Hello all. I need some advice here. I have the Aqueon 8.75 gallon shrimp tank that I set up about three weeks ago. Here's the thing, according to all my water tests, everything but KH is perfect. This is the timeline of the tank, and please let me know if it's possible that my tank has been cycled so quickly.
Three weeks ago, I added the shrimp and plant substrate, and sprinkled an entire packet of dwarf baby tears over the entire tank. I then filled a bottle with water, and added a little but of Flourish, Flourish Iron, Flourish Advance, and Flourish Excel, and then sprayed down the tank every day for a week. After a week, nothing started growing, so I gave up with that, and filled the tank with regular tap water. I added conditioner and dechlorinator, and then I added a LOT of Tetra starter bacteria. The next day I started seeing little tiny green dots all over the tank. Throughout the week it completely filled in and the entire floor of the tank was covered in baby tears. Last weekend I went to Petsmart and bought a couple of plant tissue cultures and planted them, and then last Sunday I started actively trying to get the cycle going. I added Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride solution to the tank to get my ammonia up to about 2ppm. I then added a lot of Dr. Tim's nitrifying bacteria, about one and a half times what's recommended.
Fast forward to today. I added some more plants, and let the tank sit a few hours. I just finished testing my tank, and the only thing that looks off is my KH. Here are the readings:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
KH: 0-50ppm
GH: 140-200ppm
All the tests I used are API, and I confirmed these readings with Tetra easy strips. I haven't used the API pH test yet, but according to the Tetra it's about 7.2.
Could it be that the only thing I have to do is get my KH up and I'm ready for shrimp (and maybe a few neon tetras, and a driftwood centerpiece for the tank that I haven't picked yet)? I was expecting this to take weeks.
Here are some pictures of the tank. The first one is from last week, the others from earlier today:
Three weeks ago, I added the shrimp and plant substrate, and sprinkled an entire packet of dwarf baby tears over the entire tank. I then filled a bottle with water, and added a little but of Flourish, Flourish Iron, Flourish Advance, and Flourish Excel, and then sprayed down the tank every day for a week. After a week, nothing started growing, so I gave up with that, and filled the tank with regular tap water. I added conditioner and dechlorinator, and then I added a LOT of Tetra starter bacteria. The next day I started seeing little tiny green dots all over the tank. Throughout the week it completely filled in and the entire floor of the tank was covered in baby tears. Last weekend I went to Petsmart and bought a couple of plant tissue cultures and planted them, and then last Sunday I started actively trying to get the cycle going. I added Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride solution to the tank to get my ammonia up to about 2ppm. I then added a lot of Dr. Tim's nitrifying bacteria, about one and a half times what's recommended.
Fast forward to today. I added some more plants, and let the tank sit a few hours. I just finished testing my tank, and the only thing that looks off is my KH. Here are the readings:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
KH: 0-50ppm
GH: 140-200ppm
All the tests I used are API, and I confirmed these readings with Tetra easy strips. I haven't used the API pH test yet, but according to the Tetra it's about 7.2.
Could it be that the only thing I have to do is get my KH up and I'm ready for shrimp (and maybe a few neon tetras, and a driftwood centerpiece for the tank that I haven't picked yet)? I was expecting this to take weeks.
Here are some pictures of the tank. The first one is from last week, the others from earlier today:
