New Aquarist!

[Azia123]

Hi! I am a new aquarist and I have a 29 gallon tank! I am on my first cycling day and my Nitrate and Nitrite are balanced, but my water has been sitting at 76-80 since I put it together 24 hours ago. Both 10 gallon heaters are off (one on each end and only 2 ten gallon heaters because of the house being really warm during the winter) and I cracked my window ever so slightly when the thermometer hit 80 because that's above the safe zone! Which I assume and read was really bad if it gets over 80. I have snails that I stated out with in a jar before I made the big investment to make sure I would enjoy the new hobby! Today I went and got a thermometer for the room my aquarium is in (my room which is the warmest in the house because it's the attic) and found out that my room is sitting at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. If the water temperature doesn't sink and my nitrite gets worse, I might have to shut my heat vent half way to reduce the amount of heat coming into the room. Is there any advice any of you can give? Or am I doing alright for my first cycling day?

 

[PsiSoSerious]

Fresh or salt? And where did you read 80 being too high? Just curious but I think your fine

 

[Azia123]

It's a freshwater aquarium! I did my first test strip two hours ago and took an hour to figure out how to read it, but it was ok for a first day of cycling! I read on another forum that it's ok for the water to be hard, and the pH to be a little off and that Alkaline being off is ok! Otherwise, my Nitrite and Nitrate are almost perfect! My Nitrate in fact is even a little low! ^^ I think I'm doing well for having a 30 gallon aquarium to start out with instead of a 5 gallon tank! I mean I have had a jar for the past 5 months, but I enjoyed snails so much that now I want fish!

 

[PsiSoSerious]

Awesome, and I live in Tampa...my water its really hard, I cannot keep a gold nugget pleco alive for more then 3hrs but every other fish I have works out great I think you may be over reacting a but tho but fair enough. And for a while I couldn't keep anything alive in a tank under 20gal :/ but i've grown from then . A good way to know your doing fine is to get "filter" fish, or "cycle" fish....basically get a few cheap fish u like and have them in your tank, if they die, they die....if not your good to go (also wait a few days lol

 

[jlk]

Do you have fish yet? Have you decided if your doing a fish-in cycle or a fishless cycle? I would start by investing in a good liquid test kit such as the API fw master test kit. Strips are notoriously inaccurate and you must know your ammonia levels as well. The API kit is on sale on amazon right now quite inexpensively especially when compared to most lfs's. Please check out the link below & ask any questions you may have! There are links in this to fishless & fishin cycling, too.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium-186089.html

 

[Azia123]

I don't have any fish yet, but I am planning on getting nice mollies because they come in schools and get along with snails, some platyfish, and maybe a few guppies! I like colorful friendly fish, and when I've learned a little more about being an aquarist, I'll try out tropical freshwater fish! I didn't know you had to test ammonia separately though. I thought that maybe if the Nitrate and Nitrite levels were almost on par the ammonia would be ok because ammonia effects those to and they wouldn't be on par if there was too much ammonia. And because I have snails I didn't get a water treatment of just conditioner. I used API Ammo Lock, which detoxifies the aquarium ammonia and is proven to protect fish cells, but it also detoxifies chlorine and chloramines! I think I've at least started alright. I also got my temperature down to 76 in my aquarium water!

 

[Samzter]

Just thought I would pop in and say, mollies aren't schooling fish. You're right on a level though, because they do enjoy each others company. You could do 3-4 in a 29 g

 

[Azia123]

Yay! I have a 29g! I'm so excited because PETCO is making me cycle my tank for 48 hours before I can get fish! I don't mind though because I'm on winter break and I had to figure out my temp issue! (chuckles) Thanks guys!

 

[jlk]

Yay! I have a 29g! I'm so excited because PETCO is making me cycle my tank for 48 hours before I can get fish! I don't mind though because I'm on winter break and I had to figure out my temp issue! (chuckles) Thanks guys!

Please do not take the advice of Petco here. Running your tank for 48 hours or 48 days will do absolutely NOTHING to cycle it. You need to decide if you want to do a fishless cycle or a fish-in cycle. If you read the link I provided, it explains both. Please ask questions!!!

 

[TOMatt]

Please read the link in JLK's post. It will take a lot longer than 48 hours to cycle a freshwater aquarium.


Welcome, and good luck!

 

[monkey471]

Good luck

Freshwater is great. I allso like goramis. You might be able to get 1 depending on what else you get.

 

[Azia123]

I read it when he gave me the link, but if PETCO is willing to help me with an in-cycle tank I think it'll be better, plus I have to get it cycled before May! If I cycle it with fish in it will it cycle faster?

 

[Waylanderxx]

Cycling with fish in is dangerous for the fish and a pain with all the frequent water changes IMO. Fishless is my personal preference.

 

[Azia123]

Lol I might have to wait a while to get fish anyways because bying the last bit of equipment broke my wallet! XP