be a loooooong cycle. and its kinda sad becuase with a fishless cycle you can let the ammonia peak and your bacteria grow much faster. WIth a cycle with fish you are constantly changing the water... taking away the ammonia and nitrite which is FOOD for the bacteria which merely prolongs the cycle because you are removing the bacteria food and stunting the bacterial colony growth.

 

[DeSudet]

4 Mollies, 3 Snails. I know a fishless cycle goes quicker, but the tank was a present to the kids (5 and 6) and we bought the mollies to get them to quit bugging us about when the tank was gonna be ready(They'd already waited over a week). If I have to choose between 2 whining brats or changing the water daily for a while, I'll go with the water change every time. Besides, it's only a 10-gal, which isn't that much trouble. Takes me all of 15-20 minutes per change and it's rather relaxing.

 

[Guest]

im sorry that you think of your children as brats...

 

[DeSudet]

Don't be, they think of themselves that way too. I'm just reinforcing their own self-images j/k They aren't really that bad, but they do have an uncanny knack for whining. That's another story though. We love em to death, and to be completely honest, my fiance and I were just as jazzed up to get this tank going.

Once the cycle is done, we'll slowly get up to adding 4-6 neon tetras, a betta, and something to keep snail population down if it we need to in the future.

We're also coming down with acute MTS which will probably fully manifest once we move into a bigger place. This 10-gal will end up in our son's room and we'll be getting a 30+ gal tank for the living room.

 

[Guest]

well i hope you have the patience to do a fishless cycle in your new tank and spare the stress on the fish. Once you do a fishless cycle you will realize how much easier it is and you will never go back to using fish!!! Also seeded filter media helps a ton.

 

[DeSudet]

Just to clarify: Seeded filter media is using a filter from an already cycled tank? Or is it something that would need purchased.

And I finally sat down to watch the video that came with the tank. It covered a little bit of everything I'd learned from here, and pointed me toward an idea I wanted to run by you guys. The filter can be opened up to add activated charcoal and the like; would I gain anything by adding bio-spira directly to the filter?

 

[Guest]

yes seeded filter media is using filter media from an already cycled tank's filter. However if you are getting a 30 gallon the seeded media from a 10 gallon won't be enough to fully stock, you will have to start with one or two fish and slowly build on that.

you can add bio-spira to the filter directly or to the water directly.. however it would seem to me taht adding it to the filter would allow it to colonize on the media.. thats actually a cool idea.

 

[rich311k]

What kind of dechlor are you using? I think your ammonia is a false reading from neutralized chloramines. What kind of bulbs do you have in your hood? I am betting the temp swings come from the fact that they are incandescent bulbs.

 

[DeSudet]

I started the tank using the sample water conditioners that came with it. One was supposed to be used in conjunction with the bio-spira, the other was a different brand that I don't recall right off. I bought a full bottle of Jungle Labs brand that I'm using from here on out.

As for the ammonia reading, I still need to get a system worked out. I'm getting wildly varying reading depending on how much water I have in the sample(more water:lower reading and vice versa). I'm going to look into one of the liquid reagent kits Ash mentioned, hopefully one that has the vials/test tubes/whatever that will take the guess work out of it.

Yes, the bulbs are candescent and with the waterline so close to the lid(1/8"-1/4"), I suspect you're right. So far the fish don't seem too terribly stressed over the conditions. Even the free fry I got is growing like a weed

The 30+ will be a while in coming, we have to get moved and pay down the credit card a bit before we can really even think about it. That one will have flourescents and probably be planted once we do get all the other ducks in a row.

About that, I know a fishless cycle goes faster than what we're currently doing with the 10-gal, but what about plants? Would it be better to wait through the cycle? Or could I start the cycle with plants there from the start?

 

[rich311k]

You could replace the bulbs with screw in fluorescent ones and stick a few low light plants in the 10 now if you wanted. They sell them at my supermarket. That would also solve the temperature issue.

I asked what kind of of dechlor you use because if your readings are that high something is adding ammonia besides the fish or your dechlor is neutralizing your chloramines and leaving a safer version of an ammonia compound behind. 4 mollies couldn't make that much ammonia in a week. If you are getting false readings it will be hard for you to judge how your cycle is progressing.

 

[DeSudet]

All of the dechlors I've used claim to neutralize Chlorine, Chloramines, and heavy metals as well as adding eletrolytes and minerals "to promote fish health". I should have the false results taken care of soon. I found a true lfs(not just the nearest petsmart) that specializes in freshwater tropical fish(mostly cichlids) and plants. Once payday rolls back around, I'll be spending the extra $30 for a complete liquid-reagent master test kit that includes the tubes. This should eliminate the flaky results.

I'll also start looking around for some of those screw-in flourescents you mentioned. 40W bulbs should be enough for this tank without plants(or even with if I read the other threads correctly), right? What kinds of things should I watch out for? (frequency ranges, operating temps, etc?)

 

[rich311k]

Sounds like you are on top of the testing thing. I believe Home Depot sells a daylight version of the bulb. It should work just fine. Just be sure it will fit in your hood. Though if it didn't you could stick them in your lamps, they last just about forever in normal light fixtures.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

PetSmart is great for a couple of things, their pricing can be pretty good (up here at least), and their product line is not too bad, they do sell Seachem products (Prime is probably the best declhor, the fact that in a 10gal it would take about 5 drops per waterchange is great), but they carry fertalizers for plants, some plants (tho store to store quality is inconsistant at best). I would solve the lighting issue by either replacing the light strip with a flourescent or putting a compact flour. in (9w would be good, daylight spectrum is best) 23$ for a flour. strip, or 4$ for a compact if you can find one that fits. That temp swing and mollies which are prone to ich. is a bad mix IMO.

But LFS is the way to go for fish, Petsmart is horribly overpriced.

 

[DeSudet]

Well, we lost one last night. The silver molly was swimming around fine just before their evening meal, 30 minutes later she was belly-up in the bottom of the tank We're not sure what happened. It might have been the cheese (our 5 year old enjoyed it so much she decided to share; we got what we could out, but I'm pretty sure there were a few small bits we missed). Or she could've just gotten lonely. I doubt it was anything in the water as 'small fry,' the free fry from petsmart, is thriving. Oh well, we knew their chances weren't all that great from the start, but I still feel bad that one of them didn't make it

 

[DeSudet]

In case anyone wanted to see the tank

edit: sorry about the dupe and blurriness; my camera isn't all that great, nor was my position very stable to get those angles