My first tank! 10g

[Alaris]

Figured I would give an update. I have not added any ammonia since 10-1. My nitrItes are consistently staying "off the charts" at 5.0+++++? No nitrAtes and I expect that IF I had nitrAtes the plants would eat them up right away anyway.

I've purchased some more plants from a couple AA members. I plan on picking up some Flourish Comprehensive and Flourish Nitrogen as my bacopa is brown around the edges of the leaves and my hygro kompakt leaves are also turning brown and looking transparent, however the hygro is growing quite a bit.

Love love love the Dwarf Java Fern I got from Joy. It's my favorite and I didn't think that it would be. It's a beautiful deep green color and looks so healthy.

My anubias nanas are healthy because I decided to just pluck the leaves that had BBA (http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/what-type-of-algae-106516.html). Luckily it did not spread to my other plants.

I did dose with Excel from 9-12 to 10-1. I don't see the point anymore since I don't have algae.

I upgraded my lights from 2x10 spiral CF's to 2x15 spiral CF's. Can't tell a difference except it raised my tank temp to 86F with heater.

My heater...sigh. It never cuts off. It keeps the tank consistantly at 82F or 86F with lights on. That's too hot. Without it my tank gets as cold as 68F at night.

I'm not too anxious in replacing the heater yet since I have no fish. After I finish planting and starting ferts, if my tank is /still/ not cycled, I'm going to hunt down some BioSpira.

Current stocking plans:
1 male guppy (will get him as a tiny baby - lfs has fabulous grade baby guppies)
5 of tiny schooling fish (Gertrude Rainbowfish or a MicroRasboras)
3 pygmy corys if my lfs carries them
Red Cherry Shrimp

Query 1:
I have some brown "dust" settled on my plants and rocks and on the glass. Could this be left over dust from the pool filter sand I had in first? I've since replaced the polyfiber from changing the substrate. I shake it off and it just settles back on the plants.

Query 2:
I picked up my hygro to move it and bubbles came up! I hadn't had my bubble wand on for a few weeks. Were these trapped bubbles from the wand (opposite end of the tank)? This is just weird...

 

[black hills tj]

Figured I would give an update. I have not added any ammonia since 10-1. My nitrItes are consistently staying "off the charts" at 5.0+++++? No nitrAtes and I expect that IF I had nitrAtes the plants would eat them up right away anyway.

What is your current ammonia reading? A nitrite reading that high seems rather odd, but if you aren't showing any nitrates...then it would seem your bacteria are still growing.

I upgraded my lights from 2x10 spiral CF's to 2x15 spiral CF's. Can't tell a difference except it raised my tank temp to 86F with heater.

My heater...sigh. It never cuts off. It keeps the tank consistantly at 82F or 86F with lights on. That's too hot. Without it my tank gets as cold as 68F at night.

I'm not too anxious in replacing the heater yet since I have no fish. After I finish planting and starting ferts, if my tank is /still/ not cycled, I'm going to hunt down some BioSpira.

What kind of heater are you running right now? In my 10gallon I run a 100watt Visitherm stealth, and it keeps the temperature very stable.

Query 2:
I picked up my hygro to move it and bubbles came up! I hadn't had my bubble wand on for a few weeks. Were these trapped bubbles from the wand (opposite end of the tank)? This is just weird...

Its possible that microbubbles of air gathered under a leaf and became trapped there. However, its not impossible that your Hygro is already pearling. This seems quite likely considering the growth you said its showing.

 

[Alaris]

What is your current ammonia reading? A nitrite reading that high seems rather odd, but if you aren't showing any nitrates...then it would seem your bacteria are still growing.

I stopped testing for ammonia and I haven't added any since 10-1. My nitrItes are high b/c I dosed up to 4ppm of ammonia for 5 weeks and I don't have the nitrAte producing bacteria to eat them up. For more info read: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/stalled-cycle-106713.html I assume my ammonia is 0 since I haven't added any and 4ppm goes to 0 in 14 hrs.

What kind of heater are you running right now? In my 10gallon I run a 100watt Visitherm stealth, and it keeps the temperature very stable.

The heater came with the tank from the previous owner. It's a Neptune 50W. I can't find anything about it on the net except that it might be from Petsmart. I have no idea how old it is and neither did the previous owner. I could stand to use a new one.

Its possible that microbubbles of air gathered under a leaf and became trapped there. However, its not impossible that your Hygro is already pearling. This seems quite likely considering the growth you said its showing.

It's not pearling like I've seen pictures of. It's rather large bubbles that an air stone might produce and they rose out from the substrate when I pulled out the hygro. I moved some more substrate around in the area and a few more bubbles came out.

 

[Purrbox]

Love love love the Dwarf Java Fern I got from Joy. It's my favorite and I didn't think that it would be. It's a beautiful deep green color and looks so healthy.

Glad you like it. I was also surprised by how much I ended up liking Java Ferns. They're actually the main plants in 2 of my 4 aquariums.

My heater...sigh. It never cuts off. It keeps the tank consistantly at 82F or 86F with lights on. That's too hot. Without it my tank gets as cold as 68F at night.

I'm not too anxious in replacing the heater yet since I have no fish. After I finish planting and starting ferts, if my tank is /still/ not cycled, I'm going to hunt down some BioSpira.

I'd recommend a 50 Watt Visitherm Stealth Heater. I'm using one in my 10 gallon and it's been very reliable.

Current stocking plans:
1 male guppy (will get him as a tiny baby - lfs has fabulous grade baby guppies)
5 of tiny schooling fish (Gertrude Rainbowfish or a MicroRasboras)
3 pygmy corys if my lfs carries them
Red Cherry Shrimp

I'd recommend upping the number of pygmy cories to 5-6. They are so much happier and display great schooling behavior when you up the numbers just that little bit.

Query 1:
I have some brown "dust" settled on my plants and rocks and on the glass. Could this be left over dust from the pool filter sand I had in first? I've since replaced the polyfiber from changing the substrate. I shake it off and it just settles back on the plants.

Sounds like diatoms to me. Nothing to worry about. It should go away within a month.

Query 2:
I picked up my hygro to move it and bubbles came up! I hadn't had my bubble wand on for a few weeks. Were these trapped bubbles from the wand (opposite end of the tank)? This is just weird...

It's not pearling like I've seen pictures of. It's rather large bubbles that an air stone might produce and they rose out from the substrate when I pulled out the hygro. I moved some more substrate around in the area and a few more bubbles came out.

Probably just some air trapped when you laid down the substrate and filled with water. Take a clean chopstick or similar object reserved for aquarium use and stir the substrate. This should release most of the trapped air. Shouldn't be anything dangerous, since the aquarium hasn't been set up very long.

I stopped testing for ammonia and I haven't added any since 10-1. My nitrItes are high b/c I dosed up to 4ppm of ammonia for 5 weeks and I don't have the nitrAte producing bacteria to eat them up. For more info read: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/stalled-cycle-106713.html I assume my ammonia is 0 since I haven't added any and 4ppm goes to 0 in 14 hrs.

You need to keep dosing the Ammonia back upto the target level daily. If not the first set of bacteria that converts Ammonia to Nitrate will start dying off. If the Nitrate is too high, then do a large water change to get it back down to readable levels and dose your Ammonia back to the target level.