choochiegirl

My daughter recently got a 30 gallon tank, today we went and bought all the accessories (plants & decorations) and the necessities, (heater, filter & aerator). We have not bought fish. I read this site a few times before we even went to the store so we could be ready as possible. I have the tank rinsed and completely set up, heater on, filter running etc. I have treated the water for chlorine as well. My daughter is impatient with waiting (she is 7) so i bought Cycle to hopefully speed things up a bit. I read that it introduces the "good" bacteria and reduces ammonia and nitrites. What it does not say is if i need to add anything else to the water. Should I add some fish flakes to start the process? Or has this Cycle stuff started that for me? also should i test now for Ammonia and Nitrites or wait a few days?

any help would be appreciated

Luniyn

Most people will tell you that Cycle doesn't help at all. It is actually the wrong type of bacteria and won't help in the long run. Some have even had it cause mini cycles with continued use. The only thing that works is a product called Bio-Spira. It isn't cheap and not sold locally for most. Ordering it online means you have to pay for overnight shipping so easily a $40+ item that route. If you can find it locally then that is the only thing that will help. Otherwise, you will just have to do it the old fashioned way. You need to add a source of ammonia to the tank, either fish flakes (2 or 3 flakes every 12 hours) or pure ammonia. If you can find pure ammonia at your grocery store or pharmacy that will work well. Make sure it says Pure ammonia or Clear ammonia, and read the ingredients. If it says anything other then just ammonia (i.e. surfactants, etc.) then it's not the type you want. With pure ammonia, put 5 drops per 10 Gal of tank (so 15 drops for your 30 Gal) and do that every 24 hours. After a few days start testing for ammonia level and nitrite levels (don't worry about nitrate yet). It will take some time but eventually you will start to get some nitrite showing up and the ammonia levels will start to fall off. Once that happens, down grade the ammonia of drop to 3 per 10 gal (9 for your 30 Gal) and continue testing. Soon the ammonia levels will reach 0 (you still keep adding the ammonia drops (or fish food if you went that route) every day) and the nitrites will hit a peak. Soon the nitrites will fall back to 0 and you will then need to test for nitrate. It will probably be fairly high (don't do any water changes until this end point) but don't worry, a 50%-70% water change should bring it down to around 10ppm which is where you want to keep it. Now you can add fish to the tank. Start by only adding a few. If you used pure ammonia then you can add about half the tanks load without worry because it will already be used to a high ammonia volume. Wait a few weeks for the tank to adjust to those fish and then continue adding here and there till you reach the tanks capacity. 30 inches of fish (at their adult size) is what you can fish, so for example, a neon tetra can reach 1.5" at adjust size so you could have 20 of them if you were so inclined, but you get the idea. Yes it will take weeks for this all to happen, but it will be MUCH slower and MUCH more work if you add fish due to all of the daily water changes you will have to do to keep the levels low and those water changes make it take longer to finish. So just tell your daughter that adding fish before the tank is ready will kill the fish (and there is a good chance it will) so she has to be patient. While you guys wait, check out the various types of fish and decide what you would like to have in your tank. Good Luck!

choochiegirl

ok, so I guess it would be a good idea to get a calendar and log my readings. I will test for ammonia and nitrites on wed-thursday-ish. I am using fish food since the stores close early on Sundays and i couldn't get ammonia. I only have an ammonia test kit since i didn't think I'd need one for nitrites/nitrates yet, but i will buy one.

My daughter already thinks she knows what fish she wants, but when it's time we will go to the store and see what we can get. She loves the colours and fins on the bettas, but I will only get one if i can put other non-betta fish with it

Thanks for your response =)

sgould

Be very careful putting a betta in with other fish. Many of them will fight even with non-betta tank mates. Some people have been able to pull off a community tank with bettas, and others have had nothing but trouble. It seems to depend on the personality of the individual betta. If you decide to try it, just watch the fish closely at first and be ready to move the betta out of there if there are problems.

