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pablo195

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Sep 7, 2008
Messages
8
hey AA people....

so i fianlly decided to go out and buy a tank to see if i can actually raise any fish. I wanted to get a big 100 gallon tank but i decided to get a 10 gallon tank instead to see if i can actually take care of the fish.... so i started on saturday with the cycleing of water and so far its been good except for the water its kinda murky.

my readings are as follows:

PH 8.0
nitrate 2.5 ppm
nitrite no reading forgot to get the kit
ammonia 0.0-0.25 ppm

and my water temp is 28 C

just wondering for reading fourms on here that iam on the right step so far but iam just wondering what i need to do to lower the nitrate reading. I did use aqua plus tap water conditioner like it said to use on the bottle and i also used waste control and cycle.. maybe someone can point me towards the right direction and let me know if iam doing so far a good job.
:new-alien::silly::new-alien:
 
no not yet but right now i think i need a dechlorifer cause iam getting a chrlorine smell from the tank....... or should i give it a few more days???
 
Get a dechlor and add a raw shrimp or fish food to start the cycle. No need for fish yet. Read up on the fishless cycle, there is an article about it the article section.

Good luck and happy fish keeping.
 
Also keep in mind that a larger aquarium is easier to take care of. The larger water volume means there is more room for mistakes. While you can definately start out with a 10 gallon, a 29 gallon or larger is easier. Just something to keep in mind while you evaluate your skills as a fish keeper.
 
I hope I don't sound like a broken record, but I am going to repeat a couple of things. First--bigger is better! After having 13 tanks from 5 - 80 gal, I now have only a 46, 50 and 80. They are that much easier--especially when life gets in the way of taking care of them! (I don't advocate having a life, but if it sneaks up on you, be prepared ;)) Second, read up on cycling. It will save you time, money, and aggravation!
Definitely get some dechlor and add an ammonia source to start cycling, or you will be getting nowhere very slowly! What do you plan on keeping in there? Good luck!
 
hello pablo again some repeating here, bigger def better be sure to get a nitrite tester because nitrites are more dangerous then nitrates. i recommend quick dip 6 in 1 test kit save some money. you are on the right track. good to know fishless cycles take less time then fish cycles my hind sight is now 20/20. make sure you get just a few at first make sure there hardy maybe just some small danios but whatever you get make sure you want to keep them for a while. also a good product is prime nitrite remover and decholrinater you don't need to buy one of everything. heres a quote-Prime™ is the complete and concentrated conditioner for both fresh and salt water. Prime™ removes chlorine, chloramine and ammonia. Prime™ converts ammonia into a safe, non-toxic form that is readily removed by the tank’s biofilter. Prime™ may be used during tank cycling to alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity. Prime™ detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. It will also detoxify any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels.Prime™ also promotes the production and regeneration of the natural slime coat. Prime™ is non-acidic and will not impact pH. Prime™ will not overactivate skimmers. Use at start-up and whenever adding or replacing water.

Sizes: 50 mL, 100 mL, 250 mL, 500 mL, 2L, 4L, 20 L

small_bulltet.jpg
DIRECTIONS: Use 1 capful (5 mL) for each 200 L (50 gallons*) of new water. For smaller doses, please note each cap thread is approx. 1 mL). This removes approximately 0.8 mg/L ammonia, 1.2 mg/L chloramine, or 3.3 mg/L chlorine. May be added to aquarium directly, but better if added to new water first. If adding directly to aquarium, base dose on aquarium volume. Sulfur odor is normal. For exceptionally high chloramine concentrations, a double dose may be used safely. To detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 times normal dose may be used. If temperature is > 30 °C (86 °F) and chlorine or ammonia levels are low, use a half dose.
 
ok thanks for the advice all... i did read up on the fishless cycle and ive been doing whats its been telling me to do. Also some good news is that i am picking up a 29 gal tank this weekend and hopfully i can get that started on its cycle.... as for today i did what the cycle told me and i threw in some fish flakes and well over night the water got really cloudy i did my tests agian to see if anything changed and these are my results:

pH: 8.0
nitrate: > 2.5 ppm
nitrite: unknown
ammonia: < 0.25 ppm


so ammonia kinda went up a bit but not much and everything stayed the same.

hopfully ill see some changes within the week and ill keep everyone updated.
 
The cloudy is good. That is bacteria forming and looking for a place to roost. Keep adding fish food and you should see some ammonia in few days.
 
i recommend quick dip 6 in 1 test kit save some money. you are on the right track.
No way. Test strips are notoriously unreliable. Get the liquid test kit like API's Master Freshwater test kit. You obviously don't need the whole kit, but they are extremely reliable.

make sure you get just a few at first make sure there hardy maybe just some small danios but whatever you get make sure you want to keep them for a while.

If you dose with 4-5ppm of ammonia during the cycle, then you can start off with a lot more fish than just a few. Also buy fish that you want. You don't need to buy so-called hardy or cheap fish "just in case."

Prime is an excellent dechlorinator: Prime
Make sure you dose this in the water you're going to add to your tank everytime. Chlorine will kill your bacteria and start your cycle all over again.

Test your tap water for ammonia.

Fish flakes aren't going to help you much. You want pure ammonia. You can find it at Ace Hardware. Make sure that it does NOT have surfactants. You can test by shaking the bottle and if it bubbles, then it's not pure.

Dose your tank with ~4-5ppm. Test everyday. When the ammonia starts to drop, dose it back up to 4-5ppm. Don't bother testing for nitrAtes. You won't see these for awhile and the test can be inaccurate when nitrAtes are under 20ppm.

There is a link to the fishless cycle in my sig to explain the rest.

The cloudy water is the bacteria bloom which is good.
 
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