# Hello from a newbie :)



## Barbels (Jul 15, 2004)

I have been enjoying AquaDen for a little over a year now. A nice lady over there mentioned this forum and it sounded like a nice place to visit. I've been peeking in for a couple days and would enjoy being a member here.

Actually, I guess I'm not even quite a newbie yet. Although I have been compiling my hardware and whatever knowledge I can for about a year and a half now.

I am still a little intimidated, but I feel quite a bit more secure since I've had some time to learn some things from fine places like this before I actually jump in.

Things were ready to come together this spring when I dropped half of my Versa-Top lid and it broke all over the place.
I have been waiting for ages and ages for my lfs to get in my new top(that is starting to get real old). 
The tank is a 75 gallon Oceanic. The lid he ordered is also Oceanic, not Versa-Top.

I finally realized that I can get a Versa-Top thru DrsF&S but now I think I'd much rather have the Oceanic because it might(?) fit better on the same tank. So now I have the dilema of waiting till the end of time for the Oceanic lid or get a Versa-Top right now fromDrsF&S.

Anyway, hopefully I will be starting up my very own planted tank 
soon(?) and I would appreciate your help along the way.

I apologize for the mini-series. 
Oh yeah, hello.
Sue


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Hey Barbels, nice to see you over here.  

This is a pretty nice place (if you haven't noticed already :wink: ) and you can get help with just about any of your plant or equipment questions in a hurry.

You should ask here about the regulator, tubing and reactor.


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Welcome to APC, Sue! 

Let us know if you have any questions. A 75g oceanic has excellent dimensions for a planted tank, so you're already off to a good start.

Carlos


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## Barbels (Jul 15, 2004)

Thank you so much for the hospitality, guys. I really do appreciate it.

 *WOW! *HI, Jan!
Jan, the Eheim regulator's outlet looks like about 1/16", but now I'm wondering if Eheim even used standard sizing. Of course the reactor&tubing is good old 1/8".
I've decided I'd much rather have everything the same size rather than mess with a coupling I can't even find.

DrsF&S said they will be glad to do an exchange for the regulator they carry(its outlet is good old 1/8", too). Plus it's $50.00 cheaper than the Eheim, so I'll also have a little scratch to play with to boot!

Anyway, thanks again for the nice hospitality! This really is a very groovy place.
Sue


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## ryuken168 (Feb 5, 2004)

*Welcome to APC*

Hi Sue,

What do you mean by top? Glass canopy or the plastic type.
If you don't have a cat or fish that jumps, a open top tank is the way to go. Less things between the light and the plants.


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## Barbels (Jul 15, 2004)

Wow Ken, that might be a darned good idea. I would much prefer the idea of having a lid. But dang, I could certainly get this thing finally started and fishlessly cycled and planted and, and, and... 
Then I could get the lid later.

I can't wait. By golly, I believe I shall try it.
The fish I hope to have eventually are some cardinals, and a bristlenose and gobs of cories, would love to have one Betta and maybe a few pencilfish; that's about it.

Most of those would have to wait, but wouldn't the bottom dwellers be okay?

Thanks so much. I shall have sweet dreams tonight fer sure!
Sue


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## ShaneSmith (Feb 15, 2004)

none of those fish are real jumpers. the only upper level dweller is a betta... and they cant really get the speed to jump to far with their huge fins .


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## Error (Apr 16, 2004)

ShaneSmith said:


> none of those fish are real jumpers. the only upper level dweller is a betta... and they cant really get the speed to jump to far with their huge fins .


Some the ornamental splendens I have kept have been good jumpers. It's all about picking ones with a good attitude.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Sue, (I had no idea that was your real name...)  

If you already have an established tank running, and since you're going to be planting this tank, you could certainly skip the fishless cycling and just seed your bacteria from established material and add a few fish at a time.

Keep us posted on how it goes.


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## Barbels (Jul 15, 2004)

JanS said:


> Sue, (I had no idea that was your real name...)


 teehee :lol:



JanS said:


> If you already have an established tank running, and since you're going to be planting this tank, you could certainly skip the fishless cycling and just seed your bacteria from established material and add a few fish at a time.


