baobeiiiiiiii
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2013
- Messages
- 56
Nitrogen cycle and how can I get my water optimum.
Hi,
My tank situation:
Basically my new 10 gallon tank was cleaned out and filled with bottled mineral water, brought up to temperature (26c) and a new very small wattage (200L/h) filter was added. The filter was extremely cheap, and I believe it probably only has some sponge inside, no activated carbon. It does however release oxygen into the water , through a small clear tube that protrudes out the top of the tank. There's currently no plants, just a 36w 10000K fluorescent lamp that is currently on 24 hours a day (but I will be adding a timer to it soon and shooting for 8-10 hours a day on time). That might seem like too many watts per gallon, but I did some research and apparently smaller tanks need more watts/gallon for good plant growth. There is also a soil substrate on the bottom of the tank, which is from japan and contains nutrients etc. There won't be any plants in the tank for at least 3 to 4 weeks as i'm growing all of my plants from seed and then transplanting them into the soil. This is my second attempt with this tank, I had quite a few tetras and they all died and got white spots after about a week in the tank.
Then 4 fish were added, two corydoras and two Siamese algae eaters. By 'then' I mean about one hour later just as soon as the water got up to the correct temperature.
I tested the ph of the water and it is 7. I also bought a KH and GH testing kit but have yet to use them, as i'm not sure what values I should be looking for. I'm concerned about ammonia build up and how to get a 'nitrogen cycle' started.
My question is, how can I establish a healthy nitrogen cycle in the tank? I have a bottle of nitrifying bacteria but have yet to add it to the tank (it was produced in February this year, arrived non-refrigerated but I just put it in my fridge in-case that helps before I open it). Is my filter so cheap/useless that it won't contribute to such a nitro cycle? I couldn't find a more expensive/better filter that has such a low wattage.
I just want to keep the water healthy so the fish don't die (don't want 'new tank syndrome'), it's early days yet, this all happened about three days ago. Thanks for advice.
PS: the two photos are of a kind of rock i'm going to be adding for aquascaping, anyone able to identify the type of rock, and if it would alter water qualities in any way which should concern me?
Hi,
My tank situation:
Basically my new 10 gallon tank was cleaned out and filled with bottled mineral water, brought up to temperature (26c) and a new very small wattage (200L/h) filter was added. The filter was extremely cheap, and I believe it probably only has some sponge inside, no activated carbon. It does however release oxygen into the water , through a small clear tube that protrudes out the top of the tank. There's currently no plants, just a 36w 10000K fluorescent lamp that is currently on 24 hours a day (but I will be adding a timer to it soon and shooting for 8-10 hours a day on time). That might seem like too many watts per gallon, but I did some research and apparently smaller tanks need more watts/gallon for good plant growth. There is also a soil substrate on the bottom of the tank, which is from japan and contains nutrients etc. There won't be any plants in the tank for at least 3 to 4 weeks as i'm growing all of my plants from seed and then transplanting them into the soil. This is my second attempt with this tank, I had quite a few tetras and they all died and got white spots after about a week in the tank.
Then 4 fish were added, two corydoras and two Siamese algae eaters. By 'then' I mean about one hour later just as soon as the water got up to the correct temperature.
I tested the ph of the water and it is 7. I also bought a KH and GH testing kit but have yet to use them, as i'm not sure what values I should be looking for. I'm concerned about ammonia build up and how to get a 'nitrogen cycle' started.
My question is, how can I establish a healthy nitrogen cycle in the tank? I have a bottle of nitrifying bacteria but have yet to add it to the tank (it was produced in February this year, arrived non-refrigerated but I just put it in my fridge in-case that helps before I open it). Is my filter so cheap/useless that it won't contribute to such a nitro cycle? I couldn't find a more expensive/better filter that has such a low wattage.
I just want to keep the water healthy so the fish don't die (don't want 'new tank syndrome'), it's early days yet, this all happened about three days ago. Thanks for advice.
PS: the two photos are of a kind of rock i'm going to be adding for aquascaping, anyone able to identify the type of rock, and if it would alter water qualities in any way which should concern me?
