New Quarantine Tank Set Up

Quote from: jaypeecee on January 05, 2020, 08:27:25 PM

1 Are you able to measure the phosphate level in your QT? I wrote up some notes last year as an aide memoire for myself to remind me to check some parameters when cycling a tank. I wrote it using RO water as a starting point. But, much of it is relevant when using tap water. I noted that phosphate needed to be maintained at a minimum of 0.2 mg/litre particularly during the breakdown of nitrite. It's all to do with phosphorus being part of something called ATP, which is "often referred to as the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer" (according to Wikipedia).

2 Do you have plenty of aeration in the QT?

3 Most nitrifying bacteria work best at pH 7.4 - 8.0.

4 Optimum temperature is 25 - 30C. I prefer this higher figure.

5 Ensure that nitrifying bacteria are not exposed to light.

That'll do for the moment!

JPC

1. I don't have a phosphate tester and of course it's not in my water quality report.

2. The filter is churning the water round well; so much that I'll have to turn it down once there are fish in there.

3. I have low KH so I've added bicarb for the duration of cycling. The pH is off the top of the 'lower range' tester, ie it is above 7.6, but I don't have a high range tester.

4. The heater is turned up as high as it will go, but the temp is only 27 C. I would like to get it to 30 but I can't.

5. The tank is in the kitchen as far from the window as it will go, leaving only the room light. There is no tank light yet, I'll put that on once I put plants in. And the media is inside a black filter.

Hi @Sue

Thanks.

1 OK. I'd be tempted to crush a few fish food flakes. That will release phosphate. It will create a bit of a mess but will get sucked into your filter, which is where it's needed.

2 No problem,

3 What is your KH now that you've added bicarb?

4 OK, 27C it is then.

5 As the media is inside a black filter, that will be fine.

I assume you have added a dose of the tried-and-trusted SafeStart?

JPC

1. It's nearly there now; 48 hours for nitrite to drop to zero.
3. No idea. I know that my tap water has 3 dH which is too low without risking a pH crash. That happened during my first fishless cycle years ago as I totally forgot about the low KH 

Hi @Sue

It would be very helpful to measure your tank water KH. If your tap water is only 3dKH, the dKH in your tank will almost certainly be less. And, if so, that's where your problem is very likely to have been. I always maintain KH at 4 - 6dKH. Carbonate hardness provides the carbon without which the nitrifying bacteria cannot possibly reproduce. One other carbon source is dissolved CO2 but it's unreliable. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt!

So, in order to stamp 'QED' on this, please check your tank water KH.

JPC

I can't test KH as I don't have a tester and I don't intend to buy one.

When I set up the QT I added 1 x 5 ml spoonful of bicarb. When I did have a tester, I know that this amount of bicarb in the same sized tank raised the KH to 13, and I have no reason to suppose it did anything different this time.
The reason I added bicarb was to increase KH, which serves two functions - it stops the pH crashing, and it provides inorganic carbon to the bacteria - and to raise pH, as the bacteria multiply faster at pH near 8.
Once the cycle finishes, I will do a 100% water change to remove the bicarb, or more specifically to remove the sodium.



To be honest, it's good job it is taking so long as life has been getting in the way and will continue to do so for another week or two yet. I don't drive so I rely on other people for access to fish shops. During December, we had a very sick cat which could not be left alone, and then Christmas. Our son's house purchase is due to complete on Friday so most of our time for the next few weeks will be spent ferrying his stuff 45 miles to his house, and sitting in the house waiting for deliveries of furniture so he doesn't have to take time off work. I'll be lucky if I can get fish before the end of January regardless of the QT cycle.

Hi @Sue

OK, I hope everything goes to plan.

JPC

Oooh, new fish. 

You know you'll have to post pics soon. It's the law. 

 

There are now three pearl gouramis in the QT. They will be going in a 180 litre tank with a footprint of 42 x 18 inches (the maker worked in Imperial) or 107 x 45 cm.

Very exciting indeed @Sue

They are such lovely fish, in quite jealous!!

The lights are off in the QT at the moment, and there's a piece of card leaning against it to avoid scaring them. They are still stressed and hiding at the back. I bought a bunch of elodea (or whatever it's called these days) as it is a fast grower, and moved a lot of water sprite from the main tank. There is also a silk plant to give them something else to hide behind. I'll try to take some photos once they've settled a bit.


Our son got the keys for his new house last Friday so we and he have been moving his stuff from our house. Yesterday his spare bed was delivered so since we are retired and he would have to take a day off work, we drove down to wait for the delivery, taking the last car load of his stuff from the house (there's still stuff in the garage, and storage boxes behind the garage but they can wait). We have to almost pass my favourite LFS on the journey so we called in on the way home yesterday. Their pearl gouramis were too small to tell the gender, and they didn't have any of the other two species that I was considering. So this morning we got the bus to the Maidenhead Aquatics about 5 miles away, taking my insulated fish buying bag. They didn't have any of the other two either, but they did have larger pearl gouramis than the first shop, and of course at twice the price. I think I've got a male and two females.



This Maidenhead Aquatics is in a garden centre that has just been taken over by Dobbies. Before that it was a Wyevale, and they took it over from a local garden centre group, Peter Barratt. When it was Peter Barrett, they had their own fish department with a poor reputation. When Wyevale took it over, MA took over the fish department. It's still the same MA staff now it's Dobbies. But because I spent so many years trying to avoid buying from Peter Barrett, doubting the fish quality from this place has become ingrained even though it's now an MA. That's why I set up the QT. The fish I was thinking of originally were featherfin rainbows, Iriatherina werneri, and this MA is the only shop I've ever seen with females. Naturally, by the time the QT was ready, they'd sold all the rainbows.
However my husband is happy - "at last, some fish I can see!" 

They are lovely fish be good to see them. @Sue it was on the back of a recommendation from you that I ended up with Pearls as I was looking for something that I could see better as well