My First Tank (60L)

[TBrewerton]

Day 4 of Cycle

Not much to report - nitrites still up in the red (maybe a tiny bit lighter than yesterday but thats probably me being hopeful haha)

Picture of the new set up - I have removed the canister part of the filter unit that came with the tank and just using it for water flow. A little ugly but since Im not going to be having coral in the tank now this should be enough water movement I think?

 

[little_fish]

Looks good!

Even with fish you need lots of water movement, that is what keeps the oxygen diffusing into the water and CO2 out, otherwise you can drown your fish! Plus I think they enjoy the current

 

[TBrewerton]

Wow hard out! Thanks Hannah, might have to start researching some power heads then :-)

 

[little_fish]

Actually, after thinking about it for second, i realize 60L is actually about 15 gals, so you might be able to get enough flow from the return of the filter. Do you know how much water the filter moves? You want the volume of the tank turned over at least 30x per hour

 

[TBrewerton]

it says about 450 l/h So thats only around 7.5X per hour. Thanks for the advise :-)

 

[TBrewerton]

So I would need around 1800 L/hr Is it better to get a couple of little ones to make up that flow and place at different ends of the tank or just get one bigger one that will service my needs?

 

[little_fish]

In such a small tank I would just get one large one, but in a larger tank, multiple smaller ones is better

 

[TBrewerton]

Just ordered this little guy - wow there isn't much selection here in NZ its either tunze brand or Sun-sun chinese (very cheap) ones - quick review search on the sun-sun had people talking about blown circuit breakers on their houses haha

Tunze Turbelle® Nanostream® 6015

 

[little_fish]

tunze is a good brand, so dont worry :)

 

[TBrewerton]

Day 6

Nitrites have dropped!! They are now sitting around 1.5 :D

We are almost there!

 

[TBrewerton]

Day 7

Nitrites are now at 0 YAY!

I will do a couple of water changes over the next few days to bring the nitrates down and then start looking into getting my first fish :-)

Can't wait!

 

[TBrewerton]

Just got my water tested at 2 different LFS's and both said my levels were perfect.

I changed out about 10% water before going in.

I brought my 2 little clowns, got the shop to feed them while I was there, they seemed to eat fine and looked healthy from what I could see.

The guy gave me some stuff he said I should put in my tank when adding the fish. Its called "Aquarium Complete" the bottle says its a complete beneficial live bacterial. He said to add a maintenance dose to the tank since it was my first fish and could cause my levels to change a bit.

Is this good advice or should I not add it and trust in the cycle I have just completed... Im confused because I thought that was what I was building up by cycling the tank - beneficial bacteria...

Anyone?

Cheers

ps Fish acclimating as I type.

 

[wontonflip]

What?!? No pics??

You didn't need Aquarium Complete....your tank already cycled. Cycling means that you're growing the necessary bacteria in your sand and rocks to help break down the ammonia and nitrites. Try to return that. You got suckered.

EDIT: Besides....the whole point of adding no more than 1 or 2 fish at a time and waiting a few weeks in between is the same thing as you adding that stuff...except that you paid for yours LOL

 

[TBrewerton]

haha yea gonna try take it back - got caught up in the excitement.

Pictures coming very soon

 

[cvcdrk]

What all is in it? If it is just nitrifying bacteria (like Microbacter7 or something similar) then you can add it. It probably won't improve anything really but it can't hurt and its all good bacteria. It may introduce one or two types of bacteria that aren't already in your tank.

If it contains other things like conditioners or chemicals then yeah take that back. The less chemicals you add the better but bacteria is ok.

 

[TBrewerton]

It says 100 Benificial Bacteria - I will just return it next time in town.

Pictures as promised!

 

[wontonflip]

Awww...2 peas in a pod :) Hope you acclimated well!

The bottle won't hurt the tank...but it is unnecessary :)

 

[TBrewerton]

Couldn't work out how to embed the video into the post but here they are after about 4 hours.

Sorry for the quality (its from my phone)

Fish Tank - YouTube

 

[little_fish]

Super cute!!!

 

[TBrewerton]

Had a fright this morning when I got up (went to bed about 12:30am) got up at 5.30am and ran straight to the tank... Couldn't see any fish :( They had managed to weave through small holes in the live rock and get to a little opening up against the back wall of the tank!

So thankfully they made their first night, still looking happy, and sticking together. I have seen the bigger one pecking the smaller one every now again - is this a concern? Besides that they go everywhere together and if they manage to swim far from the other as soon as they realise they both swim as fast as possible back to each other haha - so gorgeous!

Ok so I have my first hurdle since having fish hehe (24 hours)

I did a few water tests when i just got home from work, everything looks good (0) except the nitrates are up, which I expected. Now I was thinking of preparing some water tonight to change out tomorrow, someone said to let the salt water sit for 24hours so its not so caustic or something?

Anyways my issue is that until now I have always just put it in the tank... Now i will need to pre mix in a bucket but if the bucket isn't the right temp the salinity will be wrong. Will I need to invest in a second heater for mixing my water and do i also need water movement in there? would and air stone be enough or do i need something that can strir up the bottom?

Cheers,

Tim