[rizorith]

I put together my first fish tank 10 days ago. It's a fluval edge 6 gallon with some drift wood, lava rock and gravel substrate. It has a marimo ball, java moss, java fern and annubia.

I set everything up and added the fluval nutrafin for 3 consecutive days as stated in the instruction.

I had every intention of doing a fishless cycle but my lfs, which has pretty good reviews here, told me don't to do fishless in such a small tank so I took his advice and got a single harlequin rasbora to start.

I'll put up pics in time but for now I have some questions on my cycling, which is puzzling me. I'm wondering if the fluval nutrafin product is the culprit.

Diary:

Days 1-3 - added Nutrafin according to directions
Day 3 - Added one Harlequin Rasbora
Day 5 (API master test kit came in): PH: 8, Ammonia 0.15PPM, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 30PPM
Day 6: PH 7.9, Ammonia 0.25PPM, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 15PPM
Day 7: PH 7.9, Ammonia 0.15PPM, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20PPM
Day 10: PH 7.9, Ammonia 0.20PPM, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20PPM
Day 12: PH 7.9, Ammonia .10PPM, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20PPM
Day 14: PH 7.9, Ammonia 0.2PPM, Nitrate 0, Nitrate 15PPM


It sounds like I'm still at the first stage in the cycle but according to what I've read I should start seeing Nitrite readings by now and probably a far higher Ammonia reading. Should I be doing anything different? Also, could the cycle product be causing a problem?

 

[hydrophyte]

I think it's great that you are doing everything so carefully, but you probably don't need to worry about watching everything so closely. I would recommend just doing some extra water changes so that the nitrates don't climb so high and harm the fish. With the fish in there your setup will undergo a "slow cycle" just fine with establishment of the beneficial bacteria in the substrate and filter media.

 

[Bubba Shrimp]

I have a Fluval 6 gallon I just water change once a month and add chems. Pretty low maintance. Never had anything die, but cherry shrimp.

 

[Chiefston]

It's going to take awhile for the bacteria to get fully established. I would let it go for at least a week before worrying about your parameters


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[FlyingHellFish]

Welcome to the club brother! Enjoy your back breaking labour with a side of "omg why I buy this?" A smart thing to do is stick with low light plants. This tank drives me insane, you got a lot of light in the middle and not at the corners. The opening is a tiny hole on top of the tank and if you need to take a fish out, forget about it.

I hate this tank with a passion. The only way to win is to take all the tank's limitation and over come them.


That Hc Cuba carpet on the left. God, why I buy this tank.

 

[Conrad283]

Welcome to the club brother! Enjoy your back breaking labour with a side of "omg why I buy this?" A smart thing to do is stick with low light plants. This tank drives me insane, you got a lot of light in the middle and not at the corners. The opening is a tiny hole on top of the tank and if you need to take a fish out, forget about it.

I hate this tank with a passion. The only way to win is to take all the tank's limitation and over come them.


That Hc Cuba carpet on the left. God, why I buy this tank.

I am jealous of your HC

 

[rizorith]

Hah yah I'm definitely learning about more downsides than upsides. It is beautiful though. I do have low light plants, just trying to get the cycle established.

Moving forward, I'm a bit concerned about the Harlequin Rasbora I have. The LFS said this was a great small fish to start with but I looked it up and it grows to 2". It doesn't seem like I should have 6 of these in here, plus other inhabitants. If I added 6 Galaxy Rasboras, which are much smaller, would the lone Harlequin be ok alone? Would it school with them?

 

[rizorith]

I could use some help on in-fish cycling. It's been 2 full weeks since I've had a fish in there and my #'s have barely moved. My fish store said in 2 weeks I should be cycled, and at the very least in 1 week I should have seen my numbers move a lot.

Any advice? I updated the test readings above.