my cycle is complete!!! jumping for joy as i type hehe

[hackteck]

well it took over a month and it seemed like it would never happen but my cycle is finally complete my previous post was http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=44882

checked this morning and ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 20 or so didnt think it would ever happen my nitrites where way above the darkest shade on my test and all of a sudden poof its down to 0 so happy now i have some questions if i want to get discus fish are these a single tank fish? like can i mix some other peaceful fish in there or just make it a total discus tank

 

[hackteck]

oh also where are my manners thanx for everything for helping me out and for all your useful posts without this forum i wouldnt have even gotten this far

 

[Jchillin]

Congratulations (Do you remember...patience?).

Discus are extremely hard to keep and require a ton of care. I would not suggest them for your first fish at this point. Most folks who keep discus do keep them as species only.

 

[TomK2]

Great news! go get some fish!

 

[TankGirl]

Congratulations on the cycle! Don't you love that feeling when it finally happens, and you appreciate the magic that bacteria can work!

If you are new to fishkeeping I'd wait on the discus, just because they are generally expensive fish that are not good to learn on, if you know what I mean. You can keep them in a community setup, with certain tetras and peaceful catfish, but I'd concentrate on the tetras and the cats first while you become experienced. If you have a tank large enough for discus then maybe you could keep angels instead for the time being.

 

[hackteck]

ok im gonna holdoff on the discus fish for a few months but i do want to put some live plants in my tank whats the whole process invovled with putting in live plants

 

[TankGirl]

Assuming your lighting is that which came with the tank in a stock hood, you have pretty low light. You can put some java fern, java moss, anubias and cryptocoryne plants in there though. Except for the crypts there are no special requirements (rinse them extremely well prior to putting them in the tank to remove algae and/or snail eggs that you might introduce into your tank) and you just tie them to rocks or driftwood. Crypts are root feeders that need to be planted in the substrate and might benefit from root fertilizer tablets, but they are easy low-light plants.

 

[hackteck]

so i might wanna consider getting higher output lighting?

 

[TankGirl]

You might, but it depends on exactly what kind of bulb(s) you have now. More light equals the potential for algae so you might want to start with low light plants, and see how they do.

 

[hackteck]

ok i will try some low light plants to start out with