Setting up a new ten gallon tank

cameronpalte

The panda corydoras are neat and you may even be lucky enough to raise some fry-:)

eug

Java fern and anubias should not be planted in the substrate, particularly the rhyzomes. the plants will not do well or die when the rhyzome is buried.
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gorangers0525

Rhyzpmes are above the substrate and in every article/post I've read about them they give substrate as an option. Eventually they will be tied to driftwood, but now the substrate will do.
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gorangers0525

Currently at 2.0ppm's of ammonia and between .25-.5ppm of nitrite. There is no nitrate yet. Everything seems to be going according to plan. Going to try some other pet shops tomorrow to find some nice, beginner friendly floating plants (water sprite) and hopefully find a store that has a nice stock of corydoras. I know the pet shop I used to work at had some but I don't think we ever had any pygmies. I haven't been there in awhile but it's worth a shot.

Oh yea...ph is holding steady at 7. Last time I checked my water was soft but I'll make sure to check it again before putting any fish in.

eug

Are you adding ammonia, doing a fishless cycle?

gorangers0525

Im using the fish food method with some filter media and gravel from my ten gallon.
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gorangers0525

Hmm where the heck did my nitrite go? I still have a decent amount of ammonia (2.0 ppm) but no nitrite and little to no nitrate.

eug

Maybe you misread the test kit, or your plants are metabolizing the nitrite instead of the bacteria. How much fish food did you put in the tank? Are you still dosing? Oh, and how densely is it planted?

Byron advised me against doing any sort of traditional "cycling" when I was setting up my current aquarium - the new philosophy I've learned is to plant adequately and see to it that the plants are thriving, and then introduce fish gradually. The plants, when there are enough of them, are so quick at sucking up ammonia/nitrite/nitrate than the you rarely see a ammonia or nitrite spike that you see with traditional cycling methods. The bacterial colonies will eventually develop as well using the "green" method as well, by the way.

Byron

If you get those plants mentioned previously you won 't have a cycle to fuss over.

Have you tested the tap water on its own for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? This is worth knowing.

Chris7

I just set up a 10 gallon planted tank on the weekend and have got no ammonia or nitrite reading at all. But I transfered Mature filter Media(sponge) and live plants from an established tank, so I guess I by passed the cycle? Was your plants and filter media from an established tank?