 Ooooh, ooooh, that sounds so wonderful! Where can I learn more about this?? I kinda knew I could seed using good stuff from an established tank but I thought I still needed to do the ammonia thing. 
Thank you so much.


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## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Well, you can start by running the filter for the new tank on the old tank a bit. After that, you can do a few other things to help. Put some new gravel in bag of some sort (pantyhose seems to work well) and have that in the old tank for a while. Then, when you start the new tank up, you can put that in the new tank and even some gravel from the old tank the same way (If you want to return it to the old tank).


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I usually steal the stuff that's been in an established tank for some time. A bag of substrate, porous rocks, driftwood, plants, etc. Any of those things are going to have a generous amount of bacteria built up on them and if you add the fish gradually to your new tank, it will cycle nicely on it's own. I usually tend to stick with the same kinds of filters too, so when you add your first new fish, you can swap out the older filter media into your new filter.

Sometimes the fishless thing can get pushed a bit too far when you already have established stuff to work with. :wink:


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## Barbels (Jul 15, 2004)

Man oh man, I am so blasted excited about this seeding thing.
The only existing tanks I have is my little 5 gallon tank which houses my Betta. It uses an AquaClear mini and has some floating Anacharis. The other tank is my son's 10 gallon. It too uses an AquaClear and has floating Anacharis.
The new tank will use an Eheim canister.

I thought I might take the old sponges out of the AC's and float them and a buncha Anacharis in the new tank. Also, I filled a nylon knee-hi with the Substrat pro/bio balls and placed them in the 10 gallon. It looks just like a knee-hi plum full of Cocoa Puffs cereal (yummm). I figure they will be nice & ready when I put them in the canister.

So do I run the new tank for a few days with the donor bacteria before putting in the first fish?
Do I keep testing for ammonia, then nitrites and then nitrates before putting in the first fish? 
Will the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates run their cycle the way they do when you cycle with household ammonia, or does it pretty much go straight to a healthy level of Nitrate?

Thank you bunches and bunches and bunches and...


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

LOL! Isn't it fun?  

I would put your seeding stuff in the tank at the same time you add the first few fish, not before. The established bacteria needs the fish waste to keep going, so if you put it in before adding the fish, it might start dying.

With your seeding material you shouldn't get any amonnia or nitrite spikes as long as you don't add too many fish at first. I'd still keep an eye on it though.

LOL about the Cocoa Puffs.... That's exactly what I thought they looked like. They're not fun to chase down if you spill them on the floor though... :roll:


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## Corigan (Mar 15, 2004)

JanS said:


> LOL! Isn't it fun?
> 
> I would put your seeding stuff in the tank at the same time you add the first few fish, not before. The established bacteria needs the fish waste to keep going, so if you put it in before adding the fish, it might start dying.


I have cycled tanks using household ammonia (make sure it doesn't contain perfumes and such) just by adding a few drops of ammonia a day. I have a hospital tank that is a small 1g that houses no fish (lets hope it stays that way, heh) that I keep cycled by adding a drop or two of ammonia every day or two.

I was thinking about the situation of reseeding the tank and seeing how well it was going to handle ammonia. I was thinking If I was in the situation of testing a new aquarium to see if I brought enough of a bacteria colony over, I would use household ammonia to do the testing instead of a fish. This way if the newly established aquarium cannot properly convert/cycle the ammonia, then you aren't subjecting the fish to unhealthy water conditions.

Here is a google link depicting sites that show the prodcedure ,as well as benefits, of useing household ammonia to cycle/maintain a nitrifying bacteria colony:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ousehold+ammonia+to+cycle+a+fish+tank&spell=1

I know some people use flake food as an ammonia source. I find this to be a little bit messy since there is nothing to eat up the food in the tank. This is why I use the ammonia method.



> With your seeding material you shouldn't get any ammonia or nitrite spikes as long as you don't add too many fish at first. I'd still keep an eye on it though.


I would think she probably wouldn't see any spikes, but IMHO I would use household ammonia or another source to test for spikes instead of fish.

Matt


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