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I recently was given a 29 Gal Tall 12"x24"x24". I bought a new filter (Emperor 280), a new heater (unsure of the brand, but it is a submersable supposedly suitable for up to 75 gal), a thermometer (taped on the outside of the tank), and gravel/fake plants.

I put in water from the tap (well water - hardness 150-300 (GH) ppm, alkalinity 300 (KH) ppm, 8.4 pH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates). After a few days I added 6 glowlight tetras, the water temp @ 77 degrees F.

The tank has been cycling for 9 days. The ammonia level has been steady at 0.25 ppm (mg/L) every day. The nitrate and nitrite has been 0. I lost one fish on the fourth day, and another on the seventh day.

Is this normal? Should I add more glowlights, or should I try to stick it out with the remaining four? Or should I add a different fish to the tank for cycling?

Thanks!



Last edited by kudzu at 01-Dec-2005 20:18

Last edited by kudzu at 01-Dec-2005 20:18

You never shoudl ahve added those fish to the tank to cycle, especially snce you are a beginner. If you can return them to the LFS then you should do so. You have 2 choices on cycling the tank.

Option 1
Get pure white ammonia and add afew tablespoons of this to initiate the cycle. When the levels peak the tank may become a bit cloudy so do not freak out or try to treat it because it won't work. The cloudiness will go away in a few days. Keep an eye on your levels so that you know when the levels are starting to drop. You tank has peaked at this point and the levels should start to drop at this point. After you levels have bottome dout once again your tank will be cycled. Then you can add fish. DO NOT add a bunch of fish at once because this could cause a mini cycle and depending on the fish could very easily kill them.

Option 2

Buy a few hardy fish such as mollies OR danios. Do not buy anymore than this because it is really all you need for a tank that size. Add them to your tank but keep an eye on your stats because if you do not the tank could get out of hand and kill your fish anyway. Follow the same directions as above and you should be on your way to a great fish tank. Just remember to take your time because if you rush into it you will regret it I know that much. You will have more problems than you knwo what to do with if you do not take your time.
The tank should cycle in approximately 3 to 4 weeks so be patient.
Good Luck and Welcome to Fish Profiles


Christina

Glolights aren't the hardiest fish for cycling although better than many other choices but you'll probably lose quite a few of them if not all before the cycle is done. It takes about 4weeks to completely cycle a tank and the ammmonia to nitrite stage usually takes the longest. If you aren't planning on doing a long cycle keeping the ammonia and nitrites really low(can take a few more weeks that way) then you should choose very hardy fish such as danios. Be warned these guys are a real pain to catch again. Some aquarists manage to cycle a tank with more sensitive fish and not loose any but usually that involves planting the tank heavily right from the start, using very few fish, and/or doing lots of water changes. I've cycled tanks with trumpet snails and my 90g with a handful of guppy fry. It takes awhile and you have to stock very slowly even after the cycle is finished but I've never lost a fish to cycling. For a beginner it's better to do a fishless cycle with pure ammonia or use a hardier fish instead of a tetra species. I did my first tank (29g) with danios and my 2nd(55g) with ammonia from the grocery store instead of fish. If you can get some biospira that would speed up the cycle considerably and probably save the rest of your glolights.

Oh I wouldn't trust those stick on thermometers much. They aren't very accurate. If you can get the floating thermometers that go in the tank and can be suctioned onto the side they tend to be easier to read and more accurate.

Last edited by Sham at 01-Dec-2005 22:26

You have received some very good advice here I would return the fish and get some Danios they are a very tough little fish. I used Zebra Danios for my Betta tank I caught all but one and it took several weeks I had to leave the net in the tank so that he could get used to it I finally got him during feeding. I never lost a danio during the cycling.

My only other advice is be very patient and add more to that an extra week or so added on will not matter at all and in that way you can be sure your tank is safe to add the new fish. Again add them slowly only a few at a time and the hardiest first.

Ask plenty of questions it always helps.

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tanks]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

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Perhaps you might want to look into fishless cycling, especially for beginners it can be the more humane option.

The problem with buying fish to cycle with is that then you are stuck with fish you don't want, which is not very good.

