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 Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:41 am
Gabrielle_AnimalLuver VOILA! This is how I have the plants set up FOR NOW. Actually I moved em around already since I shot this. But just to show you they're not floating but they're not really grounded either. The thermometer IN the tank is gonna come out I got one of the sticker kind. I'm going for a very natural theme. The only fake thing/decoration is the tree stump but the plant coming out of it is real lol. There was a couple decorations I REALLY liked but, honestly the fake stuff is sometimes MORE expensive. Like when it comes to rocks/hides. Anyway, there was a boat/shipwreck, that's two seperate pieces (front and back) sold together. The other awesome thing was the 3D background, but none were the dimensions of my tank. Lastly the lil "rock walls" that you can hook an air tube to so it will bubble. I think I'm JUST gona get some drift wood though. MAYBE a real rock hide. And leave it at that, cause I wana leave some room to swim lol. It's looking awesome, I'm gona take lots more pics soon.
.........Gabby.....do you have an underwater camera? THAT IS SO COOL. The tank looks awesome, those plants are huge, well worth the price I think, since anubias and java ferns are slow growing.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:48 am
I sure do lol. I didn't even pick the plants I was like 3 fern 2 Anubis and he just fished out what was closest lol.
I forgot to ask about filter media. My friend has turtles and a submersible heater that rarely gets cleaned, can I take some of her dirty water or does it have to be something solid like gravel or a rock?
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Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Crew
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:13 pm
Gabrielle_AnimalLuver I sure do lol. I didn't even pick the plants I was like 3 fern 2 Anubis and he just fished out what was closest lol. I forgot to ask about filter media. My friend has turtles and a submersible heater that rarely gets cleaned, can I take some of her dirty water or does it have to be something solid like gravel or a rock?
Gotta be solid and rough. I'm not sure you want to use something that's been in a turtle tank though, could be parasites and diseases and what not. I mean, you can get sick from fish too, but I think reptiles are a bit more dangerous in that respect.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:37 pm
UGH, ammonia is still ZERO! WTF? The flakes are starting to get moldy. Do I need to piss in this tank to jump start it or what?
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Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Crew
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Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Crew
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:17 am
I've been reading up on fishless cycling from various sources. Most briefly mention using fish food but don't say how much or how long until it produces ammonia. A few tips I found were 1. use shrimp, so I threw in a raw shrimp.
2. Turn all air bubblers on to provide the bacteria with CO2 so I got mine going almost full blast. I just wish I knew how long it should take. I don't want to waste my kit testing every day when it's still at zero. I don't wana wait around hoping for ammonia when it might more food. (But seriously my tank is COVERED) The food is definitely rotting, not the shrimp yet but the flakes are all fuzzy lol. I'll test it again tonight I guess. I'll attempt to get filter media next week and driftwood lol
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:15 am
Gabrielle_AnimalLuver I've been reading up on fishless cycling from various sources. Most briefly mention using fish food but don't say how much or how long until it produces ammonia. A few tips I found were 1. use shrimp, so I threw in a raw shrimp. 2. Turn all air bubblers on to provide the bacteria with CO2 so I got mine going almost full blast. I just wish I knew how long it should take. I don't want to waste my kit testing every day when it's still at zero. I don't wana wait around hoping for ammonia when it might more food. (But seriously my tank is COVERED) The food is definitely rotting, not the shrimp yet but the flakes are all fuzzy lol. I'll test it again tonight I guess. I'll attempt to get filter media next week and driftwood lol
I'll have an answer for you soon hopefully. I broke out the big guns, because you're right, no one says how much to use, or how long it takes compared to say, using straight ammonia. Oh and about your earlier comment, allegedly some people have urinated in their tanks to cycle, and in theory it should work :3
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:42 am
I can't find any details about fish food, just stuff about people who used it to cycle their tanks but they didn't give any specifics of course. But as far as the shrimp goes, that should work on it's own, although it's going to smell for a little bit when it starts to rot. Whenever the ammonia hits 5ppm do a water change to get it back down, too much ammonia can overwhelm the bacteria and it'll take longer to cycle. Another thing I thought of, have you tested for nitrites(NO2)? It could be that the ammonia the fish flakes produced has already been converted, especially if it was only a small amount. I would test for the big 3 every time you test. I used fish food when I cycled my 10g last year, but I didn't test the water since I wasn't working and I was out of reagents. I pretty much just added some pellets every week, waited a month and then bought some ghost shrimp and a red cherry shrimp. They all survived so after a few weeks I got my fish. I would not recommend that, that's what happens when you sell all of your tanks and then decide a month later that it was a stupid decision and you can't live without fish, lol.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 6:14 pm
LMAO on your comment about people urinating in their tanks...and yet...I am SO tempted to try that ninja
I will indeed test the big 3 because the fuzzy stuff surrounding all the food reminds me of micro bio petri dishes lol. Plus it took over the shrimp immidiately. But um...well I should read instructions but I have like 2-3 different reagents for nitrate and nitrite confused
edit: Oky doky I HAVE NITRATES AND NITRITES!!! Not much but they are there! 0.1 Nitrite and close to 5 Nitrate. This means it is cycling right? So do I add more food?