Luniyn

Even though the betta would love the 30 Gal tank, I don't think I would use it for one for just as FLBettaCouple said, it's a 50/50 chance that you would be able to put any other fish with it. And a 30 Gal tank for just 1 fish is just a shame Nothing wrong with it, but with that kind of space, it would be a shame not to use it with a nice community of fish. One group of fish she might like if she likes the long flowing tails of the bettas, and you could have a bunch of them would be guppies (make sure they are all males though). Another route you could go is something like the cardinal tetras (or neon tetras with are very similar and sometime more available at the pet stores). You could get a school of 6-10 of them and it would look very nice. She also might like some of the Corydoras Catfish. They aren't flashy in color, but they make up for it in personality. They are like a pack of puppy dogs and make for a nice bottom dwelling fish and 4 or 5 of those along with the tetras would make for a nice lively tank. Of course there are hundreds of combinations you could try, just be sure to look at all the info on each type before buying. For example, a very beautiful fish is the Dwarf Gourami, however, you can't get a bunch of them for your tank. They are good community fish when you don't mix them with their own kind. If you put 2 males together, there is a good change they will fight constantly. If you put 1 male and 1 female (the females hard to find in most stores because they aren't as pretty as the males) there is a good chance the male would chase the female around constantly quite possibly until it died from stress. So the rule for them is 1 male to 2 female generally, but just going to a fish store and looking at their tanks (full of 10-15 male Dwarf Gouramis) it would seem like it's perfectly OK to have a few of them for your tank. So it really is a good idea to do your homework first to make sure what you are getting will actually work well in your tank. And there is a pretty good chance that the pet store workers won't actually have a clue what they are talking about. You may get lucky, but better safe then sorry. Check out some of the different fish on this page and you can get an idea of what works together and what doesn't. And of course if you have any questions we are always happy to help.

choochiegirl

I tried out my Ammonia tester to see if I know how to use it. It was reading at 0.25 PPM which I guess is good since I'm just starting. I wonder if it would be bad to switch to using ammonia and stop seeding with food?

Odd thing, trying to find Nitrate kits is very difficult. I can find Ammonia, Nitrites, pH low & high and even copper but i have checked 4 stores now and can't find a non-strip Nitrate kit. I see people on here mention a site, Dr fosters something, i think. Is it fairly reliable to order off of and do they deliver to Canada does anyone know?

Luniyn

If you can find pure ammonia locally then you can switch to that if you want, but you seem to be doing just fine with fish food so it would be ok to keep doing that as well. The good DRs site is here. As to shipping outside of the US here is what they say on their site:

choochiegirl

awesome information Luniyn . Thank you!! I'm so glad I found this site or I would have made some huge mistakes

Jendayi

My API Master test kit came with Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, and high range pH tests. I don't recommend that you go out and buy this kit since you have purchased the different tests individually, but I did want to point out that API does make a nitrate test solution. I got my kit at Petsmart, but I have seen them at Petco and some of my local non-chain fish stores as well.

Good luck!

choochiegirl

i haven't tried Petsmart yet, it's a bit of a drive. But i will sneak from work and see if i can get one

Ammonia was a bust, tried a few pharmacies and they won't sell over the counter, obviously afraid I'm going to do something illicit with it *rolls eyes* so I will keep seeding with food

Jendayi

I have cycled two tanks now using flake food. It is messy, but it does work. Patience is the hard part because it takes a couple weeks.

choochiegirl

patience is not my strong suit, neither is my daughters. I will test again tonight to see how it's moving along

voiceless_kat

Hi Choociegirl, I also live in Canada, but right on the border. I use Drs Foster & Smith all the time, but I have a post office box over the border in Minnesota. They are a great company, good prices and excellent customer service. However, I did find this Canadian website, it is in Ontario. I am thinking of trying it for some orders. I contacted them to see if they sold Bio Spira for tank cycling, and received a reply right away. ( They don't - they said retailers don't like to carry it because it has to be refrigerated. Anyway, I was impressed they answered me so quickly & truthfully, and they seem to have been around quite a while.

Their website is: http://www.petsandponds.com/securestore/

Hope all is going well with your cycling. I am having a better time on my second tank with a product called ZymBac than I did on my first tank, since I was medicating so much. Val

choochiegirl

Thanks Kat, things seem to be going smoothly, Ammonia is dropping & nitrites are up, so that's good. I still hate waiting!!!

I'm quite a ways from the border

I will check out that website & see what they have!!

There is a Big Al's near me that is all fish, and seem to have a nice Canadian site & American site. Does anyone know if they are any good?