26 gallon freshwater build: Open to help and suggestions!

[Beginner Fish Lover]

Hi guys and gals!

I am just beginning the process of cycling my tank. I have installed a light, filter heater and air pump and they are all working fine. (Although the air pump is REALLY Loud!) Here are the test measurements for the tank:

PH: 7.6
Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Nitrates: 2.5 ppm

I was also wondering if it is OK to put in plants whilst cycling? Any help would be appreciated! Also if anyone can tell me how to insert a picture, that would be of great help also.

 

[emerald76]

Hi guys and gals!

I am just beginning the process of cycling my tank. I have installed a light, filter heater and air pump and they are all working fine. (Although the air pump is REALLY Loud!) Here are the test measurements for the tank:

PH: 7.6
Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Nitrates: 2.5 ppm

I was also wondering if it is OK to put in plants whilst cycling? Any help would be appreciated! Also if anyone can tell me how to insert a picture, that would be of great help also.

Yes go crazy with plants if you want to!
To insert a picture on the app hit the plus button and either attach from camera or attach from photos

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

Thanks emerald! I added 4 clumps of microsword in the front and two clumps of Anubis Congensis.

 

[librarygirl]

Are you cycling with fish or without? If you're doing a fishless cycle you'll want to get that ammonia up higher (I'm guessing that's your tap water measurememts?).

What kind of air pump is it? Sometimes they can be loud at first then they quiet down, but some brands are louder than others.

 

[Deep Seven]

If the air pump is sitting on a hard surface the vibration can make it twice as loud. To test try picking it up while it's running. If it gets quieter while holding it then try sitting the air pump on top of a piece of foam.

 

[Daredix]

Hope u have good substrate for those plants and also add some nitrite for plants!! All the best!!




Kuwait

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

I threw away the box on the air pump so im not exactly sure, but it is a TopFin battery powered and is about a 1 in. wide ball. Sorry i couldnt find more than that. The ball doesnt reach the bottom of the tank so it's not touching anything. Also how do you add Nitrites and Ammonia? Thanks for the help everybody.

 

[Deep Seven]

You have a fish in cycle, so ammonia is added by the fish. If you were doing fishless you have to add it yourself using pure ammonia, (pure meaning no additives).

Keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite and if either get above 0.25ppm then do a PWC to get it back down.

For the air pump I was talking about putting the motor on a piece of foam rubber. The vibration of the motor sitting in the desk or on the shelf can make a lot of noise.

Edit: Just realized the pic with fish wasn't yours. If you're doing a fishless cycle you want pure ammonia like Ace Hardware Janitor Strength 10% Ammonia. The brand isn't important, but you need to make sure it has no detergents or surfactants in it or you will harm your aquarium.

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

Ok, i will get some Ammonia today and find some foam for the air pump. Thanks Deep Seven!

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

I have a dumb question, how do you know how much Ammonia to put into the tank? I dont want to just guess and have it take hours. If anybody could help, that would be great!

 

[Deep Seven]

26g(us) * 3.78541178 = 98.42070628L (1.58% error is acceptable so I rounded up to 100L to make the rest of the math easier)

Each liter has 1000mL so 100 liters = 1000 * 100 = 100,000mL

4ppm of 100,000mL is 0.4mL (thats 0.4mL of pure ammonia)-> 4 / 1,000,000 * 100,000 = 0.4

Now using 10% ammonia solution you would divide by 0.10-> 0.4mL / 0.10 = 4mL (I use 14% so I divide by 0.14)

According to my calculations 1 mL of 10% ammonia hydroxide will add 1 ppm in a 100 liter tank.

Anyone can confirm or dispute my math? I just did this off the top of my head.

Edit: I added all the calculations I used to arrive at my conclusions. I double checked my math a few times, pretty sure it's accurate. This formula can be used for any tank size, just replace 100,000mL with the size of your tank in mL. If you're using a different strength ammonia, just replace 0.10 with the percentage you're using, ie: 5% is 0.05 and 14% is 0.14.

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

Thanks! I really appreciate it!!