deeps21

Hi All,

I'm upgrading from my recently bought 10G tank to 38G new tank. Soon I'm going cycle my tank with one aquasonic product (Australia) which will cycle the tank instantly. I'm going to transfer 3 platies from my 10G to new one. I want to make this as community tank. Which other fish I can consider? I want some mid-sized (max 3-4 inch size) and colourful fish. I don't want bigger size fish and don't want too small as well as my platies going to look small in the tank. I'm planning to add some schooling fish as well (group of 5-6 may be), any suggestion for it? As I don't have light at the moment my tank looks bit dark bcoz of the background poster (green plants) so I want to add some fresh n bright colour fish, any suggestions?

Also, for this tank I bought internal filter 700LPH, is this flow sufficient?

Thanks,
Deeps21

ryanr

deeps, what is this aquasonic product? i don't know of any product that will instantly cycle a tank. About the only way to instantly cycle is to take an established filter off one tank and put it on the new one.

Is this the product: http://www.aquasonic.com.au/catalogu...e.php?id=31576

It's a great sales pitch, but I read this to mean it is not a true aquatic bacteria (given you have to keep topping up for the life of the tank) I'm no bacteria expert. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think this product is no different to Cycle, Stability or any other terrestial bacteria. TSS is the only genuine aquatic bacteria. Open this to others to comment?

My recommendations for your "instant cycle".... take some of the bio-media from your 10G and seed it with your new filter. Introduce some (not all) fish to the 38G to allow more bacteria to grow (you should be fine as the colony you transfer will take care of the smaller population).

Re your stocking: What type of parameters will you have? pH, GH, KH, temperature: then we can help suggest some fish that will do best.

Re filtration: 38G = ~ 140L, you want to aim for at least a 5 x turnover of your volume per hour, therefore you want at least 700lph, so yes your filter should be fine, but be careful. I suggest checking out aqadvisor.com for some rough guides.

My 2c.

Cheers R

deeps21

Your are right. This is the one that I'm going to add. Lot of people have successfully instantly cycled the tank using it here in Australia and I have researched it before buying. Being new and Australian based product many people may not know it on this forum (i may be wrong). It is true aquatic bacteria (at least i hope). They have other product which is similar to what are saying 'Cycle, Stability etc' which is Pro-bac (new product) - http://www.aquasonic.com.au/catalogu...e.php?id=31309

Bio-culture and pro-bac are totally different. I have already bough bio-culture so I'm going to use it anyway. Unfortunately i have yet not bought API master kit so I will not know the result after adding it. Where can I get it at cheap price here in Aus?? My 10G tank is currently in the process of fish-based cycling since last 2 weeks so it may not have sufficient bacteria to cycle my new tank anyway. Also, one of my platy is pregnant and i'm thinking to leave her in 10G tank to have babies so I wont be able to remove the filter media from it for my new tank.

deeps21

I forgot to mention - this is actually not correct (irrespective of what is mentioned on that link). Maintenance does is generally not necessary.

ryanr

I haven't seen it here yet (Melbourne), but then again, I haven't looked

But I stand corrected, the product contains the same bacteria as TSS, so it should be ok, but I wouldn't consider it an "instant cycle", the bacteria still needs time to establish and grow in the filter media.

I'd try the following places for a test kit: www.aquariumproducts.com.au www.aquariumproductswholesale.com (Aus based) www.thereefshop.com.au
But just be careful, once you add p & h, it might be just as cheap to buy it at LFS.

HTH

Meenu

welcome!

I am also leery of any product that has to be added to the tank repeatedly. If it has to be added over and over again, it is usually because the product that is supposed to be processing the ammonia and nitrites can't.

I don't know this product. I would strongly urge you to keep a close eye on your parameters. I am concerned that a continuous addition bacteria booster won't allow your tank to complete the natural biological cycle, because the bacteria in the bottle will be competing with the natural bacteria in the tank for its food source, ammonia, causing the natural bacteria to die.

If this is indeed a one-time addition only to start the cycle, please keep a close eye on the parameters to make sure it worked. I say this because I used Tetra Safe Start, and it didn't work in my tank the first 3 times I used it.

deeps21

You will not find it in most of the LFS.. You will only get it in stores mentioned here - http://www.aquasonic.com.au/stores.p...ores&state=VIC (remember not all stores will have it)

deeps21

Hi Meenu, thanks for reply. This product only need one-time addition, any further maintenance does are not reqd but beneficial if u add it but not necessary. This product needs to be refrigerated so at that temp bacterias goes in hibernate mode so they dont need food source and they don't die. Once u add it to tank (after shaking the bottle) it comes to life again. If refrigerated this product can last for 2 yrs. I'm not here to sell anything but I'm just telling whatever info I have collected abt it till now so that u guys know what i'm going to add in my tank. I don't have master API kit yet so I wont know the readings Hopefully nothing will go wrong.

Any stocking ideas plz?

ryanr

Then we can proceed.

Your parameters will greatly affect what fish you can keep.

Jaysee

Most fish can adapt to most water.

you say you want colorful fish - what colors are you looking for?

ryanr

Do you want lots of little fish, schooling? In which case I would recommend tetras and rasboras are all quite small, school well, and available in some really strong colours.

What colour gravel/substrate, most colours come out well on a darker/earth colour.

If you want less fish, but maybe more interesting, you could look at dwarf cichlids, blue rams, kribensis.

Or you could look at a species tank of cichlids such as Electric Yellows (not sure if 38G is enough? anyone?