6 glowlites should have been fine for a tank that size kudzu, I have a funny feeling that your losses may well have had something to do with the high pH. 8.4 is not really all that suited to tetras. Can you call the fish shop you bought them from and get them to tell you the pH of the tank the glowlites came from? most standard tropical fish are raised in a tank of about 7-7.4 over here, so i'd guess its similar in the US. That kind of jump could seriously stress out a tetra.

Continue with what you have now, and if you can, buy BioSpira or Cycle or NitroVec to get the bacteria levels up and reduce the chemical spikes. IF you lose all the glowlites, pop back and we can run through a few other cycling options for you that might work out a little easier

Good on you for researching cycling before you have set up your tank and even better for getting your test kits and posting your results! I'm really impressed!





For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Thanks to all for the informative responses. Here's an update...

My LFS doesn't want the remaining fish, so I'm forced to try to keep cycling with what I have. So far, I still have four glowlights, although they do not seem to be very energetic, and last night they weren't all that interested in food. I'm sure that's a very bad sign. The ammonia levels have remained the same throughout (0.25). I did a small water change the day before yesterday (removed about 2.5 gallons / added about 4 gallons) - the first water change since starting cycling. The new water was from my tap and it was sitting in a bucket at room temp for about 48 hours before I added it to the tank.

I haven't been able to get into town to look for BioSpira. I will probably be able to look on Friday or Saturday. However, my fish may be dead before then. There aren't many good fish stores in Santa Fe, unfortunately. We have PetCo and PetSmart and that's about it. We had a local store, Pete's Pets, but they are renovating their store since it was damaged in a fire.

Regarding my high-pH well water... I called the LFS and asked about their water chemistry, and the guy on the phone was in a bit of a hurry and so I didn't get any specifics, however, he said their water was not high pH. And he tried to convince me to purchase various agents to alter my water chemistry. I don't want to do this. From what I understand I would be constantly fighting the natural make-up of my water and particularly since my water also has a high alkalinity it will be difficult to lower the pH anyway. I really don't want to spend my time worrying so much about keeping my water artificially low in pH. What would I do at water changes? The pH will be constantly fluctuating and I imagine this is worse for the fish than a stable high pH.

So... are there some fish I can research that really like hard, alkaline, high pH - and are also suitable for a 29 Tall and a beginner like myself? I was looking at smaller cychlids in the fishprofiles database...

Much thanks!

According to the profile section of this site the glo lites prefer ph from 6 to 8, so 8.4 shouldn't be too bad on them. What temp is your tank set to? they do like warmer water, around 78 or so. It is not always enough to just let the water sit a day or so till it reaches room temp, unless the tank is at that same temp. Whenever you do a water change you should put water in the same temp (+ - 1-1.5 degrees). This will minimize the stress on the fish, esp. since the fish you have are not really what I would call hardy. Try to avoid drastic chemistry changes in your tank by making what goes in same as what comes out, only cleaner. Also, try to avoid water changes during your cycling, it only makes it take longer. Try adding something like stress kote to ease things on them.
Good luck with your new tank and welcome to FP and to the hobby!

The temp is at 77 degrees F, according to the tape-type thermometer. The room is usually at 72, so I suppose I need to buy another heater to warm up the water I add at water changes.

The four glowlites are hanging in there. They were actually very active last night. Also, I'm beginning to see slight nitrites in the tank, but no change in ammonia, yet.

kudzu
welcome to the site, sorry you're having some troubles, hang in there!

Those tape style thermometers are great for a quick glance but I've found they're really not accurate the room temp effects it partially, and if you ever exceed the temp of the thermometer it'll always give a false reading (at least a number of mine did that ).

Petco and petsmart should both sell cycle. It looks like [link=this]http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=27853;category_id=2767" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link]. It's not as good as biospira, but it does achieve the same end result and can be kept on the shelf (which is why the chains will stock them ). Pick up a small bottle ASAP you can order a larger one online later. Dosing it will help minimize the stress on the fishies!

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I got a better thermometer and installed it in the top right corner of the tank. It reports 78 F, and the tape therm (installed in the lower left corner) reports 77 F.

Nitrites are on the rise, Ammonia has dropped, and I'm seeing trace amounts of Nitrates. The fish seem to be doing much better now.