Is my tank ready for fish?

[Maxkolbe]

I have been cycling my new 60 gal. Tank for about a week now and here are my levels

-PH 8.4

- Ammonia 0

- Nitrites 0

- Nitrates 5.0 ppm

- GH very high

- KH very high

Do you think it would be OK to add a yellow lab and in two days add a cobalt. After those I will probably continue to slowly add fish.
Any second opinions would be helpful.

One off topic question, can Duboisis be kept with mbunas?

Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[Fishie]

Yes it would be ready to run. Idk about off topic question though.

 

[Maxkolbe]

Thanks for replying so quick. I had the temp up to grow bacteria so I'll be adding the lab as soon as it drops back down!

 

[Fishie]

Thanks for replying so quick. I had the temp up to grow bacteria so I'll be adding the lab as soon as it drops back down!

Cool! Welcome

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Have you gone through your nitrite spike and nitrate spike phase?

It should be safe. Just stock gradually.

 

[miles]

Isn't a large water change usually recommended after finishing a fishless cycle? Your nitrates are so low though that the only reason you'd want to do that is if you're suspicious of mystery ingredients in the ammonia you used. Then again.. you'd have used so little ammonia. Just a thought. You must have had a whole bunch of cycled filter media at your disposal!

 

[Maxkolbe]

My filter has this feature where you can double the filter cartridges. I just took advantage of this and used one of the extra slots to insert a cartridge from another tank. Then I set the temp to 82, got a powerhead running for oxygen and I'm really pleased with how it turned out! I actually didn't use Ammonia, I added a pinch or two of crumbled flake food every 1 or 2 days. Unfortunately I don't know what the water has been doing because the test kit just arrived in the mail today. I'm pretty sure it will be OK if I leave the seeded cartridge in and add fish slowly.

I also got two big hunks of driftwood and some rocks from the other tank!

 

[jlk]

Be prepared to do lots of water changes with a good water conditioner & daily testing of your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) once you add fish. Although you used a seeded filter, i dont believe your tank is properly cycled yet. A few pinches of fish food isnt likely to have served as an ample source of ammonia to cycle your tank. The fish food has to be broken down into its components before it can even serve as an ammonia source-this takes a few days or longer. Be very careful & make sure you are testing your water daily. I would read up on 'fish-in cycling' so you understand what your about to embark upon. If you have any questions, please ask!

 

[TheFishBoss97]

I wonder if you have the same filter I do..........is it the penguin 350? the best at least for me. Yeah, those should be fine and +1^ with everyone who said to do lots of WCs soon...........I'd wait maybe 2-3 days to be sure, but that's just me

 

[Maxkolbe]

When I got my ten gal. For my bedroom I basically listened to the LFS and put in five inches of fish for a week and then finished stocking the tank. I got two golden wonder kilies, an upside down catfish, a black Mollie, a small alage eater whose name starts with an O that I can't spell, and a dwarf gourami. The only fish I lost was the gourami and I believe this is due to the very hard water in our area that seems extremely effective at killing most of the prettier species of community fish.
In conclusion I think I would be fine if I started with two small fish and cycled with them. We have two other tanks that I can get filter media from so I have a source of bacteria I can turn to. I think that I'll try fish in and be careful.

One question though, why doesn't using media from another tank basically do the same thing as cycling. After all there is BB in the filter and that's what's really important right?

 

[Maxkolbe]

I wonder if you have the same filter I do..........is it the penguin 350? the best at least for me. Yeah, those should be fine and +1^ with everyone who said to do lots of WCs soon...........I'd wait maybe 2-3 days to be sure, but that's just me

Yea that's the one, I put the seeded cartridge in the slot behind the one that comes with the filter.

 

[librarygirl]

When I got my ten gal. For my bedroom I basically listened to the LFS and put in five inches of fish for a week and then finished stocking the tank. I got two golden wonder kilies, an upside down catfish, a black Mollie, a small alage eater whose name starts with an O that I can't spell, and a dwarf gourami. The only fish I lost was the gourami and I believe this is due to the very hard water in our area that seems extremely effective at killing most of the prettier species of community fish.
In conclusion I think I would be fine if I started with two small fish and cycled with them. We have two other tanks that I can get filter media from so I have a source of bacteria I can turn to. I think that I'll try fish in and be careful.

One question though, why doesn't using media from another tank basically do the same thing as cycling. After all there is BB in the filter and that's what's really important right?

So you pulled some media from a smaller tank? The smaller tank is adjusted to the bioload of that tank. If you pull a portion of that media and put it in a larger tank with larger fish the bacteria isn't going to be able to handle the entire load right away. It'll multiply and increase and adjust in time but in the meantime be prepared to test the water daily and do water changes any time ammonia and/or nitrite are over .25. There's a link in my signature to fish-in cycling: new tank with fish. Good luck.

 

[jlk]

Yes, your seeded filter contained beneficial bacteria but, after a over a weeks time, they have most likely died off from starvation (lack of ammonia). By using a seeded live filter during cycling, you will def jumpstart things but you have to bear in mind the bb colonize everywhere (substrate, decorations, filter housing, new filters etc) and this takes time. It still took 3wks for me to do a fishless cycle on my 50gal WITH seeded media & plants from my smaller tanks, so its best not to take anything for granted & be prepared for daily water changes. Keep us posted if you need any help!

 

[Maxkolbe]

The new media is actually from a twenty eight gallon tank that currently houses two juvenile mbunas who are going to be the first into the tank. After they're in I will probably add more juvies in groups of two over a long period of time. (I will probably be just these two for quite a while since I'm short on money. I'm assuming that this will allow the bacteria to be able to cope.

Essentially though the two fish in the tank will have the same media from before they were moved put in the tank. I can also use the cartridge from my ten which is slightly overstocked and should have an abundance of bacteria. Thanks for the help, I'll be sure to do lots of water changes and I'll have a newly emptied tank in which to put them if the levels get out of hand.

I think That I'll continue to add fish food for about a week first though and add more seeded media when I introduce the fish. Then I can see If any of the levels spike.

 

[Maxkolbe]

I thought about it and I've decided to do a fish less cycle if there's any chance that it could harm my fish. Since this no longer fits in with the title I am going to be posting my results in a new thread in the same section. Thank you to everyone who has helped. It is greatly appreciated.