New setup is..........

Hiya All

First time here but looks well good 

I've been looking through but do have a question I didn't see, and here goes:

It's Christmas and a new 58L tank was given as a gift, now it's been since I had a tank so today I got around to setting it up and low and behold I've forgetten everything  ???

I've just run the usual tests but not sure with a new setup what I'm going to expect, well here's the results:-

PH = 7
Am = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0

To be honest this caught me off guard as I was expecting these results to be all over the place.

Does this mean I can add fish or advisable still not to as filter has only had water so far pass through it.

The tank has been kitted out with live plants already (jumped the gun possibly).

Any thoughts or suggestions are very welcome.

 

Firstly, welcome to Fish Lore

If you have set up your tank just now, it's normal for it not to have any ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate readings. The tank hasn't begun to cycle yet. It may take around a week for you to start seeing any readings. So be patient. It takes on average about a month to cycle a tank (you may see it cycled sooner or later than 4 weeks - every tank is different). So, once again, be patient and it will pay off

Once your ammonia = 0 and nitrite = 0, that means your tank is cycled. You'll be left with only nitrate readings then. Once your tank is cycled, you perform weekly water changes to be removing the accumulating nitrate (nitrate can be dangerous too if it accumulates too much).

When you're ready to stock your tank, do not add too many fish at once. And only few of them every week or so. If you add too many of them at once, you can get an ammonia and/or nitrite spike even though your tank was cycled. Your tank is about 15 US gallons, which means you should be careful not to add to it any fish that grow too large. The largest fish I'd personally allow in such a tank would be a dwarf gourami, or not even that. But the good news is that there are PLENTY of beautiful small fishies to choose from

Good luck

 

First of all Welcome to fishlore, glad you'v been reading before you ask questions.

How long has you tank been setup, it probably isn't cycled?  What type of test method are you using, are you using strips or liquid?  Putting in the live plants is not jumping the gun, glad your going for the live plants, their always fun.  Don't add any fish yet, better to be patient, though what are you thinking of adding.  Need anymore help just ask.

atm

 

Thanks for the tips.

Just to confirm, the tank was setup for the first time today and I'm using a liquid method for testing.

Prob looking at starting off with neon tetra's and/or guppies, but then again I may go for siamese fighters, great colours.

I got time to think about it though until the tank is cycled.

 

if you want to get a siamese(betta) you're extremely limited to the types of fish you can have, as a lot of fish will find the lonf fins irresitable and the betta is extremely territorial, so no more than one male in a tank or they will kill each other, females are differentthe have some nice colours, not as vibrant as the males, but the females do seem to get along better than males

 

if you want to get a siamese(betta) you're extremely limited to the types of fish you can have, as a lot of fish will find the lonf fins irresitable and the betta is extremely territorial, so no more than one male in a tank or they will kill each other, females are differentthe have some nice colours, not as vibrant as the males, but the females do seem to get along better than males

Yeah I remember that from the last time around with the betta and as the other half would like to have neon's it prob wouldn't be a good idea - thanks for the reminder about not having 2 males though, would prob have forgotten that fact until it was too late.

 

update:

so here we are, another test done and all is well.

The plants are thriving and growing at a very fast rate.

There has been very little change in the test levels, the ammonia did rise to 0.25 but now back to 0, ph is still 7, nitrate is fine but still no sign of nitrite.  Is this because I have sufficient plant life to keep it down?  Is it too soon?  To be honest I have no idea  but happy to see what people think.

I decided to go with the adding of a couple of Zebra Danio's as they're hard little things to start of with, couple didn't make it but replaced and the new ones are doing really well, into there second week in their new home 

Gained a couple of free snails along the way, which, the cats seem to like, grrrrr.

I am doing regular water changes every Sunday of about 1/5th and using water from outside as have a water drum for when it rains.

Any thoughts or suggestions about how I'm doing are very welcome.

Here's a pic of the setup - unfortunately I'm no photographer LOL

 

It is a lovely tank and all seems to be going well. It will take longer to cycle with the fish than fishless but the fish are already there so you are committed. It may be a bit soon to see nitrites. Yes the betta is going to complicate things as far as tank mates go. It seems that they are either the aggressor or the victI'm of conflicts in the tank. Any fish that has longish fins can be mistaken as another betta and is not safe, a lot of fish consider the bettas fins free snack material and then you have a sick or dying betta, they do not get along with any fish of the betta or gourami family (bettas are gouramis and they basically see the gourami as another betta), and as has been mentioned the bettas are very territorial as they have never been used to sharing their space with other fish and if you get an ornery betta they (either male or female - the deaths in my tank were all caused by a female) can refuse to share their territory with any other fish to the point of murder..

Don't get me wrong, I love bettas and EVERYBODY knows it, but they are the pits when it comes to finding suitable companions. It has been only the Otocinclus catfish, Corydoras catfish and Dwarf Loaches (Chain Loaches) that I have been able to consider for companions as they are all relatively peaceable and stay out of the way of the Betta. (Although Emma, my Cambodian Halfmoon Female killed, either directly or indirectly, 3 other female bettas and one Corydoras catfish) It is going to depend on the betta so should you decide to include a betta in your tank, always have a back-up available in case of bullying on the part of ANY of the fish and watch to see if the betta needs to be removed.

Rose

 

Thanks for the tips, will check out the local fish shop and see what's available and go from there and if unsure will come back here for advice.

 

Lonewolf, your tank is BEAUTIFUL! Great Job How long has it been running? Ammonia is 0, right? Is nitrite at 0 too? If the tank has been running for a few weeks now, and if you have no ammonia and nitrite, that means it is cycled. Plants can SURELY help you cycle your tank much faster as they remove ammonia and nitrite from the water.

 

Thanks the tank was setup on the 27th(ish) of Dec. Apart from the Ammonia raising to about 0.25 about a week ago, nothing else has changed with regards the the results, except the plant growth, which I'm having to take cuttings already and they're growing fast too LOL.