advice/check wanted for newbie

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Sturgcl1

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
44
Location
Ilfracombe in devon
Hi there, I was wondering if someone would check my tank and make sure it's ready for the fish as I'm a newbie & dont want to get it wrong at the expense of the poor fish.
it's my babby boys 1st birthday in 5 weeks so we decided to encourage his love for fish and get a tank. I had one as a kid & adored it. I did a lot of research on the net & was lucky enough to get my hands on a rena panoramic 360l tank it came with a 30w light & fluval external filter with spray bar.
below it's the tank spec:
- 360l
- 140w lights with reflectors
- Fluval external filter with 2nd hand large sponges & ceramic rings & new carbon & amonia reducing sachets & new sponge pads (sorry v technical). Spray bar attached but too noisy for sons bedroom so have submerged them just under water.
- substrate of pond soil covered in silica sand & small gravel with coral sand added to increase ph
- 3d background concealing filter intake & heater.
- low spec plants, stem & moss, around 75-100 stems
- rocks, terracotta pots for caves, large mopani & large root, volcano ornament with led & bubbles & bubble pipe running full length at back.
- water conditioned & heated at 25c

I started to cycle the tank using amonia, got the dose wrong & ended up with v high amonia so left the tank for the week until it went back down to 2, then
Dosed smaller amount took it up to 5, then in mid of that week I stupidly added plants, continued dosing amonia that week, then read your not supposed to cycle planted tanks as plants use amonia etc before bacteria. Urgh! So I put an amonia alert in the tank to keep an write on amonia level rather than using king british test strips. Alert showed no amonia, strips showed 5! Urgh! am guessing strips test all amonia, alert tests free amonia only?
Using kb 5 in 1 strips my tank was showing ph<6.4, 50kh mg/l,250gh mg/l,nitrate 50-
100,nitrite 0. I had a nitrite spike over 2wks of cycling upto 5. I did a 50% water change once amonia was down to 0 & now nitrate is down to 10, nitrite is 0.

Thinking the tank was ready, I added 10 red cherry shrimp, they were very active &
happy during the day, but when I woke up the next morning I couldnt find any! Urgh, I frantically pulled the filter to bits & found 1 shrimp still alive so I returned it to the tank, no sign of any others. Im still clueless as to how they got behind the background, but I have since put a fine mesh over the intake to prevent it happening again.

Sorry about the huge post but wanted to include all info. I have 6 corys waiting to go into the tank & dont want to add them unless it's safe.

Please could you let me know if its all ok? I ordered some tetra safestart to try and boost bacteria just incase.

Many thanks, hope this makes sense as writing from mobile & not easy. If you need more info pla let me know.
 
I would get a liquid test kit, they are much more accurate than the strips. If you went through an ammonia spike and a nitrite spike, you tank should be cycled. Add ammonia again and test after 24 hours, if ammonia and nitrites are 0 you are cycled. Check behind the tank for your shrimp, they may have gone for a walk.
 
Ahh, that may explain it, I didnt realise they would climb out of the tank, there are large holes at the back where the wires go through. I found 1 cleaning the back of the background so perhaps there are still some more in there hiding.

I forgot to mention I have quite a bit of brown detritus on floor of tank & on plants & also lots of mold on mopani, assume this is normal? Lots of snails too which I assume came in on the plants? Are they safe to keep our will they become a pain?
 
Wait, wait, wait...RCS are notorious hiders. I have 20 of them and almost never see them. Adding ammonia will be a death sentence for the ones who are in there.
 
How long ago did you add the shrimp? The other problem we may run into is that shrimp have virtually no bio-load...so most likely the beneficial bacteria had no food during the time you stopped adding ammo until now. I would really recommend being 100% sure there are no shrimp before dosing any ammo. Take a bucket, fill it with tank water and swish around all your decorations and plants to see if shrimp fall off. I guarantee they're still in there.
 
I won't add any amonia now I know there are some shrimp still in there, saw 2 today. I have also read that it's a complete waste of time with planted tanks as the plants draw out the nasties before bacteria can get to it & gives false readings. I Read the best way to start a planted tank is to add fish a few at a time & keep an eye on levels. With this in mind I planned to add the 3 emerald catfish cory & 3 sterbai cat fish. What do you think?

Is the very acid water going to be a problem? I added coral sand 3 days ago to help bring level up but so far there is no change, it's there a better way of spring this out?

I've also bought a master test kit in liquid form to test the water more accurately. Lol this really is a very expensive hobby & the most expensive 1st b-day pressy ever!

Thanks for you help so far.
 
Sturgcl1 said:
I won't add any amonia now I know there are some shrimp still in there, saw 2 today. I have also read that it's a complete waste of time with planted tanks as the plants draw out the nasties before bacteria can get to it & gives false readings. I Read the best way to start a planted tank is to add fish a few at a time & keep an eye on levels. With this in mind I planned to add the 3 emerald catfish cory & 3 sterbai cat fish. What do you think?

Is the very acid water going to be a problem? I added coral sand 3 days ago to help bring level up but so far there is no change, it's there a better way of spring this out?

I've also bought a master test kit in liquid form to test the water more accurately. Lol this really is a very expensive hobby & the most expensive 1st b-day pressy ever!

Thanks for you help so far.

How long ago did you stop adding ammo and put in the shrimp? I would try stocking as slow as possible. Just put in a few fish. Wait a couple days making sure the ammo doesn't spike, then add a couple more if the numbers remain stable. If the tank is heavily planted it will help absorb the ammo, but it won't totally solve the problem unless you have a ton of plants in there.
 
Hi there, the rcs were added 5 days ago, 2 days after I got a 0 for ammo & nitrite. The ammo went from 4-0 in 24h so I guessed it was safe to add the rcs but I didnt think about the bacteria starving, how long does it take to kill it off? I will add a few fish today & keep an eye out. Thank you.
 
Just added 5 more rcs & 6 small corys, hopefully this isnt too much based on the size of the tank, will keep a close eye on it & feed minimal amounts & do water changes if necessary. Thank you.
 
Sturgcl1 said:
Just added 5 more rcs & 6 small corys, hopefully this isnt too much based on the size of the tank, will keep a close eye on it & feed minimal amounts & do water changes if necessary. Thank you.

Beneficial bacteria is said to live up to a week without significant die off, so I think you'll be okay. I wouldn't be surprised to see a small ammonia spike for a few days as the BB adjusts...but you can keep it under control with pwc's until it balances out. Here's a link that can guide you through a potential mini-cycle. Good luck!
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now-116287.html
 
Ok thanks, no spike as yet & fish seem happy zipping around the tank. How long does it usually take for ammo to show after adding fish?
 
Sturgcl1 said:
Ok thanks, no spike as yet & fish seem happy zipping around the tank. How long does it usually take for ammo to show after adding fish?

It can take a few days depending on the size of the tank. They've got to produce enough waste for it to actually start building up in the water. Hopefully your bacteria will convert it as it as produced and you won't have to deal with any ammo spikes...just keep an eye on it for a while :)
 
Just tested the tank using new master test kit, no ammo or nitrite, ph interestingly shows at 7, despite the strips saying it was under 6!, nitrate is between 5-10.

Am wishing I hadn't added coral sand now cos there's nothing wrong with the ph, damb those test strips!, might try & remove some as sure it's too sharp for corys.
 
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