Tsagos

Hello to everyone. I just started with this hobby. I bought a 55 litre tank and I am in the midle of the second week. I'm using tester since monday for NO2 pH and kH. Mondays readings was pH 9+ kH 7dkH and NO2 at 0.5. Tuesday was pH 8 NO2 at 0.5. Today resaults was NO2 at 1mg pH at 7.8. I'm using sera products to lower the pH and cycle the tank. I got a part of filter sponge of an old aquarium to use its bacteria for the cycle. I also use food to raise the NO2 once or twice a day. I want to put a rainbow shark and guppies inside. Can you advice me what to do at this moment? I must wait till there is no NO2 at all inside and then add fish? I know i must do a 10% water change every week after the cycle, what about now? should i do water changes? Please advice!

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore

I'm glad to see you're doing a fish less cycle. Easier on you and no fish are harmed.

You'll want to wait until your cycle is complete to add fish. Your readings should be:
0 ammonia (NH 3)
0 nitrites (NO 2)
5-10 nitrates (NO 3)

Good luck with your tank.

Edit: I've read that rainbow sharks are territorial and should be kept in a 55g tank and it can be aggressive with smaller fish...like guppies. So you might want to do a little more research before stocking your tank this way.

Tsagos

I read that are territorial with same speacies. correct?

Lucy

Yes, that and with smaller fish. I don't have personal experience with them, thats just what I've read.
Rainbow Shark

agabr123

yep for a 55 i'd just go with the one rainbow shark and maybe some larger and slightly more aggressive fish than the guppies, they'll probably get eaten!

barbs (tiger, cherry, etc), larger gouramis (pearl, blue, opaline, etc), and new world cichlids (south american and central american) are all pretty good tankmates for rainbow sharks

Tsagos

I'm in the right way? I am doing correct things so far? Do I need to make water changes?

Lucy

You're doing fine. You don't have to do water changes if there's no fish in the tank.
Cycling takes patience.

agabr123

Yep, I'm with Lucy. You're doing great so far, just keep monitoring the levels every once in a while and feeding the cycle and you'll get through it

Tsagos

Thanks a lot for your quick replys! Good bye from Greece! for now :P

Tsagos

I wanted to ask you about the water... The past few days the water became cloudy white and hair are groing on the rocks, is that normal? why this is happening if not normal. What should I do?

agabr123

the cloudiness is probably just a bacterial bloom which is perfectly normal during the cycle. as far as the hair (probably algae) what color is it?

Tsagos

Too small to determine, I think white... yellow... not sure

agabr123

could you get a picture of it? that would help identify what it is

docjr03

It's probably some sort of algae. This happens a lot in new tanks (I know this from experience and research), so I wouldn't be too alarmed. I would leave the lights off, scrub off what you can and use some charcoal in your filter to help clean the water a bit. Others with more experience than I (like agabr123) might have some more help for you. Good luck, and welcome to FishLore!

agabr123

very true, the thing that is throwing me off is the yellow/white color. generally the "new tank" algae is brown (diatoms). it can have a yellowish color but more on the orange/brown side

docjr03

here's a link with some basic info. on algae:http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

Tsagos

Thanks a lot guys, I made a test today and readings was 0 ammonia... 0,3 NO2.... 7,5pH

We are close to the GRAND finalle... in two weeks huh?? Old filter media did a very good job I guess.... I did some research about the fish, and I want to know your oppinion.

First add 2 male guppies, later 2-3 sword fish and MAYBE later 4 female guppies....

Please let me know about your thoughts....

Thanks in advance...

Btw whats the fastest Cycle you have ever read about? Mine is pretty fast I think, isnt it?

docjr03

I am too new to to the aquarium game to give any tips on stocking your tank, but you may want to go to the individual fish forums here at FishLore, and you should get some good advice.

AS far as the fastest cycle, it depends on so many factors: mine finished in less than a month without any seeding, I've heard of others that cycled in a few days that were seeded from another tank. Some experienced aquarium keepers consider their planted tanks instantly cycled. Good luck with the rest of your cycle!

melfrany

Tsagos,
Hi...welcome...I'm a newby here also!
I was so happy to see that you are doing the fishless cycle! I had this horrible experience with my fish...They got sick during the cycling even with me changing 25% of the water sometimes, twice a day...I didn't really know about fish keeping and I felt really bad when they were in bad shape...I just have 1 fish left now...I placed him in a quarantine tank and did the fishless cycle on my main 20 gallon aquarium...If I only knew how easy it is to do the fishless cycle, my fish wouldn't have suffered and neither would I...
Anyways...Congratulations...