Need Some Guidance. Again

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea It’s most definitely, without a doubt, soda. No ifs, ands, or buts about it!

Oh ya, all the GlowLights made it. Still have all 10 to this day, although 2 females hang out at like a 45° angle… I think it’s just from old age as they’re some of the oldest fish I have. The tank they’re in just might be my favorite one!

Edited October 20, 2022 by AllFishNoBrakes

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/19/2022 at 8:15 AM, sweetpoison said:

I just tested:  

ammonia Zero

nitrate 25

nitrate 1

Last test was the 12th.

When I get my tanks to this point I basically wait 1-2 weeks. Feed it food to build ammonia, but seeing nitrite and nitrate, that's when I feel like it's progress, but not necessarily the "ok, time to add fish".

Edited October 20, 2022 by nabokovfan87
misspoke, need some coffee.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/5/2022 at 7:30 AM, sweetpoison said:

Any idea how to get my gravel white again it’s yellow!!  

You could take out the top layer and bleach it similar to how you'd clean a CO2 diffuser.

Because the substrate is getting algae like that, literally just cut the lights in half and you're probably fine to solve that algae issue. The "beige colored" brown diatoms can be some of the easiest things to remove and get rid of compared to the others that could show up.

Second option is a toothbrush to scrub it and a very good siphon to remove it. Gravel vac and do that every maintenance cycle and you should be able to get rid of it with all of those tweaks.

I definitely wouldn't use white gravel because it shows everything, but depending if it's gravel vs. something like pumice.... I try to avoid those because it can mess with water parameters if the white is calcium. Just a heads up.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/19/2022 at 1:43 PM, sweetpoison said:

Ok I won’t get the bacteria!  I have so many half bottles of things.  I’m thinking of getting her discus and tetras on Monday.  If my Nitrites ever hit zero.  I will do a wc tomorrow if that’s ok…

To your earlier question, basically any of the bottles stuff works. I tend to go with seachem just because that's what my local shop has. I've literally used all of them and even some random "no idea but it says bacteria starter" stuff I found when they had nothing else.  Double dose when you first get it and a healthy bit of food. Then you do the normal dose for 7 days and you should be done.

You have both bacteria in the tank and it's just a matter of time and surface area. Above I mentioned that you'd be looking at 1-2 weeks for things to finish processing. If you're dosing, you'd be at 5-10 days is my guess for the "safe for fish" scenario.

If the nitrites linger way too long, then we'd just look at the filtration setup, but I think.you have plenty from what I was reading.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/19/2022 at 9:43 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea It’s most definitely, without a doubt, soda. No ifs, ands, or buts about it!

Oh ya, all the GlowLights made it. Still have all 10 to this day, although 2 females hang out at like a 45° angle… I think it’s just from old age as they’re some of the oldest fish I have. The tank they’re in just might be my favorite one!

I'm with you there.  I grew up in PA and we said soda.  The people "next door" in Ohio said pop.  But in some parts of the country, the locals will order a "Coke" and the waitress would ask what flavor Coke they would like, and they'd reply with something like "Orange" or "Root Beer". 

Tetras in general are very hardy!  I have some that a friend gave to me about 11 years ago.  His landlord decided he wasn't allowed to have the fish tank, so there I was, the adoptive tetra parent. LOL

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 10/20/2022 at 10:12 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

But in some parts of the country, the locals will order a "Coke" and the waitress would ask what flavor Coke they would like, and they'd reply with something like "Orange" or "Root Beer". 

My girlfriend is from Tennessee and this blew my mind when I first heard about it. “Y’all got Coke? I’ll take a Mountain Dew”. 
 

Still agree that the Tetras should be the ones to get the tank seasoned, and then add the Discus down the road. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/20/2022 at 12:18 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Still agree that the Tetras should be the ones to get the tank seasoned, and then add the Discus down the road. 

I'm of the fishless-cycling mindset.

Live plants help w/ cycling though.  They eat ammonia and nitrites.  They will eat nitrates if there are none of the first 2 left to eat.  

[sweetpoison]

I’m back!  Basically I haven’t done much to my tank, but I did just do a wc. I tested my tank and it is zero across-the-board!

zero Ammonia

Zero Nitrites

Zero Nitrates 

 

I want to add fish in a couple weeks. I’m thinking about just getting 6 Rummynose first.  I have got to get that discus soon or it’s going to die!  I want to get the Rummynose first because this water has to be pristine for that discus or it’s not gonna make it. Should I be feeding some flake to this tank?

Aren’t I supposed to have like 10 nitrates?  Would you say this tank is cycled?  
 

I still have to do some tweaking in there ~ things are kind of discombobulated😂