[Foisair]

So I've finally finished moving into my new apartment and am excited to get my 10 gal finally set up how I want it. (cycled, live plants, snails, cories and Merlin) I have the filter, new sand substrate, decorations (1 skull and 1 drift wood) and some live plants I will be transplanting from my 2.5 gal here at work (so 1 Amazon Sword and some Java Fern "babies").

Is this enough surface area to get started on my fishless cycle?

Can I add the heater later or should I wait to start until I have it? Does the tempature affect the cycle much?

 

[Foisair]

So after not getting any replies to this, I went ahead and started adding food to the tank to try and start the long cycling process. As of today, I am on day 7 and have been testing every other day. (So I tested yesterday and will test again tomorrow.) I have been putting a pinch of pellets (about 10-15) in the tank daily. As of yesterday, everything was still at zero. Since asking my original question, I have read that having a heater and raising the tempature to the 80s will encourage bacteria growth. So as soon as I can afford it, I will be getting that heater in there.

My questions now, on day 7, include:

Shouldn't I be seeing some ammonia by now?

Also, the peice of driftwood in there is mopani wood from the pet store. I did not boil the wood before putting it in my tank. The water is now brown. Will this go away as make water changes or do I need to pull everything apart and boil it?

Lastly, there appears to be a layer of slime(?) over part of the wood and on the skull decoration. Is this normal in cycleing or is this from the wood because it was not boiled or possibly from something else?

Thank you for your help on everything. This is my first time cycling so I can use all the help I can get.

 

[Olympia]

Sorry you didn't get a reply! I will do my best to answer
90% of bacteria grows on your filter sponge, so surface area in the tank really isn't that important.
I know bacteria grow fastest at 80F, so that could boost your cycle speed.
Be wary of high temperatures and cycling with food- mold will grow on your food. You can either remove it as soon as it gets moldy, or use a product such as Pimafix that will not harm your bacteria. I dropped in some Pimafix and my mold all but vanished (I was kind of lazy on keeping up with dosing so there is some left), since you do a large water change after the cycle completes, there should be no worry of Pimafix affecting your betta, as some say it can damage them.

I do not understand why you have no ammonia. You're testing for 0ppm? Have you testing nitrite/nitrate? It is possible that you are not putting in enough food, the plants could be gobbling up all the ammonia.

The wood is releasing tannins- this is healthy to a betta, but I don't think really brown is that great. You can boil the wood to release it's tannins faster (I would store the brown water from the boiling, and put it in periodically for health benefits). Slime is also quite common- this could be from the wood, or it could be water mould from the food.

http://www.barrreport.com/showthrea...-tiny-black-spots-amp-opaque-slime-coat-cover

here is a post I found, your slime looks like that? I would take it out and clean if, even if it can have some benefits, it is not very attractive to look at

 

[Foisair]

Thanks for the answer Olympia. At this point, I don't have any of the plants in the tank yet. So it's just sand, filter, wood and skull. I will try bumping up the amount of food I put in and see if that helps. I have been testing for ammonia, niterIte and niterAte every time. Everything is still at 0ppm as of yesterday, day 6.

I figured the brown of the water was tannins and that tannins are good for bettas but I wasn't sure if there are different types of tannis and how these measured up to IAL. If these tannins are just as good for my betta, I will definatly be keeping some of this water.

Based on what you said about the slime and the post you liked to, it sounds like my slime is bacterial and not mold. My biggest reason for saying it's not mold from the food is that it's not on the food. If it is bacterial, it sounds like it should go away on it's own in a few weeks.

Concerning plants: I do wish to have this tank fairly heavily planted. Should I add the plants after the tank is cycled? If so, I would assume that I should add them a few at time as to not completely throw off the chemistry of everything. Or should I be adding plants before it's finished?

 

[Olympia]

Have you tried buying ammonia from the grocery store (only ingredients ammonia, water)? This would be much more effective..
I'm not really sure of the relation of plants to ammonia levels... I know it's possible to cycle in a planted tank, but depending on how much plants you put in, it could not be, you could just end up with a natural planted tank that never has ammonia due to a large amount of plants.. Adding in a few at a time would make sense after the tank is cycled, I am currently cycling with a huge hornwort, and my ammonia can't seem to get above 0.25ppm on week 3.. I have around 3ppm nitrite though, so I know it is progressing, I will just have to add fish more slowly over time. I am however getting a large shipment of plants in next week and have no clue how this could throw off my tank. To me it makes sense to cycle with/without plants in the beginning, add fish, then more plants.. or to cycle a large amount of ammonia with no plants, add fish, then plants.. I am no expert on that however, but adding them in the middle of a cycle might slow things down more.

 

[Foisair]

UPDATE: So I plan on testing the water again tonight after work but as of Tuesday night, everything still read at 0ppm. However, last night I noticed that the slime on the skull has black patches in it now. Also the white media in my filter is now black! I'm not sure if the slime/mold is in my filter (would make sense) or if I just didn't clean the black sand enough and it's colored the media with its gunk. I think I'm going to tear the whole thing apart and start over.

 

[Olympia]

That article I posted says something about the gunk turning black I think..
Did you follow your test kit instructions really well? That's sometimes the problem.

 

[Foisair]

That's why I plan on testing again tonight. I've read a few other posts today about people just messing up the tests so I want to double check that I'm doing it right. Also, there's a part in that article that says to smell it. Stink = bacteria = good. I forgot about that and I think I just paniced when I saw my filter.

Quick question on testing: I read someone elses post that they had to take water from the bottom of the tank to get any readings where as the top of the water read 0ppm. Should I be taking water from the middle/bottom of the tank or the top? I've been taking from the top. I would think that it shouldn't matter, especially since I have a filter going and mixing around the water a bit.

 

[Olympia]

I saw that too and didn't really get it. I always take it from the top, maybe try taking it from the middle just to see. Can you turn up your filter power a bit to circulate water more?

 

[Foisair]

I don't think so. It's a Tetra Whisper Internal. I think the only way I'd be able to increase the flow is to make sure the media is clean and clear so the water can flow more.

So, my game plan for tonight:

1) I will smell the slime! (eww...)

2) Test H2O twice (once from the surface and once from the center) being careful to test correctly!

3) If the two tests have different results and I do have ammonia in the middle but not at the top, I will take some of the dirty tank water out and clean the filter media in it and replace. I also have an air pump that I could add to increase circulation.

4) If both tests still show 0ppm, I will clean out the fish food and buy some pure ammonia. I may also scrub the slime off everything and see if it comes back when using the pure ammonia.

 

[Olympia]

The internal whisper has a pretty strong flow, does it not? You could try aearation though. Other than that, sounds like a plan

 

[Foisair]

It does. Which is why I doubt that the ammonia could be hiding at the bottom. But until I test and proove it, I'm open to possiblities.