Newbie fish less cycling

[senio]

Hi there i'm new to this so please bare with me! I have recently purchased a 90 gallon aquarium, eheim 2217 filter, heater big enough for the aquarium, substrate (gravel and sea shells) and a bubbler. No decorations yes as I am trying to find information on plants and fish that I would like. I am using well water that has been tested. Ammonia is low, ph is really high 8.86. In the filter I am using eheim mech (mechanical filter medium), eheim substrate pro (bio filter medium), and eheim tore pellets (filter peat, to bring ph down), carbon filter pad on top, and fine filter pads separating the media.

So far I have filled the tank with water and gravel, added API stress coat, and bacteria accordingly. I have the bubbler bubbling and I am trying to figure out the best way to cycle my water without fish!

I have read that adding filter media, gravel, and plants from an established aquarium will speed up this process. I unfortunately don't know anyone with media I can use. I am going to try and get my hands on some gravel, and I would like some suggestions on some beginner friendly plants.

I would like to try adding pure ammonia to the tank, what is the proper way to do this? Also what are the steps? When to test, when to add more ammonia, When I should do a water change? Any other tips you can give me to speed up this process would be lovely! I have read so many articles on the Internet but some get confusing or don't relate to my particular setup.

Also my boyfriend and I are trying to figure out what kind of fish to get. I would like to have a community tank, but I would also like more aggressive fish. I don't want to overcrowd and I also don't want any of the fishies to get hurt by other fishies

 

[tamtam]

Welcome to AA! Sounds like you are off to a pretty good start.

Just curious. What sort of test kit do you have? By low ammonia what do you mean?

For fish less cycling I recommend this article. It's what I used as my guide the first time after reading several different things and going cross eyed.

The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice

IT will explain it all in the article but basically you want a good liquid test kit, like the API master test kit. You want to dose your tank up to 4ppm. How much you dose depends on what type of ammonia you have, how concentrated it is and follow the instructions. It's a lot of waiting sadly.

You usually don't need to do any water changes unless your ammo or nitrite go off the charts and you can't read them or your PH starts to drop. When your PH gets too low it can crash your cycle and doing a water change will add buffers and raise your PH back up again. Before you add fish of course you also need to do a big water change to lower your nitrates down because they'e usually built up pretty high at this point.

For plants it mostly depends on your lighting but some great low light plants for beginners are anubias, cryptocoryns, java moss and java fern and water sprite.

You really have a lot of options for fish. Is there anything in particular that interests you? I'd suggest you check out a local fish store and see what is available to you, pick what interests you and then go from there and see what may work.

Cichlids are a great option for an aggressive tank but they probably won't work with your planted tank idea.

 

[senio]

That article is awesome. Thank you thank you! Yeah I'll have to get the API master test kit, I've been using the strips and that's just lame.

I've recently gotten an old filter and gravel from a friend. Not sure where to put the filter though. Right in the tank, canister or hang from a net?

Also going to buy some plants today, cichlids don't like plants?

Haven't added ammonia yet as i am still looking for pure ammonia. Work has been interfering with my new hobby.

 

[tamtam]

That article is awesome. Thank you thank you! Yeah I'll have to get the API master test kit, I've been using the strips and that's just lame.

I've recently gotten an old filter and gravel from a friend. Not sure where to put the filter though. Right in the tank, canister or hang from a net?

Also going to buy some plants today, cichlids don't like plants?

Haven't added ammonia yet as i am still looking for pure ammonia. Work has been interfering with my new hobby.

You mean filter media? Like a cartridge or sponge? If you've got room stick it right in your canister. Worse case you can put it in the tank but the canister would be great. For the gravel if you have any media bags that would be perfect, or a net. Some people use stockings, like panty hose but I can't seem to remember if new is best or new and rinsed with hot water. I do remember there is a risk for cleaners or something the hose was treated with effecting your tank.

It's not that they don't like plants so much as they are hard on them. Some plants and cichlids do ok together but a common problem is that they tear/dig them up which can be a big pain. I know it can be done but it takes some research and trial and error.

You are going to want to do something for the bacteria on that old filter and gravel. If it doesn't have an ammonia source to feed it it will just all die off. Worst case(and a bit messy) if you have any fish food you can use that.

 

[senio]

omgggg so i decided tp post the whole story to a different post.. sorry for the confusion as i confused myself in the process