Gouramis are good, but you can only keep 1 male (trust us on this )

Cichlids can be a little to very aggressive, so have a look at photos on the net, if you like them, this forum can advise. Not to mention they (can) have very different water requirements.

Hope this helps

AlyeskaGirl

You can consider tetras, rasboras, corydoras catfish, small gouramis, and cherry barbs.

deeps21

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't want too small fish in my tank - tetras, rasboras will look too small in the tank. I already have 3 platies (1.5 inch) to add in new tank, those also look small to me in my 10G tank

Abt colour - may be yellow, cream, even white or anything contrasting light colour for my dark background..

I dont want too many schooling fish - may be just one type of schooling fish in a group of 5-6 shud be sufficient for me, rest i want to add as pairs of single.

Thanks

AlyeskaGirl

Take a look at this link, it might help.

http://www.elmersaquarium.com/c106communityinfo.htm

deeps21

Thanks

AlyeskaGirl

Your Welcome

jdhef

Boeseman's Rainbows may be what you are looking for. They are colorful and grow to about 4.5 inches.

mosin360

In regards to TSS, while it's not 'instant' it will cycle the tank within 7-10 days if the directions are followed. Like add fish at same time and do not do any water changes until tests show that the cycle is complete.

Since you can't have too much of the stuff, I bought the biggest bottle that I found. It was for a 75g and I used it on a 29g. My tank was cycled with no issues.

And I agree about the Rainbows, they are so colorful with a lot of different kinds to choose from.

claudicles

Hi all. I'm another Aussie. I've used Aquasonic Bioculture and it did seem to work. I'm afraid I didn't do my reading before I got my tank and went with the LFS recommendation and set up the tank with fish and Bioculture on January 20 this year. I then tested second dailiy and at two weeks got a smidge of green, less than 0.25, on the ammonia bottle and never got a nitrite spike. Nitrates about 5 or less after the first week or so. That is only one tank but it did seem to do what the manufacturers claimed. I have to admit I always assumed the redosing thing was just a sales pitch but I am watching my tank like a hawk in case, prime at the ready. I've checked quite a few places and they don't stock TSS.

deeps21

Hi Claudiclesm, I'm happy to know that Bio-culture worked for you. I hope it works for me as well. I have added it in the tank 2 days back and added 2 platies after 12 hrs of adding it. I'm going to add few fish on coming weekend. I'm bit worried that being only 2 small fish in 150L tank now, there is no sufficient ammonia in the tank to feed bacterias and they might starve. Any thoughts?

ryanr

Deeps, you could put a piece of raw shrimp in the tank to increase the ammonia source (put in a brand new, never seen detergent, stocking to remove it easily). That said, if you are adding more fish this w/e, I think you'll be fine.

If you keep up the dosing of BioC as recommended, your tank should cycle up. I would also recommend dosing the tank with Prime daily, just to detox any ammonia and nitrite for 24hrs while the bacteria colony establishes.

tremod

I used a cycle product but ended up starting again.
I think your best bet to quickly establish your tank is to use some filter media from your 10g and i would hang a new sock not seen soap and put established gravel also from your 10g.
I did this and it took about 4-5 weeks to cycle but worth the wait as cycle products can be unstable in your tank.
In saying this I heard TSS and BIOSPIRA are good cycling products hope it all goes well whichever you use.

jdhef

BioSpira is no longer made for freshwater, it is only a Saltwater product. If you ever see BioSpira for freshwater, do not buy it since it has past it's expiration date at this point.

The old freshwater version of BioSpira was reformulated to not require refrigeration and the formula was sold to Tetra, who sells it under the name SafeStart.

deeps21

Hi All,

One week ago I have added bio-culture in my 150L tank and hopefully tank is fully cycled by now. For last one week I kept only 2 platies in my tank and yesterday I added 3 baby angel fish (3 month old), 2 dwarf gouramis (male), one more platies (so total 3 platies - all female). I want add few more fish on next weekend. Will it too much if add 5 boesemans rainbowfish? Aqadvisor is showing 120% stocking.

One more question abt the light - today I'm planning to buy T8, 2 X 30W light. Will it be sufficient for low-medium light requirement plants for my tank? Initially I'm planning to add waterspite, java moss, chain sword, twisted villas and few more (don't know yet).

Thanks

deeps21

Anyone?

Prince Powder

I'm not sure about the rainbows as I'm not too familiar with them, but I'm sure someone who knows will chime in and give you some advice. However, I would wait at least two weeks before adding anything to allow your bacteria to adapt to the new bioload. It will also give you time to properly QT your fish before adding them. The last thing you need is bringing in new fish who wind up carrying something that could affect your whole tank like ICH.

The 2 dwarf gouramis may become a problem since they generally won't tolerate having another male in the tank when they start to mature. You might need to exchange one for a female or go with just one gourami. Also, what is the male/female ratio on the angels? If you have at least one male/female set you might need to rehome the oddball if the other two decide to pair off. You'll just have to keep an eye out for territorial behavior and general aggression if you wind up with a breeding pair of either the gouramis or the angels.

deeps21

Hi, thanks for the suggestions.. Abt male/female ratio on the angels - don't know yet as they are just 2.5 - 3 months babies now and I guess its almost impossible to know if angelfish is male or female until they pair. Do you know at what age they start to pair? I guess after 10 months but not sure.

Also, any suggestions for suitable light for my tank? I'm now thinking to get T5 instead of T8.