HannibalsMum Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 i'll be getting a 3f tank soon, 36" long x 20" high x 16" wide here is what i know what i need to do.. frist clean the tank thoughly before anything else. wash gravel etc. now for the water i'm a little unsure of, i want to take some of the water out of the tanks i currently have as a starter however i dont think i can take much. i have to start with a basic air filter, and water cycler and heater due to funds. i also know that i have to cycle for at least a week before adding any fish. i was thinking on adding a couple of young mollies to make sure everything is ok, that way i dont lose any of my more fragile fish. a couple of questions i have are, when can i add plants? its a week long enough for that size tank? what amount of old water out of the tanks should i use, if any? i also have a small sponge from a carbon filter i had that is currently in my 20L tank that is due to come out, should i attach that to the air filter to help with the mico bio? what else do i need? when i can afford a decent filter system i will be looking into that @ AOA. i know i'll be in good hands there. any advice or tips will be welcomed, as i would like to get this right on the frist go. ( i am working on a short budget so DIY will be very much welcome) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 By no means am I an expert at this. I have only cycled two tanks properly, but when cycling my 3ft x 2ft x 2ft (300L). I personally used a fish-less cycling method using aqueous ammonia. Its obviously up to you if you chose to do a fish less or fish cycle, but I would recommend a fish-less cycle. Even if its just so you can avoid doing lots of water changes! Once the cycle in my tank was "completed", I was able to move over all the fish from our smaller 50L tank and add another 6 black phantoms without any mini cycle or fluctuation at all. It may take a bit longer to do and the tank sits there boring as hell with no fish in it, but I feel its worth it as a) you can add a decent portion of your final stocking at the start and you don't expose your fish to any ammonia or nitrite, which can only be a good thing. But either way you should have your filter set up and running as soon as possible as that's where the majority of the good bacteria live. If you don't have a test kit you really need one when cycling your tank, I use an API Freshwater Master Test Kit. When fish cycling you want to keep ammonia levels below 0.5ppm and nitrite levels below 0.25. Because of the need to keep these levels so low, overall a fish cycle takes longer to "finish" compared to a fish-less cycle. As for your plan of attack, taking water from established tanks helps a bit. So use as much water as possible from an established tank. But it would help a lot more if you could take some gravel or even a piece of filter media from an established tank. So that piece of sponge should help speed things up a bit for you. There are some really good instructions out there detailing methods for cycling a tank so one of the best things you can do is look on google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HannibalsMum Posted July 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 thanks for that. i do have test kits. how long do you do the fishless cycle for? could i add plants before the fish? i might have to look on google to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Starting from scratch about 3 weeks on av.If you have seeded media you can add fish straight away.When using seeded media make shaw you don't kill it on transfer and don't add more fish than the amount of bacteria you move over to the new tank.Feed spareingly and add fish at intervels to avoid crashing the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 If you do a fishless cycle you keep going untill the filter can eat a few ppm of ammonia in 24 hours without showing any nitrite along the way. If you google "The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling" you can find the method I used for the cycle, except I used stability as well. But as Daydream said you can just transfer your media to the new filter and your good to go, with sparse feeding and slow introduction of new fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HannibalsMum Posted July 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 thanks guys, that is a really big help, i'm not so unsure of what to do. so there is still the queation of when to add plans? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oromis Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I've been told you can add them at any time as ammonia and everything doest worry them too much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Yea the only problem is that plants can compete with the bacteria for ammonia, but thats not too bad as you can just add more lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HannibalsMum Posted July 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 thanks to AOA, i now have a canster filter, my partner had got it for me without me knowing... i thought he was getting the air sponge types. he had said that he left them in the car,,, but lo an behold a new canster filter... the tank has come up a bute with a vac an simple wash.. yet to do the metho clean. i'm goin to do the fishless cycle.. it takes little longer than i would like however i think it is the best for my guys. something i havent thought bout is the heating... can i start the tank without the heater then add that a week/few days before adding the fish? also i'm looking into getting blue rams when the 3f is well established, i was wondering how do i keep my ph a little lower.. i run at bout 7.2 at the mo in my other tanks. i currently add seasalt @ 1g per ltr when i do water changes, should i halve that, or is there something else i can do? i'd like to say a very massive thanks to everyone that is helping me with this to.. if i could buy you all a beer...i would.. an so would the fish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 (edited) No salt in the ram tanks! You can keep the pH a bit lower by using soil type substrates, lots of driftwood, blackwater, pH down, using partially RO water or rain water........ or by setting up a CO2 system. Yep, you sure can add the heater after the cycle, but the cycle will happen faster at 25deg C Edited July 12, 2013 by Donny@ageofaquariums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HannibalsMum Posted July 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 thnks donny, okies noted bout the rams.. hmmm.. might have to look that CO2 system for them. (i'll be getting a nice big piece of driftwood for the longfins anyways) and no salt for the 3f at all, due to having so many mollies i had to put salt into all three tanks atm as i was told it was the best thing for my fish. now know its not for all fish.. :S it could be part of the problem with my gourami's.. well they will have to be content for just a little longer an then they will have their new home. i'd like the ph about 6 to 6.5 to keep everyone happy.. would that be ok? i'll have to start the tank without a heater as funds are low this fornight, however first chance i get i'll be getting one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
