Reply With Quote
Yes bro, prime is a good product to removes chlorine, chloramine and as well on ammonia.
As much as I would like to add fishes, I know that I have to let it take time and fully cycle. I think the proper question is have my cycling process kickstart? Right now my ammonia is so high, the nitrifying bacteria should be happy to get so much food around. The nitrite has came down to zero, maybe the plants took the nitrite and in fact my bacteria have not even kick start yet.
So my problem is there is chloramine in the tank that is hindering bacteria growth? All I need is to add some prime and the tank will cycle itself letting nature takes it course?
Ok, I only do water change after I cycle. Plants inside the tank seems to be doing well. Will take a picture when I had a chance.
Soultions I bought based on LFS recommendation: Seachem Prime, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, flourish excel, trace and API leaf zone,quick start.
Yes bro, prime is a good product to removes chlorine, chloramine and as well on ammonia.
Sticky and Nutty in a Plastic Packet
Great! You are set to go. Now just got to watch the grass grow. Literally.
Will take a picture when you get a chance.Originally Posted by Reckless
Now we work on your grammar while we wait.
During the first few weeks of a new tank setup, the parameters will fluctuate alot and it doesn't necessarily follow a fixed pattern... its common to see ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH etc spiking up and down seemingly at random. Performing frequent test measurements during this initial period of time usually just creates more confusion and panic.
Its actually better to do test measurements after 2-3 weeks when the tank has more or less settled in and the parameters are becoming more stable. No need to do tests everyday too... once every few days or once a week is sufficient. The tank cycle takes time to develop.
During the cycling period, its normal to see high ammonia and nitrate levels, but zero nitrite levels, this is because the bacteria that process ammonia to nitrite are different from the bacteria that process nitrite to nitrate, so its possible one bacteria colony is growing and working faster than the other, hence the nitrite is being processed faster than the ammonia.
Its possible... although the chloramine may not kill all the bacteria, it may suppress them enough to slow down or reset the cycle. Dosing prime in the tank water (and using it to treat water changes) will help reduce that possibility and give the bacteria a better chance to establish properly.
In the case of your particular setup, unless you add alot more plants (as in cover the entire substrate with plants), you should still do frequent water changes... this is because your current plant mass is still very low, and alot of the light is just shining on bare substrate. Light + excess ammonia/nutrients will just encourage algae to grow instead. Hence removing excess ammonia and nutrients that your existing plant mass are not able to use would be recommended to keep things balanced in your current setup.
Apologies incorrect information on my part.
Plants alone do fine with untreated tap water. But since you are cycling the tank, as most here mentioned, you should add anti-chlorine like prime to help the bacteria multiply.
Thank you all for the pointers. I added prime just now and pray that the bacteria cycle will kick on.
I noticed white silky stuff sticking on my HC. Is this bacteria or algae?
photo (14).jpg
Happy to see pearling from one of my red plant
photo (13).jpg
Hi Bros,
Just a quick update on my tank Day 21. I have reached 8 ppm ammonia and came back to 0-0.25ppm. My nitrite have spike to 5ppm and came back to 0ppm. I assume my tank is fully cycled.
Here are some of the pictures of my tank.
IMG_1543.jpg
IMG_1552.jpg
IMG_1556.jpg
I now have
2 SAE
2 Yamato shrimp
6 OTO
2 Panda Cory
1 Sterbai cory
18 rummy nose tetra
9 black neon tetra.
They say that you cant add too much fish otherwise your bioload will not be able to handle and you will have a mini cycle again. It's been about 5 days so far the water condition is safe. Still 0 on both ammonia and nitrite.
Nice and clean tank!
You have 4ft tank so I think your livestock is pretty decent, not overloaded. I think the thumb of rule for fishes in tank is 1" fish per gallon if I am not wrong. I would just consider 1 fish per gallon for my setup, our fishes in planted tank can't be big...
Haha thanks! Mine is about 80 gallon so 80 fishes then
My other plants are growing taller and propagating. My hc however is getting worse. Many have uprooted due to water flow or fishes digging around. Those still intact are not spreading.
Any pro can advise? I am not going to get my HC carpet. I spend lots of money getting 9 tubs of tropica hc. It's a failed attempt.
I have never had much luck with HC. But if I'm not mistaken, the HC you bought would have been in the emersed form. Sometimes they will melt a little before beginning growth in the immersed form. It's more of a transitional period that most plants in the emersed form have when introduced into a new tank.
Anyways, Great first set up! Looking forward to see how it will turn out.
Cheers,
JJ
I think patience is really important for this. Your set up is still fairly new so I wouldn't call it a failed attempt. Give it some time and see what happens.
HC is not an easy plant to grow and even people with the best set ups and lots of experience in the hobby do face trouble with growing HC. Sometimes it's also a little bit of luck.
If your HC melts and doesn't grow back strong (touch wood), you can always try other carpeting plants. With a 4ft tank you can try almost any carpeting plant.
One option that I think will be nice is E Tenellus. It is a hardy and robust plant that forms a nice low carpet that will form some hues of red when in strong light.
Cheers,
JJ
Thanks. I will try for another two weeks to see if any growth. I read that another way is to reduce the water level so plants can get more light. Maybe I try reduce my tank water level to 60%
Only thing about reducing your water level to 60% is your water volume also reduce to 60%, bio-load capacity also reduce, abit of a waste of such a nice tank size... unless you are thinking of switching to a riparium setup?
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks