Post by kagome on Nov 4, 2008 14:52:29 GMT -5
Ok, so this is kind of a long story about my new tank. About a month ago my husband bought me a new tank. It's a 38g long and tall, basically it's shaped like a 55g but just isn't as wide from front to back.
I had read Carl's article about ammonia cycling and order a sponge filter kit to run in my already established 10g and then switch over to the new tank. I was also planning on taking some gravel out of the 10g as well to seed my biofilter and help get through this initial ammonia cycle. The problem is when I was while I was waiting for the new stuff to get here the fish in my 10g got some sort of protozoan infection which I treated with Quickcure.
I went ahead and set up the 38g but with all new stuff, nothing from the old tank, and just put in the sponge filter without running it in the sick tank. I thought I'd just go with the fish food method and cycle it that way. But then the guy I buy my fish from said that he had gotten in the clown loaches I'd asked to get in for me and wanted me to pick them up. I picked up my 3 loaches, their each only about 2" long right now; I figured that wouldn't be too much of a bioload in a tank that size. All of my numbers looked good except ammonia, so I added Prime. I've done several water changes with Prime added instead of Start Right. The fish seem ok at this time, they don't appear to be stressed. So here's what I'm wondering:
1. Is it safe to put some gravel and filter media from the tank that was sick but looks ok now after treatment? Or is it simply not worth the risk?
2. How long does Prime work? I know it could be a while to get through this ammonia cycle, so should I just keep doing frequent small water changes and use Prime instead of Start Right until my ammonia numbers come down?
3. Should I go ahead and add Wonder Shells now or should I wait for the cycle to be over?
4. I was thinking of putting Blue and Gold German Rams together with some small size Angelfish. Do any of the Ram people out there know how compatible they are with each other? I was told that they're both pretty peaceful and thought they would be nice together.
I would really appreciate some pointers, am I doing the right thing?
I had read Carl's article about ammonia cycling and order a sponge filter kit to run in my already established 10g and then switch over to the new tank. I was also planning on taking some gravel out of the 10g as well to seed my biofilter and help get through this initial ammonia cycle. The problem is when I was while I was waiting for the new stuff to get here the fish in my 10g got some sort of protozoan infection which I treated with Quickcure.
I went ahead and set up the 38g but with all new stuff, nothing from the old tank, and just put in the sponge filter without running it in the sick tank. I thought I'd just go with the fish food method and cycle it that way. But then the guy I buy my fish from said that he had gotten in the clown loaches I'd asked to get in for me and wanted me to pick them up. I picked up my 3 loaches, their each only about 2" long right now; I figured that wouldn't be too much of a bioload in a tank that size. All of my numbers looked good except ammonia, so I added Prime. I've done several water changes with Prime added instead of Start Right. The fish seem ok at this time, they don't appear to be stressed. So here's what I'm wondering:
1. Is it safe to put some gravel and filter media from the tank that was sick but looks ok now after treatment? Or is it simply not worth the risk?
2. How long does Prime work? I know it could be a while to get through this ammonia cycle, so should I just keep doing frequent small water changes and use Prime instead of Start Right until my ammonia numbers come down?
3. Should I go ahead and add Wonder Shells now or should I wait for the cycle to be over?
4. I was thinking of putting Blue and Gold German Rams together with some small size Angelfish. Do any of the Ram people out there know how compatible they are with each other? I was told that they're both pretty peaceful and thought they would be nice together.
I would really appreciate some pointers, am I doing the right thing?