Is my tank ready for a pair of pups?

[hereticlosmorte]

How long did it take you to cycle your tank? And what size was it, what filtration?

it took me 2 months, though i would have been done in a month.

the first time, i was doing it simply using piece of fish, flake food. it took about a month and a few days to do. then my area had a major blackout for over 6 hrs, and all my bacteria died off.

after that, i added the filter pad and went out and bought the ammonia. it took from nothing to fully cycled in about 3 weeks time.

i was running a fluval 405 for my only source of filtration in a 90g growout.

if you use the correct amount of ammonia, it goes FAST.

 

[Just Toby]

I too commend you as you have listened and questioned more and followed all of the advice.

Many people would have been annoyed by the comments and not bothered coming back.

I think that the product you are using is holding back some of the spike (in a good way) and therefore the tests are not extreme.

Wait a little longer, the seller should appreicate that his stock are going to a safe home by waiting, if you have already paid then he should wait, if not then I suspect it is the money and not the space he is interested in.

Hope it goes well.

Interesting point about the "old water" as I have been a firm believer in this "old wives tale" I am not arguing, just interested.

I have always used old water and mature filters to start new tanks and never had any spikes etc but suspect this is mature filters doing all the work.

 

[kjfan1]

My dad used to run a business and he would set up and tank and fill it with fish the same day. He had 3 tanks in his appt. running and he would set up tanks for like nursing home and stuff. It was amazing. 0% deaths with in the first 2 months being set up in 5 years of business. Saltwater though.

Good luck with your rays.

 

[hereticlosmorte]

Hope all is going well with your setup. I just encountered a major "hiccup". Well, I screwed up badly.

Did a 50% WC last night, had to unplug my heaters and filters to do so, so that they didnt get wrecked by not being in the water, till it filled. This is how I always do it.

Unfortunately, because my mind is dealing with other life problems, I forgot to plug back in my heaters and filters, which sat that was for a good 8+hrs.

Luckily my rays are fine it seems, and the water only dropped from 24C to 22C.

I think i killed off all my beneficial bacteria though, even if the filter autostop was not engaged (it was in the open position throughout). So now, because of my severely noobish mistake, I'll have to keep a really close eye on my tank and rays. :-/

Remember to plug all of your equipment back in, lol

 

[fishboykaps]

I ment pics of the aquarium set up

 

[waymoz]

Hope all is going well with your setup. I just encountered a major "hiccup". Well, I screwed up badly.

Did a 50% WC last night, had to unplug my heaters and filters to do so, so that they didnt get wrecked by not being in the water, till it filled. This is how I always do it.

Unfortunately, because my mind is dealing with other life problems, I forgot to plug back in my heaters and filters, which sat that was for a good 8+hrs.

Luckily my rays are fine it seems, and the water only dropped from 24C to 22C.

I think i killed off all my beneficial bacteria though, even if the filter autostop was not engaged (it was in the open position throughout). So now, because of my severely noobish mistake, I'll have to keep a really close eye on my tank and rays. :-/

Remember to plug all of your equipment back in, lol

Can beneficial bacteria die that quick?? I thought if it was submerged and preferably in the dark, they wouldn't die that quick. Not too sure about that, hopefully your rays are sweet.

 

[waymoz]

I ment pics of the aquarium set up

I'll have pics up soon. waiting for the cabinet doors to finish drying then got to put them back on.

 

[skylineiz]

what filteration are you using?

Eg if its a sump with bio balls for example, take some from a mate, (that you know has a good established tank)
and put it with yours, it will speed up the BB rate for sure.

Focus on your filteration and the BB growth there.
stability will definately help you get this going asap, but yeh i know it must be hard to wait longer for the ray, but your doing the right thing!

 

[hereticlosmorte]

Can beneficial bacteria die that quick?? I thought if it was submerged and preferably in the dark, they wouldn't die that quick. Not too sure about that, hopefully your rays are sweet.

apparently they can die in a time of 4 hrs without flowing water.

i checked my tank parameters today and the ammonia is back up with the nitrite soooo emergency WC's for me

ah well, the rays are fine at the moment, so not a big deal. just gotta keep on top of it.

 

[Just Toby]

Filter bacteria BEGINS to die off within 1 hour without flow.

You need to make sure that the heaters and filters do not need to be turned off for water changes as this will always happen again. Surely in a 6X2X2 you can put the heaters at an angle of 45 degrees near the bottom.

I do not understand why the filters need to go off at all but do not have time to re-read - again adapt the system to allow proper maintenance.

I have bought a HYDOR inline heater that goes in the cannister return pipe to help out with heat incase I need to turn off my sump for maintenance.

You and your rays are not having a brilliant time of this...keep your chin up!