# New to Hobby /29 gallon just set up/ suggestions? Comments?



## IronLion (Apr 10, 2012)

Hi everyone. I'm pretty new to fish keeping. Kept live-bearers when i was about 9 (20 years ago) and a betta for my daughter. I got a 29 gallon set up from my brother in law, everything worked but the tank had a leak, so i just bought a new tank, and some decor to suit my taste. Just set it up 2 days ago with:

All artificial plants
Gravel Substrate
Found Rocks (cleaned and boiled)
30 gallon "Aqua Clear" power filter
30/60 gallon heater (Turned all the way up to help bacterial growth)
Coralife F20-T12-BP Light ( I think its 20 watts , Whatever that means, light came with set up,)


also have:

5 in 1 Test strips ( pH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Hardness, and Alkalinity)
Ammonia clear fizz tabs (in case i need them way down the line,haven't used)
Journal dedicated to all this

I know I need:

Ammonia tester
A thermometer

Have sprinkled a pinch of fish food to produce ammonia and have some frozen brine shrimp , wondering if I should throw a pinch in there?

Have not decided on what fish I am putting in there yet.

Test strip readings:
pH 7.2-7.8
Alkalinity 150
Hardness 150 (hard)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 ?

Probably nut much if any Ammonia built up yet, but I dunno.












Any suggestions or comments would be very much appreciated.
Fish I might like to put in here (either a combination of these or exclusively):

Platies 
guppies
tetras
gouramis
tiger barbs
bolivian rams ( 2 only )
corys
loaches
snails
shrimp
Electric Blue Crayfish
Mexican Orange Dwarf Crayfish


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Turn down the heater, asap. It won't help bacterial growth - I'd expect the opposite, and it will burn out at the max. That could be an expensive mistake.
A lot of people on this forum have great expertise about cycling a new tank, so I'll step back and leave it to them... My methods are a little unorthodox, and probably work best if you already have experience.


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## em1y386SX (Apr 10, 2012)

The cycle will start the moment ammonia is present, I agree turn the heater down to something like 24oC, stabilise the water temp, then you need a source of ammonia, this can be bought from any good hardware store, but it has to be free from any other chemicals like surfactants, perfumes ect, otherwise it will pollute the water and kill fish.

You will also need a liquid test kit, to test PH, ammonia, nitrites.

The goal is to add the ammonia until you start getting nitrifying bacteria developing, it should spike then drop back down to 0
At this point both ammonia and nitrites should be 0, then you can start adding fish.
Stock the tank slowly.

Edit: I've noticed that you are using food as a source of ammonia, this does work but cannot be controlled easily and can lead to cloudy/dirty water, requiring a water change, which coud set back your cycle process 

It's called the fishless cycle, there is more info on it in a sticky on this forum.


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## IronLion (Apr 10, 2012)

I've turned the heat down... set it about halfway...
I've read up on the fishless cycle , but having had time finding pure ammonia, hence the fish flakes, at least to start it, I will continue to look for pure ammonia.
I have the test kit for everything, but Ammonia, but will have that soon. I'm assuming from the test kit readings that I included above I'll probably have to bring the water hardness and alkalinity down. From what I've read those parameters vary from fish to fish, but what I have now seems a bit high for any of the fish Im thinking about stocking. But again I dont know.. lol... I also like the idea of having just a pair of rams or a crayfish and maybe some dither fish 

Fish I might like to put in here (either a combination of these or exclusively):

Platies 
guppies
tetras
gouramis
tiger barbs
bolivian rams ( 2 only )
corys
loaches
snails
shrimp
Electric Blue Crayfish
Mexican Orange Dwarf Crayfish


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