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Hi,

My 2nd tank just finished fishless cycling after 2.5 weeks (much shorter than the 5 weeks it took my first tank!). I used pure ammonia. Now ammonia and nitrite readings are 0, and nitrate at 20ppm. I just added a bunch of live plants this past weekend and am not planning on adding fish until this weekend at the earliest. For my first tank, I changed 90% of the water after it finished cycling - but all I had in there were plastic plants. Should I do as large a water change for this planted tank, or should I maybe do 50% and leave some nitrate for the plants? Also, should I keep adding a bit of pure ammonia daily even after the water change, at least until I put fish in it?

Thanks for any advice!

-P

well no i wouldn't do a water change that big cause it could IMO take you a step back in the cycling process.
but your question of whether to add ammonia to the tank or not till fish arrive!
yes a very good question indeed.
so mabe just add very very small amounts of NH4+/NH3 just to keep the bacteria alive but without shock to the fishies!

I agree with victa_fish, add only the smallest amounts in order to keep the bacteria going. The new plants will take care of the Nitrate and suck it right up.

BTW, what plants did you add? Fast growing?

And remember, when you add your fish, don’t add them all at once. I would suggest you pick the hardiest on your stocking list and add that one first, and with no more than 6 (depending on tank size and fish type) at a time (then a week until you add more).

What fishies do you plan to add?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo - I have anubias, java fern, crypts, ludwigia repens and inclinata (I think), and hygrophila polysperma, so a mix of fast and slow-growing plants. There's a pic of the tank in the Aquascaping section. I'm planning on adding 2 male Endlers this weekend, and then hopefully at some point in the future, some cory habrosus (it's supposed to be "their" tank! ).

I think I will defer the water change (and only 50%) until the day before I get the fish. I'll just keep adding a couple of drops of ammonia daily until then. Does that sound like a good plan to you guys?

Thanks!

-P

dont do big water changes...just do 25% water change....u want ur beneficial bacteria to remain in the tank..and not in the sewer...thus, u still need to put ammonia in the tank even though uve finsihed the cycle...u dont want ur bacteria to get hungry and die, right?? once the 1st batch of fish arrived...of course, there will be a new source of fud for them...the waste products of ur fish. gud luck

upikabu,

Sounds like a plan to me, basically

Why only 2 Endlers, they create almost no bio load. If your tank is cycled now and you add only 2 fish you will loose a lot of your bacteria as a result. Your tank (24"x12"x12" ) is I guess about 15 gallons and you could easily add 4 to 6 Endlers to get started.

And I hope you don’t add the Endlers just as a warm up for the corydoras. Endlers are pretty much an endangered species and rely on the aquarium hobby to survive. You should treat them at least as equals to your corydoras.

Hope this helps,

Ingo


Last edited by Little_Fish at 06-Jul-2005 11:46

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Bacteria is not in the water it is attached to things. Freefloating bacteria is too small of an amount to be important. If the water your adding is the exact same as the water you are taking out in theory you can do a 100% water change without affecting a fully cycled tank. However you don't really need to. It's suggested after a cycle to bring nitrates down but yours are still in the safe range. Around 20 and below is a good place to keep it. When my fishless cycle completed in the 55g I had closer to 100 nitrates and needed to do a 90% water change.
If you aren't adding fish yet you do need to keep adding ammonia or the bacteria will die. Within a day without a food source they will start dying off.

Last edited by sham at 06-Jul-2005 14:08

Why only 2 Endlers, they create almost no bio load.

To be honest, I *was* thinking about adding them to "warm up" the tank in preparation for the Habrosus (I didn't know they were that endangered - although I've only seen them in the one LFS). I was planning on adding maybe 8-10 Habrosus, so I don't want to overstock the tank in the end. Hmm...not sure now. Perhaps I'll also rescue the two Habrosus (they're in the same LFS as the Endlers) and take my chances with them.

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I will continue to add ammonia daily and then monitor the nitrate right before I do the water change. If it's 20ppm or less, I'll do 25% water change. If it's much higher, I'll do a larger water change.

Cheers.

Last edited by upikabu at 06-Jul-2005 16:15

-P

An update:
I finally did a 50% water change on Friday (nitrate was around 40ppm before the water change) and put in 2 male Endlers on Saturday. Man, are those things tiny (but beautiful)! I can barely see them with all the plants I have. Now I wished I had followed Ingo's suggestion and bought at least a couple more Endlers. The thing is I won't have time to get any more fish until this weekend. I've been overfeeding the Endlers a bit (not hard to do), hoping that the extra food will "feed" the bacteria and keep them alive until I get more fish. Is this a good idea? I'm reluctant to add pure ammonia with fish in there.

-P