Gah, Ima have to read up on cycling for a tenth time, I can never remember when to do water changes. I thought you wanted it to stay at 5ppm for a bit and add ammonia if it gets bellow like 1 or something...CONFUSING
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Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Crew
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:55 am
Gabrielle_AnimalLuver LMAO on your comment about people urinating in their tanks...and yet...I am SO tempted to try that ninja I will indeed test the big 3 because the fuzzy stuff surrounding all the food reminds me of micro bio petri dishes lol. Plus it took over the shrimp immidiately. But um...well I should read instructions but I have like 2-3 different reagents for nitrate and nitrite confused edit: Oky doky I HAVE NITRATES AND NITRITES!!! Not much but they are there! 0.1 Nitrite and close to 5 Nitrate. This means it is cycling right? So do I add more food? Gah, Ima have to read up on cycling for a tenth time, I can never remember when to do water changes. I thought you wanted it to stay at 5ppm for a bit and add ammonia if it gets bellow like 1 or something...CONFUSING
Right, but with the shrimp in there it can easily go above 5ppm and overwhelm the bacteria. The shrimp will be a constant source of ammonia during the cycling process.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:58 am
Vanilla eXee Gabrielle_AnimalLuver LMAO on your comment about people urinating in their tanks...and yet...I am SO tempted to try that ninja I will indeed test the big 3 because the fuzzy stuff surrounding all the food reminds me of micro bio petri dishes lol. Plus it took over the shrimp immidiately. But um...well I should read instructions but I have like 2-3 different reagents for nitrate and nitrite confused edit: Oky doky I HAVE NITRATES AND NITRITES!!! Not much but they are there! 0.1 Nitrite and close to 5 Nitrate. This means it is cycling right? So do I add more food? Gah, Ima have to read up on cycling for a tenth time, I can never remember when to do water changes. I thought you wanted it to stay at 5ppm for a bit and add ammonia if it gets bellow like 1 or something...CONFUSING
Right, but with the shrimp in there it can easily go above 5ppm and overwhelm the bacteria. The shrimp will be a constant source of ammonia during the cycling process.TOOO late lol, I was afraid it would drop while I'm gone so I threw in one more shrimp sweatdrop (It was still 0.6 this am.) I'll check it Sunday and WC if it's gone over.
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Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Crew
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:00 am
Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Vanilla eXee Gabrielle_AnimalLuver LMAO on your comment about people urinating in their tanks...and yet...I am SO tempted to try that ninja I will indeed test the big 3 because the fuzzy stuff surrounding all the food reminds me of micro bio petri dishes lol. Plus it took over the shrimp immidiately. But um...well I should read instructions but I have like 2-3 different reagents for nitrate and nitrite confused edit: Oky doky I HAVE NITRATES AND NITRITES!!! Not much but they are there! 0.1 Nitrite and close to 5 Nitrate. This means it is cycling right? So do I add more food? Gah, Ima have to read up on cycling for a tenth time, I can never remember when to do water changes. I thought you wanted it to stay at 5ppm for a bit and add ammonia if it gets bellow like 1 or something...CONFUSING
Right, but with the shrimp in there it can easily go above 5ppm and overwhelm the bacteria. The shrimp will be a constant source of ammonia during the cycling process.TOOO late lol, I was afraid it would drop while I'm gone so I threw in one more shrimp sweatdrop (It was still 0.6 this am.) I'll check it Sunday and WC if it's gone over.
