fishless cycling a 20 gallon

[brittanykluss]

just wishin' i could put some fish in there...

[Russ_gibbo1985]

That's a pity it looks awesome. I really like your lay it looks great. How long before you add stock??

[brittanykluss]

Originally Posted by Russ_gibbo1985

That's a pity it looks awesome. I really like your lay it looks great. How long before you add stock??

Thanks I appreciate it! I am currently doing a fishless cycling, my ammonia finally dropped 1ppm over night, but its only at 1ppm, and my nitrites and nitrates are off the charts... finally some progress... just waiting for ammonia to drop over night im thinking i gotta be atelast a week or less away from finishing this cycle

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Your levels are looking great, your prob right id say about a week away.
Do you know what your planning on stocking yet. Ill put a pic up of The way my tank is looking

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Sorry hit the wrong button. Ill post a pic of mine later not quite scared as well as yours but it's looking pretty good! What size is your tank??

[brittanykluss]

Originally Posted by Russ_gibbo1985

Your levels are looking great, your prob right id say about a week away.
Do you know what your planning on stocking yet. Ill put a pic up of The way my tank is looking

bolivian ram, dwarf gourami, and a school of harlequin rasboras

[pdw1731]

i feel your pain...my ammo drops from 3 to 0 within 24 hours faithfully. But trites are still thru the roo for almost 2 weeks now. I tested this morning for the 1st time since Wed. with no change in them. Patience is evil

You stocking sound like mine except i want tetras

[brittanykluss]

Originally Posted by pdw1731

i feel your pain...my ammo drops from 3 to 0 within 24 hours faithfully. But trites are still thru the roo for almost 2 weeks now. I tested this morning for the 1st time since Wed. with no change in them. Patience is evil

You stocking sound like mine except i want tetras

I thought once your ammo drops over night and your nitrates and nitrites are off the chart you do a 50% pac and keep ammo atleast at 1 till you get fish.


***J) When your levels of nitrItes and nitrAtes get so high that they’re off what your test kit can show you… do a 50-60% water change. A water change will have no negative impact on your cycle and will help keep things moving and bring your levels low enough so you can actually tell what they are. You can also add another pinch of ground up fish food just to make sure the bacteria has lots of nutrients and phosphates to grow. A water change will also restore the buffers in your water to prevent any fluctuations in pH at the end of your cycle. Remember your dechlorinator!

[Russ_gibbo1985]

That sounds sweet just make sure you have plenty of cover to keep the peace between the gbr and the gourami. Good luck!

[brittanykluss]

Originally Posted by Russ_gibbo1985

That sounds sweet just make sure you have plenty of cover to keep the peace between the gbr and the gourami. Good luck!

yeah I plan on some more tall plants in the back to break the line of sight some more. I think I'm going to get either the rasboras or gourami first and the ram last

[pdw1731]

Originally Posted by brittanykluss

I thought once your ammo drops over night and your nitrates and nitrites are off the chart you do a 50% pac and keep ammo atleast at 1 till you get fish.


***J) When your levels of nitrItes and nitrAtes get so high that they’re off what your test kit can show you… do a 50-60% water change. A water change will have no negative impact on your cycle and will help keep things moving and bring your levels low enough so you can actually tell what they are. You can also add another pinch of ground up fish food just to make sure the bacteria has lots of nutrients and phosphates to grow. A water change will also restore the buffers in your water to prevent any fluctuations in pH at the end of your cycle. Remember your dechlorinator!

hmmm...maybe i read it wrong

I thought, again could just be the way i read it, that i had to wait until there was 0 ammo and 0 trites and then do a pwc. What i am reading now is that i could/should do a pwc now to get the number back in range? if so, this is no problem as i can do it today before football.

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Originally Posted by brittanykluss

yeah I plan on some more tall plants in the back to break the line of sight some more. I think I'm going to get either the rasboras or gourami first and the ram last

Not to put you off at all just my experience, ended up having to split my dwarf gourami and my ebr up due to constant chasing, moved the gourami to one of my other tanks and put a female mate in with my male ebr. The result?............. One happy gourami and around 70 ebr fry!

[brittanykluss]

Originally Posted by Russ_gibbo1985

Not to put you off at all just my experience, ended up having to split my dwarf gourami and my ebr up due to constant chasing, moved the gourami to one of my other tanks and put a female mate in with my male ebr. The result?............. One happy gourami and around 70 ebr fry!

whats the e mean in ebr?

[brittanykluss]

Originally Posted by pdw1731

hmmm...maybe i read it wrong

I thought, again could just be the way i read it, that i had to wait until there was 0 ammo and 0 trites and then do a pwc. What i am reading now is that i could/should do a pwc now to get the number back in range? if so, this is no problem as i can do it today before football.

id do a 50% and see what happens! like it says, def wont mess up the cycle!

[Russ_gibbo1985]

Electric blue ram there awesome!

[brittanykluss]

Originally Posted by Russ_gibbo1985

Electric blue ram there awesome!

is that the same as German blue ram

[Russ_gibbo1985]

No its not at all. They are pretty new in the trade im not too sure how available they are in the states though assuming that's where your from. Here's a pic of my male in full spawning colour. They are AWESOME!

[Russ_gibbo1985]

And here he is again. Pics a bit closer.