Guesttrash
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2021
- Messages
- 1
Hi!
I’m extremely new to this, having bought my first tank a little over a month ago. I went to a Maidenhead aquatics branch to buy all my supplies, after doing research and them being a reputable nearby fish keeping company.
With their advice I got an 18L tank, an internal filter, a heater, and within the tank lid is a fixed LED light (I may be able to source a link to the details of my tank, which the light and filter came with) and heater (separately bought.)
I have some live plants in the tank, a piece of driftwood, along with marimo moss balls. The person I spoke to advised me to take on a fishless cycle, and supplied me with AquaCare Bio Boost, and AquaCare tap water conditioner. I have followed the instructions on each of these since filling my tank. I also use King British Plant food for the plants.
The person I spoke to however told me it’d take 10days to have my tank cycled and ready for fish. Although through some basic searching I understood it to be better to leave this longer, and as I was going on holiday a week after, starting my tank up, I let this happen. I then went back to my local store and took in a water sample.
Unfortunately I was not able to get a fish, this was two weeks ago, and had been told that my nitrates are showing well but there was an ever so slight high number of nitrites. I was then told that give it a few days it’d be perfect.
Long story short, I am here two weeks after the initial ‘a couple days’ comment, and my Nitrite levels have not changed at all, and I’m still unable to get a fish. Oh, and one of my plants has suddenly started to brown, even blacken in some spots.
I understand that cycling takes patience and time, and that’s more than okay. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice for me to help this process out a tad as I feel as though I’m doing nothing and it’s frustrating me. And also if there’s any reasoning for one of my plants suddenly dying?
Last question; how do I know if my filter media cartridge needs changed?! The box advises once a month but many websites says to never change it, and then others say to rinse it. It looks rather horribly brown and it is over the ‘month’ if I do need to change it.
Thanks in Advance!
I’m extremely new to this, having bought my first tank a little over a month ago. I went to a Maidenhead aquatics branch to buy all my supplies, after doing research and them being a reputable nearby fish keeping company.
With their advice I got an 18L tank, an internal filter, a heater, and within the tank lid is a fixed LED light (I may be able to source a link to the details of my tank, which the light and filter came with) and heater (separately bought.)
I have some live plants in the tank, a piece of driftwood, along with marimo moss balls. The person I spoke to advised me to take on a fishless cycle, and supplied me with AquaCare Bio Boost, and AquaCare tap water conditioner. I have followed the instructions on each of these since filling my tank. I also use King British Plant food for the plants.
The person I spoke to however told me it’d take 10days to have my tank cycled and ready for fish. Although through some basic searching I understood it to be better to leave this longer, and as I was going on holiday a week after, starting my tank up, I let this happen. I then went back to my local store and took in a water sample.
Unfortunately I was not able to get a fish, this was two weeks ago, and had been told that my nitrates are showing well but there was an ever so slight high number of nitrites. I was then told that give it a few days it’d be perfect.
Long story short, I am here two weeks after the initial ‘a couple days’ comment, and my Nitrite levels have not changed at all, and I’m still unable to get a fish. Oh, and one of my plants has suddenly started to brown, even blacken in some spots.
I understand that cycling takes patience and time, and that’s more than okay. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice for me to help this process out a tad as I feel as though I’m doing nothing and it’s frustrating me. And also if there’s any reasoning for one of my plants suddenly dying?
Last question; how do I know if my filter media cartridge needs changed?! The box advises once a month but many websites says to never change it, and then others say to rinse it. It looks rather horribly brown and it is over the ‘month’ if I do need to change it.
Thanks in Advance!