18th Day of Cycling

0 readings for all parameters. Seems like the tank has been cycled.
Bought 2 bristlenose pleco to help clean the algae in the tanks. Will post pics soon.

17th Day of Cycling

The readings have been the same since day 14th day. ie. slight ammonia, slight nitrite, high nitrate. Was forced to do a water change on day 14 and have been adding Nutrafin cycle daily and Seachem Prime to detoxify the nitrite and nitrate. Personally I think it's not a good idea to do this as the bacteria are not given the chance to work on the nitrite/nitrate. Anyway, I had 0 readings for all yesterday! Hope it will last.

New Fishes! Tropheus sp. Black Ikola

Just collected 18 subadult ikolas (about 2.5") and 15 cyprichromis leptosoma "utinta" fries from Mrs Lee. She was nice enough to reserve them for me for 3 weeks while I cycle my tank. The fishes cost me S$230 total which is a steal considering adult ikolas were selling $90 each at Mizu Monde a few months back and leptosomas are practically unavailable in Singapore.

Feeding the tropheus spirulina flakes and baby brine shrimps for the leps.

14th Day of Cycling

Ammonia: 0.1ppm
Nitrite: 0.5ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
KH: 7 degrees
GH: 14 degrees

No wonder my hornwort is growing so well, nitrates are starting to build up in the tank. Did a 20% water change, and added Seachem prime to de-chlorinate the water as well as to de-toxify the nitrite and nitrates. How effective is it is anyone's guess.

11 Day of Cycling

Started to put in my zaires one per day when I detected 0 readings of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate on the 7th day of cycling. Last night ammonia has gone up to 0.5ppm again, probably due to the higher bioload that the fronts are releasing as compared to the rosy barbs. Have since given them away.

Am a little concern with putting more fronts into the tank. The bio-spira which I ordered online is still not here. Was expecting it to arrive within 4-6 days but it's already 8 days and still no sign..sigh...

It's a public holiday tomorrow and I am planning to collect all the tropheus and cyprichromis leptosoma fries. The owner has graciously kept it for me for 3 weeks.

Zaire Went Bungee Jumping

My "Stevie Wonder" was found missing from it's small quarrantine tank this morning. The sight that I dread to see. Peering behind my stretch of tank, found the poor fella almost 1 metre away. It must have died an agonizing death. Pretty upset as I was still wondering what to do with it last night as it would definitely not able to survive in a normal tank as it's vision is pretty bad or could even be blinded.

This fella was one of nicest looking zaire i had. Now it's gone.

btw, I do have a "tank cover", just that it does not cover the tank opening fully and well it's pretty light as well.one jump by the fish can displace it, the second, sendin g it out...

4th Day of Cycling - Lost a Lab.

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Lost another lab. Worse still, will trying to take the measurement of the water, i broke a test tube, fine shattered glass everywhere. Just when I thought I had picked up all the bits of glass, i found another, and another, and another. Was close to being paranoid. Thank God my little girl has already gone to bed. Ended up vacuuming the whole living room. I am surprised by the distance these glass bits fly.

Another sigh...another sad lost this morning...shall talk about it in the next post.

3rd Day of Cycling

Lost a lab in the morning before going to work.

Amazingly when i got back, there is now no more traces of ammonia. Nitrite is starting to appear. Just surprised and a little concerned that ammonia was removed so quickly. Could it be because of the fact that half my tank consist of established water from my other tank and I have added some existing biohome into the filter? No idea.

Readings:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25 ppm
Nitrate 0

Have also collected my 6ft Dymax OB T5 lights. Still feel that it's not providing enough blue light. Will be sourcing for acintic marine blue T5 tubes within the next few days.

Have also ordered a bottle of Bio Spira from the US. Did it out of urgency as I have to collect my batch of tropheus this weekend. (ie only 1 week of cycling). Bio Spira has very good review in the US.

