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Cycling my tank


Bruce

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pH: 8.5

Ammonia:0

Nitrite:0

Nirate: 5.0

The nitrate has dropped from 10 to 5 but on Saturday I'll do a water change and get that sorted out. Then in go the multies. I can't believe how quickly the nitrites dropped.

Bruce

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pH: 8.5

Ammonia:0

Nitrite:0

Nirate: 5.0

The nitrate has dropped from 10 to 5 but on Saturday I'll do a water change and get that sorted out.  Then in go the multies. I can't believe how quickly the nitrites dropped.

Bruce

Good stuff! thumb.gif It was just a matter of patience and keeping it simple.

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Acclimatization.

1) when you get your fish, put them in a bucket next to the tank in their bag water.

2) run a siphon from the tank with an airline with a tap

3) once it's siphoning ok turn the tap almost off so it just drips into the bucket.

4) once the water gets near the top of the bucket (assuming it wasn't very full to start with) then you should be right to introduce the fish to the tank

Ok, and how do I keep the bucket water temp from dropping while I'm acclimatising?

Bruce

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Ah cool, I got heating in my room so I'll turn that on. What about wrapping some towels around the bucket?

Bruce

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Alright, the readings are in. I take it these will be ok for adding my multies tomorrow.

pH:8.5

Ammonia:0

Nitrite:0ppm

Nitrate:5.0ppm

When acclimatising my multies I'll take 2 towels and tie them round the bucket. I'll also chuck some shells in there. And when I put them in the tank I'll leave the lights off for a while.

Bruce

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you could just put them in a bucket that sits in the sump with it's top exposed (to match temp like floating a bag without letting water in) and just add a small ammount of water (a cup at a time) every 10min or so - I've done that sucessfully before. & it might be easier than insulating or heating the room moreso than normal.

actually you could do the siphon thing into a tank sitting in the sump couldn't you?

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The sump has no where for me to put the bucket or bag into. Its all filled with pipes and glass and pumps. Besides, I don't mind going to the extra hassle for my fish smile.gif

Bruce

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Nice work, your patience has paid off! For comparisons sake, I have only just started getting any nitrite readings last night (remember I started my cycle 3 days after you) and nitrate test has gone a little more orange tonight than previously.

Unlike you, I haven't added any "aging" products to the water, no de-chlorinator and only enough Tanganyki Buffer to raise my KH to the desired level. Every tank works at it's own pace, but it's likely that the products you added have helped speed up the process for you.

I'm sure your fish will love their new home and thank you for taking the time to set things up properly!

Cheers

Jon

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I think what helped was I added a bottle of stresszyme which claims to be bacteria and it quickly got rid of the nitrite.

Bruce

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They are going great. They are have taken to all the shells very nicely and are swimming around a lot. Taking advantage of the extra space. They are eating nicely aswell. I am picking up the leptosomas tomorrow. Are they more, less or as sensetive to water quality as multies?

Bruce

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My Oscars are sitting in their 4' tank while I'm still building their new home (6x2x2.5) which will have a bio ball/sump set up. They've been in the 4'er for about 7 months, so that tank is established. It is only filtered by a cartridge on the bottom of a 802 powerhead. The only other items in the tank are the heater & substrate.

When I'm ready to start the cycle in the new tank, I will move some of the gravel from the 4'er to the new tank. Will I achieve anything by dropping a few bio balls in the top of the 4'er a couple of weeks before start up? The idea is that they would be kind of a seeding for the rest of the bio balls in the new sump.

Troy.

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