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I have panda cories, longfin serpae tetras, glofish, glow light tetras, some amano shrimp and a pair of German Blue Rams in my tank and I'm trying to work out a feeding schedule. Seems like everywhere you look online people recommend different things, from feeding 3-5 times a day to feeding...

Hi all, my tank is finally cycled and I'm looking to start stocking very soon. Quick question - I've used a sand substrate and intend to have both ghost shrimp and panda corys. Will these sufficiently stir the sand up for me not to have to worry about toxins building? I've heard you can use...

2.5 ppm is about what I've been adding. My original plan was to add the ghost shrimp and corys first, then add the tetras and platys, then add one gourami, so I might stick with that. I can be more patient with fish actually in the tank. Thanks for the help to everyone who contributed! It's...

So...since I've cycled the tank, when I'm ready to add fish, do I still need to add slowly and in small batches? Or can I add a bigger batch or even the whole lot of them together? And if I'm adding live plants at the same time, does that make a difference to how many fish I can add at once?

My wife just tested and the nitrites actually tested as 0! I'm having her add just a little bit of ammonia to verify that it'll get processed through quickly but it looks like the tank may finally be cycled!!!

I did the water change and I still have high (close to the top of the scale if not at the top) readings for both nitrites and nitrates. I've looked around and seen a few people recommend cutting back the ammonia drastically at this point...I've been dosing 2.5 ppm every 12 hours (it always...

Santa called me and said the tank wasn't ready yet, so he brought Ethan a present for Christmas and then because he's been EXTRA good this year he's going to come back soon with some fish too. ;) So I added the coral; between the coral and the buffer I added my pH has been holding in the mid...

I added the neutral regulator last night as a short term solution, will head to the LFS this morning to get crushed coral. Ammonia was 0 this morning, nitrites 1ppm, nitrates 40-0ppm, pH 6.4. That's the fastest the ammonia has ever dropped so I have a feeling the pH has been the problem all...

I have some Seachem Neutral Regulator...would that work in lieu of the coral? If I use the coral, will it need to stay in there long-term or just during cycling?

As of this morning (a bit less than 24 hours after the last big water change w/ 2.5ppm ammonia added), my pH was 6.5ish, nitrites are 1-2ppm, ammonia is 1-2ppm. Didn't test nitrates. 24 hour pH test isn't ready yet. At least the cycle is still progressing...

Okay, so the dropping that is happening now may be perfectly normal, it could just be the water settling to it's 'real' pH...so just keep an eye on it unless it drops below 7, then it is time for a water change?

So the good news is that the 2ppm ammonia was down to 1ppm this morning, 12 hours later. The bad news is that my pH had bottomed (6.4) this morning (it is naturally ~8.4). So I did another big water change, tested the pH an hour later and it was 8.3. Just tested it again after one more hour and...

Okay, thanks all, water change/conditioning/ammonia addition is done, we'll see what happens tomorrow. And now I'll remember to test the pH from now on, lol!

Also, if the pH drops again (obviously less than it did this time) I should do a PWC?

Have I killed all of the bacteria I've built up so far (i.e. will I be starting over)? :/

This tank is going to be the death of me. Going to have to do some quick thinking when my son asks why Santa didn't bring him any fish...luckily he's only two, so it shouldn't be too tough to come up with something that'll satisfy him.

Oh no, I hadn't been testing the pH! It's completely bottomed out, reading as 6 on the API scale. What should I do??? I thought you were supposed to avoid doing water changes during cycling so I haven't done any since the last time I posted and I did the huge 90% change/reboot. :(

So I thought I was on the path to cycling, ammonia started dropping slowly but regularly (finally), nitrites went up, nitrates went up. The ammonia seems to be processing down in about 3 days and I've been replacing it when I've seen it hit less than 0.5ppm. But here's the thing - it's not...

Awesome! So at this point I'm just keeping an eye on the ammonia and dosing it back up to 2-3ppm whenever it drops below 0.5ppm, right? And once it processes it all down in about 12 hours I'm good to go?

That's up, my tap is 0 nitrates.

Nitrates look like 10-20ppm. I added 2ml of ammonia. I also added a double dose of Prime last night and added Replenish as well per the earlier suggestions. Should I need to add more of that in the future (outside of water changes) or is that one dose good for now?

Looked like .5 ammonia this morning. I plan to dose it back up tonight. Still 0 nitrites...shouldn't I be seeing at least some by now if the ammonia is dropping?

Holding this morning at ammonia 1ppm, nitrites 0. Will wait to add ammonia until it has dropped more.

Yeah, that's kinda what I thought. It wasn't my normal store, just a place near my work, and I honestly didn't get the impression they knew what they were talking about. My ammonia actually looked like its dropping (looked like 1ppm to me) when I got home though (!!!). I'm going to test again...

Says it removes chlorine but it also binds ammonia, which I would think would be counterproductive when trying to cycle...