The Puffer Forum

hey guys im new to this forums i just bought a 30 gal tank and i just filled it a week ago ive added 3 zebra danios to help with the cycle, atm the ammonia is at 4ppm. im doing 25% water changed every day. does anyone know when my tank should be fully cycled and when i should start adding salt to make it brackish

im planning on getting a GPS in the end i juts dont want to rush things

Glad to hear you're not rushing but if you did a fishless cycle, your GSP will be in there 3x sooner & no fish (danios) will be harmed in the process.
See the Fishles cycling article in our Library. Also one on GSPs in there. Look under the Learn tab above.

thanks for sugesting for me to read that it helped alot i just havea few questions

would it be worth me empty my tank and redo it since its only been a week
im able to give my danios to a friend if it is

and im not quite sure where i can can ammonia and water. would a pharmacy be able to sell me a bottle? i have no clue where a local chemst is lol

second it mention adding benefical batiria im confused when it says that does that mean just adding things like bioballs and plants and rock for the bactiria to grow on?

thanks

booger12 wrote:thanks for sugesting for me to read that it helped alot i just havea few questions

would it be worth me empty my tank and redo it since its only been a week
im able to give my danios to a friend if it is

and im not quite sure where i can can ammonia and water. would a pharmacy be able to sell me a bottle? i have no clue where a local chemst is lol

second it mention adding benefical batiria im confused when it says that does that mean just adding things like bioballs and plants and rock for the bactiria to grow on?

thanks

Hello Booger12,
There are lots of topics on this forum on where to buy bottles of ammonia but essentially what you need is an ammonia source so that your filter and decor can build up nitrite and nitrate producing bacteria. Ammonia is naturally produced from decaying matter so you could take the danios out now and put a prawn or something like that into your tank and the decaying prawn will provide the ammonia that you require. you could then source a bottle of ammonia if you don't like the idea of having a rotting food item in your tank or just leave it in until your ammonia and nitrite levels reach zero.
someone on this forum mentioned that they had a bacterial bloom when cycling their tank with flake food so you might want to avoid that.

Ammonia is a common cleaning/disinfecting item found in many grocery/drug/hardware stores. Better than a rotting carcass in my tank... ewwwwwwww!

You can remove the danios & be assured they have seeded the tank enough with their poop. Now you just have to feed that bacteria with ammonia & in a week or so of adding the correct amount, there will be enough bacteria developed to neutralize the ammonia & nitrate.

thanks a ton guys
im going to head to my mall and see if i can buy some ammonia in a bottle and also give my fish to my friend

2 quick questions should i still keep up with my daily 25% water changes?

and i have a big snail in the tank too should i take that out aswell?

thanks ill keep you guy posted on how my tank goes

I'm not sure you're gonna find ammonia in a mall. Be sure that's the only ingredient & when you shake it, there is no foam.

booger12 wrote:thanks a ton guys
im going to head to my mall and see if i can buy some ammonia in a bottle and also give my fish to my friend

2 quick questions should i still keep up with my daily 25% water changes?

and i have a big snail in the tank too should i take that out aswell?

thanks ill keep you guy posted on how my tank goes

The more I think about it the more I think that I am one step away from joining a group that ties themselves to trees but I would take the snail out because the high ammonia levels will be damaging him/her as well. What kind of snail is it because it may not be a brackish water species?

There is no need to do water changes when cycling a tank, it wil slow down the cycling process.

Definitely remove the snail before adding ammonia! Finding the correct ammonia can be a little tricky but I found that hardware stores and some large department stores carry it here in the US (not sure where you're from). Read the bottle to make sure that the only ingredient is ammonia and also give it a shake, foam = additives, no foam = no additives. The rotting carcass isn't really that bad in the tank, a little odoriferous but manageable.....

so went everywhere and was unable to find ammonia in a bottle

some ppl didnt even know what i was talking about.

i think im going to go for the prawn way i have a bunch of frozen shrimp i can just dump in there i just need to wait for it to rot

i bought a heater aswell i read higher temp helps bactiria grow fast

i took out the fish and snail and gave it to my friend

hopefully all goes well

again id be grateful for any tips thanks

i think it was a great idea to give away my fish and start a fishless cycle i can already notice that my tank it cloudy.
woot hopefully it wont be long
anyways i think this question should be in the brackish puffer forum but i might aswell keep all my questions in one topic
question i have is when i do start turning this tank into brackish will i be able to feed my GSP fw snails? ive started to breed them and i have about 50+ waiting to be eaten and it will be kinda a waiste if he shouldnt eat them

booger12 wrote:i think it was a great idea to give away my fish and start a fishless cycle i can already notice that my tank it cloudy.
woot hopefully it wont be long
anyways i think this question should be in the brackish puffer forum but i might aswell keep all my questions in one topic
question i have is when i do start turning this tank into brackish will i be able to feed my GSP fw snails? ive started to breed them and i have about 50+ waiting to be eaten and it will be kinda a waiste if he shouldnt eat them

just wait until your tank is cycled before adding the marine salt, you will have to do a large water change when it's cycled to reduce the high level of nitrate that will remain, so when you top up after that change you can raise your SG by no more than 0.002, keep raising by no more than 0.002 each week with every water change until you get to your desired level.

You can feed FW snails.

day 2 of my fishless cycle my tank is super cloudy but nothign seems to be different about it

there are
0 nitrate
0 nitrite
4ppm ammonia

is it common for the tankto be cloudy and still have no nitrate nitrite reading?

day 3 still no change at all

on what day do ppl ushally see a nitrate spike? Bc i have 0 nitrate still

booger12 wrote:so went everywhere and was unable to find ammonia in a bottle

It's in the cleaning section of most grocery stores - you know, with the bleach and 409.