# New 30 gallon tall



## stanly89 (Feb 2, 2011)

I'm going to get a bunch of artificial plants(and a mangrove root stump) for this tank. *w3 I have the hood filter and submerge 30 gallon filter, heater, and airstones. As soon as I get the substrate and fake plants I will let the tank run for a week. Then I'm going to add a small school of neon tetras. Is that ok? What chemicals am I going to need? *pc any advice on which fish I should get and how many?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I wouldn't get neons until the tank was cycled. They aren't the toughest fish out there and cycling can be hard on some fish. I would do a fishless cycle with some ammonia and then add them.

You'll need some form of water conditioner to remove chlorine/chlorimines from your water, and that is about it. One of the most impartant things will be testing supplies to test your water...preferrably a liquid test set. Most prefer the API master test kit. It will cover you through your cycle and thereafter. Stay away from test strips.

Good luck!!


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## corE3105 (Jan 26, 2011)

API makes other products designed to help the cycling process (API Stress Zyme) and also to help remove harmful chemicals such as chlorine (API Stress Coat)...I used them to cycle with some black skirt tetras and continue to add them during weekly water changes with nothing but positive results


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

List of chemicals you will need:

1. Tap water conditioner (a.k.a. dechlorinator).
2. Liquid titration water testing kit (API Master Freshwater Test Kit is our preferred one).
3. Bottle of pure unscented ammonia with no sulfactants (sp?)

All other chemicals, in my opinion, are a waste of money and some (like phosphate pH buffers and ammonia-neutralizing agents) are downright damaging to your tank. If you choose to go the extra chems route, I would suggest the following:

1. API Stress Coat & Stress Zyme
2. Tetra SafeStart

For partial water changes, you will need the following hardware:

1. 2 5gallon plaster buckets (Homer Buckets from Home Depot), unused, unwashed, and ABSOLUTELY no chemicals used in the buckets. Totally clean.
2. Siphon hose with gravel vacuum (available at most stores with a fish section).

First, you will need to allow your tank to establish a nitrogen cycle. In a nutshell, fish and waste produce ammonia, bacteria process the ammonia into nitrite, then into nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish, nitrate is not (unless in very high concentrations). Without bacteria, fish introduced to the tank will generate ammonia which will kill them.

To cycle a tank, add ammonia in daily dosages. DO NOT ADD FISH. This will "seed" the cycle. Add things like used filter media from your pet store and Tetra SafeStart to introduce colonies of bacteria to your tank. Test your water daily. You should see an ammonia spike (greater than 1 ppm), a nitrite spike (again, greater than 1 ppm), then a final nitrate spike (in the range of 80-100 ppm), in that order. If you add something like Tetra SafeStart you may see all 3 spikes at once. Your cycle is established when you get readings of 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and some nitrates. Cycle establishment can run up to a month to develop, only testing your water will tell.

Once your cycle is established, do 2 50% partial water changes (PWC) and you may add fish the following day. To do a PWC, follow these steps:

1. Siphon water out of your tank into the buckets. Vacuum the gravel by pushing the big end of the siphon (the gravel vac) into the gravel and move it around. DO NOT VACUUM THE GRAVEL DURING CYCLING (this will remove bacteria that you want to keep in there).
2. Wash any new filter media in the buckets of dirty water before adding them to your filter. (Again, don't change the filter media in the early stages - let it get good and dirty and full of bacteria).
3. Empty buckets, fill with fresh tap water. Use your hand to approximate temperature between old and new water (feeling is accurate to a few dgrees). Add dechlorinator/conditioner to the buckets as they are filling. ADD DECHLORINATOR TO THE BUCKETS, NOT TO THE TANK AFTERWARDS.
4. Siphon the fresh water into the tank. DON'T DUMP (or you might shock and then kill your fish with pH and temperature differences).

If you have 80 ppm nitrate, after 2 50% PWC's you will have 20 ppm (80/2 = 40, 40/2 = 20). You may add your fish at this time. This will save you from killing fish, getting frustrated and giving up (which we've seen many times).
*old dude


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

You can cycle a tank just by adding a flake or two of fish food every day if you don't want to mess with the pure ammonia.


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