Cycling a new tank

[Jamez]

I've added the old filter media and some old water which should get the ball rolling and I'll probably add some dither fish in about 10 days or so and some plants around that time too. I'll then do the rest of the things over the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone for helping me out.:thumbup:

 

[bigbird]

good stuff and looking forward to your report in 14days. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Jamez]

Hey bigbird. Things are going pretty well. Haven't used any of my liquid ammonia yet. Do you ever use fish food as a fuel for the bacteria instead of this liquid ammonia?

 

[bigbird]

i usually add some small amounts each day, i also add some MTS . after 7 days of doing this i put in 2-3 dither fish. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Jamez]

Okie dokes, thanks.

 

[Jamez]

I've added some pieces of driftwood to the tank too and I'm going to use tap water as the water for this tank also, do I need to add anything (like KH generator) to keep the PH and hardness stable, or will it be ok as it is?

 

[bigbird]

I do not know what the water is like in Brisbane, so test it and let us know.
Usually I just add seachem prime to the water. The driftwood should add some nice tannins . But test the water out of the tap and let us know the values . cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Jamez]

Do you just want to know the KH, GH and PH?

 

[bigbird]

yup that should be fine

cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Jamez]

Ok KH is 6 deg, GH is 6-7 deg and PH is 7.16.

 

[Jamez]

I've tested the water in the tank too and the KH is 4 deg, PH is 7.46, after the driftwood has been in there for about 5 days.

 

[bigbird]

what else do you have in your tank ? Your tap water is 7.16 and Tank water is 7.46 ? Tannins take a while to leach and effect your water. Do you have a LFS you can also test your water ? cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Lornek8]

If you test your tap water right ot of the tap without letting it sit, it could contain CO2 which would cause the pH to be low. When placed into your tank and allowed to read an equilibrium it could result in a higher pH. Try to let your tap water sit for 24hours, preferably with an airstone in it, and then retest to see what your pH is.

 

[Jamez]

what else do you have in your tank ? Your tap water is 7.16 and Tank water is 7.46 ? Tannins take a while to leach and effect your water. Do you have a LFS you can also test your water ? cheers jk :thumbup:

At the moment I have 2 pieces of driftwood and 1 Corydoras Julii in the tank. I should be able to find a LFS that can test my tap water yeah, might take me a little while though but I should be able to.

I will also let the tap water sample rest for 24 hours and retest afterwards

 

[Zebra Pleco]

Sounding good so far. Just be patient.

If your patient setting up the tank, you will be reward with years of pleasure and have healthy fish. Rushing the setup, will only result in poor health in fish, then possibly disease etc, Once you have diseased fish, you then have to go through the whole process of treating them with medication, which then effects your cycle, and back to square one.