Tropical Fish Forums

[diademhill]

Just keep adding shrimp. TIf you cut section of stockings or hose knot an end, add shrimp, tie other end and drop in the tank you can net them all out when the cycle has finished. It is a good idea to add a spoonful of sodium bicarbonate to the tank weekly unless you have hard water.

[Danikins]

Hm, is there a way to test if I have hard water? I think I do but I'm not sure.
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[diademhill]

You can buy GH & KH test kits but first try asking at the nearest fish store?
Your water supplier may have details on their website (put a link to them if you can't find the bit you need).

Cheats way is to boil some water dry in a steel or glass pan. If you can scrape a residue you have hard water.

[Danikins]

Okay I did some googling and I found out that we have fairly hard water here (in Edmonton, Alberta). So no adding salt, then?

Will having a bit hard water affect what kinds of fish I can have? (Edit:) although now I think on it, the LFS would have to use the same water too, unless they have a water softener installed.
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[diademhill]

Sodium Bicarbonate is not the same as sodium chloride.
The reason you add baking soda to a cycling softwater tank is that carbonate is used by the bacteria processing nitrite to nitrate and lack of carbonate stalls the cycle.
Sound like you don't need it.
Most fish are not too fussy about water harness as long as you avoid extremes but many tetras will not thrive long term. Don't believe what the stores tell you......if they do have a softwater section those fish would be stressed if moved to local water so avoid them.

What fish did you have in mind?

[Danikins]

Yeahhhh I knew that wasn't salt, I was just not thinking when I was typing haha.

I just set up the tank, and tested my water.

I'm a little worried, because my city adds trace ammounts of ammonia to the water for cleaning or something stupid thing, but then I read that ammonia + chlorine = chloramine? Although I guess when the cycle's done it will take care of that little bit of ammonia, right?

Also, my pH is a lot higher than I thought, its about 7.8. Which I assume is because of/contributed to by the hard water.

ANYWAY. I managed to find ammonia in like... the 8th store I tried, which is great.

Fish I have in mind. I'm not sure about some, especially the centerpiece fish, but I know I want cories and otos. For schooling I was thinking cardinals, Harlequin rasboras and/or rummy noses (which I know are more sensitive, they'd probably be the last things I'd add.)
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In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot of people angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

[Danikins]

Quick update... I accidentally dosed the ammonia too high, oops. Its reading at higher than 8ppm (or I assume so since the colour is darker and slightly bluer than the dark green that indicates 8 in my kit)

That's okay, right? It will just take longer for the bacteria to build up, won't it? Or should I do a PWC to dilute it a bit?
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In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot of people angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

[diademhill]

50% water change and then test again. Change more if needed. Don't forget dechlorinator.

Aim for 4ppm. You may have much higher than 8ppm which will kill bacteria.

[Danikins]

Hm in that case I think maybe I'll just start over. I want to change how I have the substrate anyway, so maybe I'll just drain the tank, change the layout of the bottom and refill.

And dose less than half of what I put last time!! My tank is about 135L / 36 gallons (I found out it was a little bigger than I thought!) so I was following the instructions from an article on this site about fishless cycling, it said to put about a 1/2 cup for 200L so I put just under 1/3 of a cup for my 135L. Clearly that was too much, haha. I will try just 1 tablespoon and go from there this time, I think.
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In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot of people angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

[Danikins]

So I redid the bottom of the tank, refilled it, and let it run for 24 hrs. Last night I added 2 tbsps of ammonia, and after an hour it was reading at about 5ppm (just slightly darker than what 4 indicated and much lighter than .

How long do you think it'll be before I see a change?
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In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot of people angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.