kacie

I want to share my process so far so that if I am rushing things or skipping any steps i will get feedback plus I am stumped on a couple of things.

I got the tank (48x12x21), stand, versa-top, marineland biowheel 350, heater, lights coming ( I had to return the 2 24" compacts I ordered for a 48" one.), 40lbs ecocomplete, and a small piece of mopani wood.

I set all that up. Put in lots of media and a plastic plant from my 20g on the 4th, fed the tank flakes and sinking pellets, and after not getting any readings ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate I justed moved my danios over from the 20g yesterday. BTW I still have no readings.

My next step is to get presoaked driftwood from my LFS and some flattish rocks and when my lights come I will get as many plants as I can find. But then what should I do? My stocking plans are:

Option one,
5 Bolivian Rams (maybe substituting two blue rams)
2 Angels
10 tetras (cardinals, penguin, or lemon?) or Hatchets?
1 BN Pleco

Option two
5 Geophagus ? (some only grow very slowly to 6 inches)
8 hatchets
1 BN Pleco

What fish to add next? Have I made any gross errors?

Thanks for reading my long post,
Kacie

Dozey

Take the fish out ASAP or they are going to live the awful experience of living through a cycle. Well hopefully they live through it.

Try adding ammonia to your tank… the instructions are here, http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Best of luck!

Lucy

Odd that you don't have any readings since the 4th. Is the new tank planted?

I'm with Dozey, it would be better for your danios to go back into the 20g if it's still established and complete the cycle in the new tank with pure ammonia.

kacie

I put 5 pieces of sponge that had been in my 20g and half of the old filter from my 20g into the new tank, fed it big fat sinking wafers and flakes 3x a day for 4 days. Maybe the bacteria I moved took care of the ammonia immediately? Are you sure it is not cycled? If move the danios the minute I get an ammonia spike will that be okay? I was concerned that the danios weren't enough to keep it cycled.

Dozey

Yes quite sure. If the tank was cycled you would have nitrate readings.

In the end you do want 0 ammonia and nitrate reading but the nitrate reading would be at very least 5 in a cycled tank.

Shawnie

kacie what test kit are you using? seems to me that tank has enough beneficial bacteria that it should be cycled....so either your last tank wasnt cycled, or you are getting an inaccurate reading for your nitrates..before you move everything again, let us know what test kit? and if its an API liquid master kit, you really really have to bang that #2 NITRATE bottle on a counter or something hard to mix up the crystals....

kacie

I will test again. I was thinking that somehow the bioload on the tank was so low that it wasn't picking up readings. I will shake and more carefully time everything and get back to you.

kacie

Nope. Just a pale yellow. I don't want to traumatize the danios by chasing them for a hour with the net unless we are sure it isn't cycled.

jgon_

Ecocomplete does come full of bacteria so maybe that's the reason? My 29g with ecocomplete cycled really fast, but was not isntant like this.

Shawnie

test your other tank to see if its cycled..

kacie

Is 4 days instant? With 5 sponges and half a filter plus ecocomplete I was hoping it would cycle right away. I'll be watching the readings. All the fish I want are very sensitive so I wanted to "mature" the tank. Does anyone have any ideas about which fish and if I go with stocking option one which order should I add the fish? Taking into consideration sensitivity and territoriality.

kacie

Yes the 20g is fully cycled and stable.

Plecolover12

Well, you are lucky to have a 55 gallon tank. Maybe you should add a blue gourami. They are very preety and will always search the gravel for dropped food. My filter usually tears the flakes apart so my gourami goes looking for them.

kacie

No more Gourami's for me. I think they are too bossy, pretty though!

kacie

Hi, One week after setting up the tank, feeding it fish food for 4 days and then adding 3 Zebra danios four days ago I still have no readings. 0,0,0

Am I cycled? Where is my Nitrate?

Bubbley_99

Option one better also you really should take the danios out they are most likely to die in there and its like makeing someone going to Mars without anybody knowing if there is deadly aliens that will eat you

kacie

Two weeks down and still no readings.

Dozey

Are you using a reliable test kit? Has it expired? If you test your cycled tank to you get nitrate readings with your test kit?

If you are sure that your test kit is accurate I’d have to guess that your new tank is still in its very early stages of cycling. I’d also suggest getting your 3 danios out of the tank until you sort this out. And off topic, danios prefer to be in schools of 6 or more.

robz

I am new here, but is it possible that because it is such a large tank with such a small bioload that the reading for nitrates is 0, because it is so dilluted? I mean small quantities of ammonia will lead to small quantities of nitrates, right? Unless its been like this since the beginning, then something is wrong with the testing supplies probably....

I could be totally wrong though : /

kacie

That is exactly what I was thinking when I put the danios in. i would need to get more danios in order to get a build up of nitates. I know I have some good bacteria in the tank because of all the used media and ecocomplete. My problem is that If I'm not cycled and get an ammonia spike I will move the Danios back into the 20g but if I get more danios then that would overstock my 20g. It is a quandary. I have more media cooking in the 20g that can be moved into the 55g if I run into trouble.

robz

Why get more danios? I say just leave the tank how it is.... If a spike occurs, which is probably unlikely according to your info, just move em...If there too much bacteria and not enough ammonia being produced, the bacteria will just be overcompensating for awhile until everything balances out...I don't think ammonia will rise above what the bacteria can handle, it seems impossible....
Of course I have only been researching and learning about tanks for a few weeks....again I can be totally wrong....But it makes sense to me = )

Good luck!

kacie

Okay, I've come to my senses and took out the danios and hung a shrimp on the filter intake on dec. 23rd. My ammonia did rise to .25 the next day and now it is about .50 with no readings for nitrite and today I finally got almost a reading for nitrate after 20min it started looking like 5ppm. I've added two more sponges from my other tank and will add another used filter soon.

Jess

Sounds like you're headed in the right direction now. But I know how frustrating it is waiting for those numbers.

kacie

Readings at .25, .25, and 10 for nitrate. Shrimp has knocked up my bioload alot.