Hey! The name's Bekkah. I'm from the midwest and I'm new to everything fishy. I've always thought aquariums were beautiful but I never considered starting my own until recently. My current boyfriend is into aquaponics, and his passion for it has sparked my interest in maybe doing something similar, but simpler. hahaha I started off pretty rough, not doing a lot of my research like I should have. I took the local pet stores advice and didn't even attempt to do the nitrogen cycle. Alas, within twenty four hours, my five Neon Tetra and my two Clown Pleco passed. I've learned it was probably the high ammonia levels, or the fact that I didn't acclimate them correctly to their tank, even though it wouldn't have saved them either way seeing as I didn't cycle the tank. That tank is 10G. Since then, I tried a second time using the pure ammonia cycle, but it's been over a month and my ammonia levels haven't dropped below 4
ppm. I'd almost given up on the tank and the hobby, when my friend gave me his 60G tank for free as he was moving out of his current residence! Now, I want to keep trying and hopefully find a more successful way of cycling my new tank. I found this forum while looking for more active fish-loving communities, and I'm excited to meet all of you!
Besides fish, I own two female cats, a two year old bengal and a one year old tuxedo cat. Who I promise are well away from the tanks! hahaha I also own three birds, two cockatiels and a sun conure. I've had many, many pets throughout my childhood--from hedgehogs to lizards to gerbils. In my spare time I love to read and write. I spend a lot of my time on the internet, but I'm also a very outdoorsy person. I'm hoping to start college this fall, as of right now I've started my new job as a banker, which is time consuming but worth it. I love coffee, video-games and food. I hate flying bugs, cheese (except on pizza) and dogs. I'm not to good at talking about myself, but I'm excited to get started here.