FishyMike

Thanks for the advice should I wait till I cycle the tank before doing the 50 percent water change? My tap water is about 7 ph 3kh and 3gh

I plan on adding some tetras and I really want to add 2 L134 plecos. Yes I just started with the plants I have a bacopia caroliniana and a cryptocoryn but plan to add more maybe an Amazon sword

The only reason I added the buffers was because I was dealing with a stalled cycle and I contacted Fritz the people who made the ammonia and they were claiming it stalled because the lack of kh and gh! So I added the alkaline buffer and that raised my ph and then I added the acid buffer to lower it. In hind sight I wouldn’t have done it this way but as soon as I added the alkaline buffer it kick strted the cycle almost instantly. It could’ve just been quintessential.

Hello all, I’m in the process of cycling my first tank. I think im back on track after a rocky start to say the least and now I’m confused again. 😣 As of tonight my water parameters are Ammo- 0.25 PH- 7.5 Nitrite 0.25 Nitrate 5 ppm gh 7.0 kh 6.0 Fairly certain I’m in my next phase of my cycle 👍🏽! But my confusion is why my TDS readings are thru the roof 😑 530ppm (I just got the meter in today) my tap water is 45ppm. I have naturally low minerals out of my tap so I used sechem alkaline and acid buffer but my gh and kh and ph are looking good! Do I have to perform a water change to get the tds down? From the research I’ve done everyone says 500 is insanely high 😣.

Sorry Mychala I over looked your response I will do my first squirt tonight

Should I start adding the easy green? I plan on trimming the dead leaves off.

Ouch that’s not what I wanted to hear 😞. Thank you for your response! A fare amount of leaves look to be thinning and melting as of this mourning! I will Try to take a picture later when I get home.

And if I leave it will it be okay and get full again? Should I start using the easy green or should I hold off until it get more acclimated?

Hello all, I got my shipment from the co-op on Friday arrived great!!(thank you guy)! I know it’s crazy early but I seem to notice the lower half of my plant looks to me melting a bit? Is this normal the top of the plant and the bottom of the plant look good! Just the lower middle is in question! I put a root tab close to it! I’m sure it’ll rebound but just asking! And I did get my self a bottle of easy green when should I start using it? My cryptoryne lutea seems to be looking good but I guess it’s still too early to tell.

Wow look at that great pics tolstoy21!! Thank you for that! I’m very eager for the new plants!! I installed the fluval last night and it’s been everything I expected and more! It really is a great light!

It is the 12 inch tall one! 12x13x24 I think that works out to be 16~ gallons. Yes okay! 25% it is! Do I always keep the blue light off?

Oh yes of course sorry about that I have a 15 gallon tank!

I do have a little brown algae but I’m thinking that is because I’ve been using a glofish light until now.🙈

Hello all! I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on a light profile for my new set up I am receiving a cryptocorn and a bacop carolinina tomorrow! Should I run all the lights at 50percent?

Wow that’s a beautiful tank Mitch!! I think they are trying to say my kH is too high? I’m not sure this local fish store specializes in saltwater stuff. Idk it could just be this employee I’m dealing with

My local fish store said I can not put plants in with my water specs is this true? ammo-1 ppm nitrites- 0 natrates- still zero Ph- 8.0 gh- 6 kh- 12 They said my alkalinity is way high the plants need more acidic water? oh and I just ordered a fluval 3.0 what’s the best light cycle time on vs off for my plants?

So just placed my order with aquarium co-op I ordered 1- bacopa caroliniana and 1 cryptocorn lutia. And one bottle of easy green!!

Thank you all for your help!! It means a lot!! I will definitely be getting plant or plants soon!! On my set up right now I’m almost ashamed to say I have a glo-fish light 🙈 I do have it on a timer for 12 hour on and 12 hours off but am I going to need better lights? After seeing Corys review of the fluval 3.0 I was like 😳.

haha yea Ken you are right! but im not gonna lie im using him as a decoy im more excited for it then him! but yes he really does enjoy looking at it and cant stop talking about putting fish in it. I keep telling him soon ,soon ,soon so my fingers are crossed sooner than later. I will definitely be purchasing a plant soon.!!!

Hello FrostiesFishes, yes you are probably right! I think i am making things more difficult than they need to be.(it’s hard with so much information on the web sometimes)! And I do have a local fish store but I’m not that crazy about them . A bit shady and not very help full (they never heard of a fish less cycle.

Am I okay with putting plants in an aquarium that has ammonia in it already? Or would I have to drain everything and start over?

Wow great video Cory! Thank you so much!! I must have over looked it while looking thru your youtube videos! So like I said I’m a newbie at this hobby and at first I thought I’d do a tank with out plants until I got used to it but now I see that was a mistake! What plants would you recommend for a beginner? Probably on the smaller size I don’t have that much room all I have is a 15 gallon at the moment. Thank you again!

Hello all, I’m a newbie here! My 5 year old son and I got into the hobby about a month and a half ago and I need help! I set up our 15 gallon tank about 6 weeks ago. I filled the tank up with tap water and doses accordingly with stress coat and a day later I dosed my tank with fritz ammonia chloride. My first mistake was over dosing with too much and got the ammonia upto about 8 ppm yikes. So I then did a water change and again dosed with stress coat did a 50 percent water change. I got it down to 4ppm. And I thought I was on my way! A co-worker of mine was kind enough to let us have his filter to help us out. And I installed it! Everything was going well but very slow!! After the 3 week mark I was down to 2ppm And that where it stayed for another 2 weeks with no budge. So I decided to reach out to Angels plus and bought a seeded filter I was thinking hey can’t hurt! But I hate to say it didn’t do much. I reached out to Fritz and asked what could I be doing wrong and they pointed me in the direction of checking my gh and kh and sure enough I was low in each!(my tap water base is 4gh and 3kh) I added a dose of seachem equilibrium and alkaline buffer. About 3 days ago and haven’t seen much happen😔 I’m a bit discouraged my son has grown impatient and I feel like everything I do and I can’t get it to cycle. Does anyone have any suggestions or any idea what I could be doing wrong? I have heat 82degrees. And an air stone on my sponge filter. thank you everyone in advance and don’t be too hard on me I’m a newbie trying to learn as much as I possibly can!