Fishless Diary: Newbie in all senses !

[Singhstyle]

Hi all

I been reading the forum and learnt a lot! I thought i would share where i am as well .

Set up:
Two Power Glo T5 Fluorescent Bulb High Output 39w 91cm (34in)
Two Life Glo T5 Fluorescent Bulb High Output 39w 91cm (34in).
Fluval 406 External Filter
Fluval Mirrored M Series Heater 300watt.
Q2 Air pump with One air stone
Planted (picture attached)
Seneye monitoring but API testing as seneye only picks up free ammonia
No C02 yet should?

The tank has been up so far for 4 days:

day1
Ammonia =0 (part dosed nutrafin cycle)
nitrite =0
nitrate no test
temp 28
ph =7.5

day 2
Ammonia =5 (dosed using pure kleenoff ammonia and dosed in remain nutrafin cycle)
nitrite =0
nitrate no test
temp 28
ph =8.2

day 3
Ammonia =4 (or 5 ..hard to read the API colur card!) Droped in two flakes of fish food ground down. Read about it but did not do at first! doh!)
nitrite =0.25
nitrate =10 (did a base check on tap water and have 10 anyway)
temp 28
ph =8.3

day 4
Ammonia =3 or 4 ( again hard to read the card - any one else have this fun??)
nitrite =1
nitrate= 40
temp 29
ph =8.3

How am i doing?? I been thinking of fish and would like to have some colourful ones . The kids like guppy so peaceful community suggestions please

 

[Mrs.h2012]

How big is your tank (gallons/liters)? If you have atleast a 20 gallon mollies are an option for you, as well as platys. I have a red wag platy and love her, I love the contrast of her orange/red color and her black fins. You can also get some Micky mouse platys in some nice colors, but beware
platys are really messy fish and poop a lot, as do mollies. Endlers livebearers are small but have nice coloring. You could also consider different types of tetras (again as long as you have atleast a 15/20 gallon).

 

[librarygirl]

Nitrite on day 4 is pretty good progress! What size tank?

 

[Singhstyle]

Hi is it is 60 gallons.

 

[Singhstyle]

day 5
Ammonia =2
nitrite =5 (+)
nitrate= 80
temp 29
ph =8.3

dose 2ppm to get to 4pm.

 

[gwithyen]

Platys are always good and seem to be recommended starter fish at my LFS. Also white cloud minnows. Guppies are always good but take heed, they like to breed... A lot. I had to sell off 60 of mine from my 200 litre tank as it was getting mad in there... Danios are as hard as nails, the only deaths I've ever had with them was when they took a dive out of the small hole on the lid where the filter comes in!

 

[librarygirl]

60 gal, wow! Awesome! You have a lot of options for a tank of that size. Too many to name, really. You could browse sites like Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums for ideas. You could also visit some local fish stores (don't let them sell you anything lol) and write down the names of fish you like and then research and ask here. It's easier to help with stocking when we have some suggestions to start with plus you'll then know what you can get locally; no sense naming fish you can't find unless you're willing to have fish shipped to you.

 

[Singhstyle]

day 6
Ammonia =0.25
nitrite =5 (+)
nitrate= 20
temp 29
ph =8.1

Added ammonia to get back to ppm.

Does the nitrate look low? i tested it twice.

 

[Singhstyle]

update: just done a test and nitrates are 5!

 

[librarygirl]

Make sure you shake/bang both nitrate bottles for 30 seconds and the tube for a full minute; results can be skewed if it isn't done correctly. I wouldn't worry about it too much though. Typically nitrates only leave the tank through water changes so it might just be a testing error. Focus on the ammonia and nitrite for now, which look good.

 

[Singhstyle]

day 7
Ammonia =0.25 (dropped very quickly in 12hrs)
nitrite =5 (+)
nitrate=5
temp 28
ph =8.1

day 8
Ammonia =0.25 (dropping quickly - this one in 7 hrs)
nitrite =5 (+)
nitrate= 5
temp 29
ph = 7.8

dosed back up to 5ppm.
is water change advisable??? 40% ? or just wait?

 

[Singhstyle]

day 7
Ammonia =0.25 (dropped in 12hrs)
nitrite =5 (+)
nitrate= 5
temp 29
ph =8.1

day 8
Ammonia =0.25 ( dropped in 7hrs)
nitrite =5 (+)
nitrate= 5
temp 28
ph =8.1

Should I do a 50% water change?? or just wait out the nitrite fall ?

 

[Singhstyle]

latest seneye dashboard. the ammonia is nh3 ( free) and not nh3 +nh4. As you can see ammonia is dropping very quickly ! just done a test on nitrites and it shows 2 or could be base 5p as hard to read. Nitrates still 5. Will do a test tonight and post pic. Ammonia (total ) is 2ppm. Will let it go to 1pmm and then dose up to 5

 

[librarygirl]

You're making good progress! Just dose ammonia once in 24 hours even if you check before that and it's already 0. I'd let it ride for now....if PH starts falling fast or ammonia conversions slows or nitrites are still high at the end of the week then a large water change to get nitrites to a readable level on the chart might not be a bad idea, for now just keep dosing.

 

[Singhstyle]

how much dose for ammnonia? half the dose? i been putting in 5ppm so just 2.5 daily? is that right?

 

[librarygirl]

You can wait until it falls to 0 before you dose again, no harm in that. Here's a calculator to tell how much to dose based on aquarium size, how much you want to dose and percentage of ammonia (scroll down the page a bit for the ammonia calc): Calculator

 

[Singhstyle]

Thanks for the advice. I just did a 22% water change ( the ~vol is 220l). The readings i took this evening are
Ammonia =0
nitrite =5 (+) (when purple as soon as the drops hit!)
nitrate= 5
temp 26
ph =7.6

I did the test ( pics attached - I will not add any ammonia and will add 2.5ppm once a day).

 

[Singhstyle]

just done another 22% water change (making a 44% change in total):

Ammonia =0
nitrite =5 (+) (went purple as soon as the drops hit!) They must have been even more sky higher before..
nitrate= 5
temp 28
ph =7.7

 

[Singhstyle]

day 9
Ammonia =0 (went from 3ppm to 0 in 5 hrs)
nitrite =5 (+) still sky high - drops purple when then hit in test tube)
nitrate= 5
temp 28
ph =7.7

 

[Singhstyle]

just done another 34% change as nitrates sky high