Bought A Fish Tank.

Lovely looking panda cories, if that's what they are. (?)

Yes 

The media looked like those pasta wheels!

It's called Kaldnes.  There are a few variations upon the basic idea. They are designed to be in what's called an "agitated bed" filter. You half-fill a container with this stuff, then using either a powerhead or an airpump, you agitate the media in a continuous cycle. It's supposed to be very efficient. It's also supposed to be able to run and never need cleaning! I'm a bit dubious about the latter claim myself. You can also use sand as a media in which case it gets called a "fluidised bed filter"!

What I am not dubious about is the advantages of seeding a new filter with mature media. MA are a chain of shops that has, as far as I can recollect, an unsullied reputation. I know that the branches in my area uses this stuff in their own filters, presumably that's where they obtain their samples for sale. The bacteria will stay viable within the media for a considerable time. And for £1, it's a no-brainer as far as I am concerned.

I've got some petty rubbish photos of the mystery cory.  I would have asked the bloke in the lfs but he was incredibly busy with a load of customers who came I just after I did. No label on the tank!
Any ideas? Or are the photos just too rubbish?
Btw collecting the tank tomorrow! Been sieving garden soil for the base layer of substrate, which I'll use unless I chicken out. I recon the high levels of ammonia in a fish less cycle must kill off any baddies right?

Hi Puffin,
Exciting news...a new tank!
I have otos, I bought them before I knew about the method of catching them. I must admit I really like them, they're quite jolly little characters, but if you get any you need to choose fat ones. They will be the ones that have been eating ok. If they have not been eating they can sometimes be unable to start again, plus they do need a bit of algae growth in the tank really, although you can feed them with some veggie bits and algae wafers. They also need to be in groups of six or more.
Cories also should be shoals of six or more....and no tank should be without them IMHO You should get the pandas last (if that's what you choose) as they do better in a more mature tank as well. Colin will guide you on barbs, I know nothing about them....'cept they're pretty, but orange...and I HATE anything orange! Avoid dwarf gouramis, they can have a virus problem and won't fit very well with your animal welfare ethos.

Another tip, if like me, you have a lousy memory, is to take your phone (if it is a smartphone) and google the fish you see whilst at the fish shop and any questions that come to mind. I have been very smitten with fish I have seen while out fish browsing, and may have been very naughty and bought some on impulse , but I ignore what the shop workers say and google it myself there and then...some big mistakes avoided that way.

Anyway, happy choosing...it's part of the fun!

Ok so I found out what my mystery catfish were, and promptly forgot their name. But they aren't corys and would outgrow my tank (slowly, apparently, although what use that info is to me I don't know!)
Hopefully I can pick my tank up tomorrow (today)!!

I see what you mean about the instructions - just looked on Aqua One's website. They are as bad as the instructions for my betta's tank, an Aqua One aqua space.

Don't worry about the heater just yet. You'll probably find that the setting on the heater does not give the temp you want anyway (and especially at the moment with the weather being so warm, you won't know if it's the air temp or the heater getting the water to whatever temp a thermometer shows). Heaters are usually badly calibrated. You set the heater by setting the dial quite low (say 22) then turn it up a degree at a time, allowing the water to warm up between, till the thermometer reads the temp you want.
On the subject of thermometers, the kind that go inside the tank with the red liquid going up the scale are more accurate than lcd ones that stick on the outside. Or if you want high tech, an electric one.

Is there a separate manual for the filter pump? The tank instructions on-line say to refer to a separate manual. And my aqua space did have a second filter manual, in the box that contained the filter.

Ah-ha.... the old getting-the-pump-out-of-the-AquaNano40 problem. Exactly the same thing happened to me and I had to get a pair of kitchen scissors with the serrated top taker-offerer bit to get a grip on the outlet tube and twist and pull. Then only put it back gently.

The heater is a bit of a pain, but mine was puttable down low in the chamber so I could see the scale. Putting it low also stopped the resonating rattle that the heater element made about a minute after it switched off.

D'you mean the slits at the back down low on the side where the filter sponge is? I've blocked mine off.

The glass tops.... I've put the big one so it covers the back of the tank with the triangular cut-out positioned at the back left so that the heater and pump wires can exit through it. Then the smaller glass panel goes on the front and is easy to lift off for feeding. Two plastic clips for the back panel, and four for the front. (...well, three 'cos I broke one!)

Hope this helps.

I just pick it up using the clips, but I suppose you could get a piece of glass cut. The corners don't really worry me, but mine aren't too sharp. It may vary from tank to tank.

That's an 'upgrade' on mine. Mine just came with a big black sponge to go in the first chamber, and two bags of noodles to go in the second chamber. I'm not a great fan of carbon in a filter and I would put it to one side for using if you ever need to medicate your tank, and then remove the medication using the carbon.

Sponge for mechanical filtration (course, medium, fine) followed by noodles of some sort for biological filtration is all you need - especially when cycling.

I'm going to move my test results and questions to this thread, from 'Substrate' in 'planted tanks'

Tank is on day 5 of fish less, very lightly planted cycle with mature media bought from MA.

So to recap I gave 2nd dose of ammonia two days ago, after which point my readings were:
Ammonia 2ppm
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 40

Yesterday there was not much to report:
Ammonia 2ppm
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 40

This mornings results I've interpreted as follows:
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 2
Nitrate 80

Although the nitrite result could even be 5ppm or more!
Do I need to do a water change then add more ammonia?
That's what I'm thinking currently, but if so what percentage change?

Many thanks for any advice, I don't want to stall the cycle it's going so well! (I think!)