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New Joiner - Two nano tanks

Davidwebbuk

New Member
Joined
29 Nov 2020
Messages
13
Location
Chessington
Morning all.

Just joined after George Farmer mentioned the forum in one of his videos.

I've got a pair of 30l Square Nano tanks that I'm intending to plant and keep a Betta & shrimp and either raspboras or tetras and shrimp.

They're currently in the kitchen as I try and get them cycled. I started with one nearly two months ago and the fishless cycle has been long!

Set up the second yesterday and tried to split the media across both and reused some of the substrate and plants.

Fingers crossed I can get fish before Christmas.
 

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I’m also v much a newbie - now really into my little 20l shrimp cube. So much useful info on here - my advice is don’t be afraid to go down the thread wormholes. Good luck!
 
I've been following this thread. The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community

Dosing 0.6mm of ammonia most days and before I reset everything on Saturday morning I was starting to see ammonia and nitrIte return to 0ppm the next day.

The first photo below was when I set them up and the second with the ID card is this morning.

Now to wait till tomorrow and see where I'm at.

I'm struggling to search and find any threads on cycling on here. So if you've got any links that'd be fab!

Thanks
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Hi all,
I've been following this thread. The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community

Dosing 0.6mm of ammonia most days and before I reset everything on Saturday morning I was starting to see ammonia and nitrIte return to 0ppm the next day.
Just stop adding ammonia and <"ignore everything"> that you read/are told on forums, web-sites your LFS etc. about cycling and test kits.
I'm struggling to search and find any threads on cycling on here. So if you've got any links that'd be fab!
Linked into your <"other thread">.

cheers Darrel
 
So the Buddha head is the original tank and looks like it might be cycled..

The skulls is the newer tank (with some of the old(er) tanks substrate and filter media) and doesn't look like it's there just yet.

We've reserved a Betta and the plan was for him to go in the skulls tank. I'd like to collect him before the end of the weekend if possible. So keep your fingers crossed we're nearly there...

Ordered some more plants for the Buddha tank, they'll be at the local pets at home on Sunday

Tropica Salvinia Auriculata
Tropica Eleocharis Acicularis 'Mini'
Tropica Taxiphyllum Barbieri

Question. If the skulls tank isn't cycled by Saturday is it viable to put the Betta in the Buddha and then move him across? I planted the skulls with the Betta in mind, lots of big leaves and figured the skulls would give him somewhere to hide out.
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Hi all,
Question. If the skulls tank isn't cycled by Saturday is it viable to put the Betta in the Buddha and then move him across? I planted the skulls with the Betta in mind, lots of big leaves and figured the skulls would give him somewhere to hide out.
We've reserved a Betta and the plan was for him to go in the skulls tank. I'd like to collect him before the end of the weekend if possible.
Ordered some more plants for the Buddha tank, they'll be at the local pets at home on Sunday

Tropica Salvinia Auriculata
Tropica Eleocharis Acicularis 'Mini'
Tropica Taxiphyllum Barbieri
Looking at the test result definitely not in the "Skull tank", and probably not for another couple of weeks. I'm not a great fan of test kits, but nitrite (NO2-) is <"less problematic to test for"> than nitrate (NO3-). You really need the NO2 level to have been zero for some time to ensure the tank is fish safe.

The problem is <"probably the ammonia addition">, it will take a while, after the ammonia addition has stopped, for a more appropriate microbial assemblage to develop, one dominated by <"COMAMMOX Nitrospira & Ammonia Oxidising Archaea">.

For the Buddha tank could you wait another week before adding the Betta? It will give time for the Salvinia to start growing and once that has happened it will give you some extra capacity to remove ammonia, nitrite and nitrate from the water column. I'll cc on @lilirose and @dean they have more Betta expertise than me.

In <"Pets@Home"> they often have <"Tropica Ceratopteris thalictroides"> (Indian Fern) which would give the <"Betta some leafy plants"> until the Skull tank is ready. I would definitely buy it on Sunday, if it is available. <"Anubias barteri"> would be another option.

cheers Darrel
 
Definitely feels like I'm going backwards. Changed the water and planted some more plants yesterday evening. Readings this morning show nitrites.

I've just added 0.75ml of seachem prime to both tanks (it arrived this morning, I'd been using Tetra Aquasafe upto now). I'll test in a bit and see if it's made a difference to the numbers.
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Hi all,
Definitely feels like I'm going backwards.
I'm not trying to be funny, but the easy answer is that you just need <"to let the plants grow in">, and once you have a decent plant mass in active growth, your tank is fish safe.

I'm <"not anti-testing">, but my opinion is that basing decisions, about fish welfare, upon the results of these sort of testing kits is a recipe for disaster. You can get <"accurate results for all the parameters that"> are of interest to us, if you have enough time and money.

<"I have access to an analytical lab."> and staff who know how to use the kit in it, but even then I would be wary to base aquarium management entirely on the results. Against that I would quite happy to add fish to a tank with healthy plant growth and some water movement.

cheers Darrel
 
Hello!

A little bit of advice, I was a newbie to fishkeeping this summer. When I started I also got really obsessed with the testing and tested every 2 days for weeks. Well, my test results showed that my tank was apparently cycled after 3 weeks (where I was ammonia dosing), hooray! So I put some fish in and they all died within 2 days.

After this happened to me I made a post on UKAPS, and dw1305 gave me the advice to not dose with ammonia (the tank will naturally have some in it, it doesn't need an artificial huge amount), just wait another month and do weekly waterchanges (ideally 50%). I listened to that advice, and after a month I started adding fish again, and no fish have died from water quality since. It really is worth it to let the tank mature, let all the plants and bacteria and tiny things grow and thrive so they can support your fish.

You are lucky because you've come here before adding the fish, don't make the same mistakes as me!! I know it's sooo hard to wait, but it's really worth it to avoid killing your fish and feeling very guilty.
 
A little bit of advice, I was a newbie to fishkeeping this summer. When I started I also got really obsessed with the testing and tested every 2 days for weeks. Well, my test results showed that my tank was apparently cycled after 3 weeks (where I was ammonia dosing), hooray! So I put some fish in and they all died within 2 days.
Not saying I would do this again but I took more of a banzai approach and dumped a half-dozen rummy-nosed tetra straight into an uncycled tank... they all instantly went rigid (temperature shock I suspect), and sank to the bottom upside down. One of them didn't recover but the others all did and lived through the cycling (including the grey-out bacterial bloom phase) and beyond and are all still happy residents more than a year later. I wonder whether the whole "cycle the tank extensively without the fish" concept might be overbaked, particularly if you start with some robust flavours of fish and a relatively modest bioload (so not huge numbers of fish to start). I don't really test water anymore. I do EI dosing with supplemental CO2 and a drop checker and if the critters are happy and drop checker looks good I pretty much declare victory. That and I've been put off by the general unreliability of any affordable testing kits e.g. for nitrate levels.
 
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