Lol, I feel like we're playing website tag. I posted here while you were on facebook, then you posted here while I was on facebook.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:59 pm
Vanilla eXee Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Vanilla eXee Gabrielle_AnimalLuver LMAO on your comment about people urinating in their tanks...and yet...I am SO tempted to try that ninja I will indeed test the big 3 because the fuzzy stuff surrounding all the food reminds me of micro bio petri dishes lol. Plus it took over the shrimp immidiately. But um...well I should read instructions but I have like 2-3 different reagents for nitrate and nitrite confused edit: Oky doky I HAVE NITRATES AND NITRITES!!! Not much but they are there! 0.1 Nitrite and close to 5 Nitrate. This means it is cycling right? So do I add more food? Gah, Ima have to read up on cycling for a tenth time, I can never remember when to do water changes. I thought you wanted it to stay at 5ppm for a bit and add ammonia if it gets bellow like 1 or something...CONFUSING
Right, but with the shrimp in there it can easily go above 5ppm and overwhelm the bacteria. The shrimp will be a constant source of ammonia during the cycling process.TOOO late lol, I was afraid it would drop while I'm gone so I threw in one more shrimp sweatdrop (It was still 0.6 this am.) I'll check it Sunday and WC if it's gone over.
Lol, I feel like we're playing website tag. I posted here while you were on facebook, then you posted here while I was on facebook.LOL, too true. I IZ BACK! My tank is sooo smelly gonk and very cloudy. Anyway, I um...think my ammonia is ok. I find that chart hard to use lol. sweatdrop the water is not that dark but the sedement in it is a darker orange. So, I dunno... K after shaking it really good I'd say 1.2ppm. The nitrites are a lot more...0.8. Gona do nitrate now.
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Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Crew
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Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Crew
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:22 am
Ok, I'm a bit confused about one thing. One article I read says my cycle is complete when the ammonia and nitrites are zero. But other articles say DONT let it get to zero, because the bacteria need a constant supply of "food"
Another article says the cycle is done when ammonia is fully converted in 24hrs. But since I don't HAVE pure ammonia, how can I figure that out? I don't know how long it takes for my fish food to produce ammonia. If I add more, it will take time to rot again won't it?
So how the heck do I know when I'm done? Or if I need to add more ammonia?
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:28 am
Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Ok, I'm a bit confused about one thing. One article I read says my cycle is complete when the ammonia and nitrites are zero. But other articles say DONT let it get to zero, because the bacteria need a constant supply of "food" Another article says the cycle is done when ammonia is fully converted in 24hrs. But since I don't HAVE pure ammonia, how can I figure that out? I don't know how long it takes for my fish food to produce ammonia. If I add more, it will take time to rot again won't it? So how the heck do I know when I'm done? Or if I need to add more ammonia?
You're probably not done, it usually takes at least a few weeks to cycle it enough to support fish. WHat are your nitrates?
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Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Crew
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:53 am
Vanilla eXee Gabrielle_AnimalLuver Ok, I'm a bit confused about one thing. One article I read says my cycle is complete when the ammonia and nitrites are zero. But other articles say DONT let it get to zero, because the bacteria need a constant supply of "food" Another article says the cycle is done when ammonia is fully converted in 24hrs. But since I don't HAVE pure ammonia, how can I figure that out? I don't know how long it takes for my fish food to produce ammonia. If I add more, it will take time to rot again won't it? So how the heck do I know when I'm done? Or if I need to add more ammonia?
You're probably not done, it usually takes at least a few weeks to cycle it enough to support fish. WHat are your nitrates?They were about 50 last night. I know I'm not DONE but I just don't understand how to decide when I am lol
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