Hi, lovely to find you all

Welcome, Seph !

There certainly is a lot of new information. Some of it is extremely valuable, some of it is theory, and I suspect some of it is providing a name for what we are already doing. In any event, you'll find members here who are very well versed in all aspects of the hobby and who are interested in making it successful and fun for you.

What type of set up are you starting ?

Thanks for the welcome.
I have a 3ft 56G freshwater tank and want to have a fairly relaxed tank. Currently my plans are for pearl gourami, corys, kuhli loaches, some schools of tetras and a laid back cichlid breed. I had a pair of festivums (i think?) in my last tank which were great.

At the moment I'm starting the tank with 7 black widow tetras as my tank water is very soft and acidic. I got a bit of a bum steer from LFS which suggested tank water as our town water is really alkaline and very hard. Looks like a mixture of both might be perfect.

So far I'm on day 6 and all my nitrogens are on zero. Am wondering if my cycle is ever going to start or whether all the plants I've got in there might mean I'm ok to go?? But I think I'll sit tight a bit longer.

This forum is great. I've just been looking at other people's threads about this and learning heaps!

Hello Seph :wave:

Welcome to the forum. Congrats. on getting your feet wet again - don't be afraid to ask any and all questions along the way.

The plants are probably taking care of the ammonia and that is an option to the tedious cycle process. You are right in taking it slow. You've already learned / relearned a lesson. The friendly LFS doesn't always know what it's talking about.

Seph

Welcome to the forum, when i first did my tank all the readings were good and mine was planted, i still gave it a month just to be on the safe side. Look forward to hearing about your progress.

welcome fellow NPT keeper =) your not going to see any spikes in ammonia rites or rates with your plants as they will absorb and use them as they become available^^

Hello and welcome to the forum!