Hello to AQ members,

Just another newbie to the hobby. I got myself a Fluval Vicenza 180 tank, still cycling the tank. (I think) at the moment I am 4 weeks into the cycle. And the following are the water parameters:

pH: between 6.6-7.0 (not sure as a bit confusing using the pH alert by Seachem)

free ammonia: Safe (also using Ammonia Alert by Seachem)

Total Ammonia: 0 (Using API Ammonia test kit)

Nitrite: 0.25ppm (API 5 in 1 strip test kit)

Nitrate: 0 (API 5 in 1 strip test kit)

kH and dH hard to determine the results as can't really tell from the colors as it tend to be in between or overlapping. Hope I'm not confusing anyone here.

I made a newbie mistake by having:

13 guppies originally. As of now 10 left from my last head count.
16 red cherry shrimps originally. As of now 14 left from my last head count.

4 days ago, I just added 10 cardinal tetras. So far so good.


And last but not least, I added a bunch of straight vallis. dying because at a later stage, I found out from the net that I'm not suppose to add aquarium salt in a planted tank. So I guess me adding API booster daily won't help much until I lessen the concentration of the salt in the water by water changes. Right?


I just realize I didn't plan out properly of what I wanted for my aquarium early which resulted in my aquarium's current condition.

Sorry I went overboard with the intro by adding to my current aquarium problem. Will post up new thread on this separately.