3 Zaires Sold

Sold 3 of my Zaires for $170. A really good price considering the fishes are already 4-5" in size. Typically one of them would cost as much as this price. Well, my tank has been overloaded for months and these 3, in terms of looks, are the not so nice ones as compared to the rest. I am not in this hobby to make money so losing a little for the sake of the fishes is quite alright.

Anyway I was honest with the buyer all the while, admitting that they are only F1 and the 3 I am selling are the not so nice ones.

Hope the zaires will find a good home.

2nd day of Tank Cycling: 1 Casualty

Ammonia 0.5ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

went back and saw 3 of the labs breathing heavilly at the bottom of the tank. Found one dead this morning. Even though it's only a cycing fish, it's still not a nice feeling seeing that the poor fish at to die so that the many more after him will live.

1st Day of Tank Cycling

Added a few more "expendable" fishes into my tank for cycling. I admit I am impatient. Well the guilelines given is 25% of the total number of fish that the tank can support.
My tank's about 70 gallons, translating to 70 inches of fishes. 25% of tht is 17.5" of fish for cycling. Had wanted to buy 5 yellow labs together with the 5 rosy barbs (known to be hardy), but I succumbed. Ended up buying 5 yellow labs and 4 Melanochromis johanni. Now I think i have about 25" of fishes in there. As it was the first day, the reading shows 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate. I am expecting some ammonia today.

Anyway, found some good reviews of a new product called Bio-Spira which is known to cycle a tank in 2-4 days! However i don't think it is available in Singapore yet.

More on Bio Spira here

I am also in the process of closing a deal to sell 3 of my precious zaires. Need to clear them to reduce the bioload.

Hardy fish for new freshwater aquariums.

Interesting article on the types of fish for cycling.

Hardy fish for new freshwater aquariums.

Cyprichromis leptosoma "Utinta"!

Got to know a new forummer during the Christmas/New Year period. Mr Lee wanted to clear the fishes at his house as he has been posted to Suzhou to work. For the first time, saw Cyprichromis leptosoma "Utinta" for sale! When I saw the post, I immediately dropped him an sms at 4am in the morning, but alas I was a day late, the nice adult male utintas were all taken up :( Anyway Mr Lee has an impressive collection of utintas (he managed to breed them!), a tank full of tropheus sp. ikola and some dubosis which he has also successfully bred. To cut the story short, I reserve about 15 of the ikolas and also another 15 2 week old utinta fries. Will have to wait for my tank to be up and ready though. Am planning to transfer my fronts to the new tank and let the tropheus take the existing one which is deeper.

Click on image for article.

New Tank Arriving Tomorrow

Just had confirmation that my new tank will be arriving tomorrow. Over the past few days, have been shopping around for the necessary accessories. Have just bought a Eheim Pro 2026 cannister filter for $238, which is supposedly a good price for this high end filter. Am still scouting around for lights. Seems like lights for 6ft setups do not come cheap. I also got to learn about T5 tubes and also about how to diy a lighting set. Interesting stuff. A T5 retrofit kit for 3ft can be as much as $350!

Right now am looking at ways to reduce the cycling time for the new tank. Below is a good article.

Instead of using fish food for ammonia production, we can also introduce pure ammonia to the tank.

After the tank has been set up (see above), add 5 drops of ammonia per 10 Gallons into the water on a daily basis.
Ammonia will rise to 5 ppm and higher. As soon as nitrites are measurable, reduce the ammonia input to 3 drops per day. Nitrites will rise to similar levels. Keep adding 2-3 drops until the measurements of ammonia and nitrites come out with 0 ppm. The tank has then completely cycled.

Seeding the tank can significantly enhance this process. 7 days for a complete cycle are not unheard of; otherwise this methods takes 2-3 weeks.

The bacteria colonies, using this method, are certainly large enough to handle a well-stocked aquarium.

Some aspects to consider:

The tank has to be well oxygenated as the bacteria require oxygen

The ammonia used should be free of any perfumes and additives

Do not treat the water with conditioners that remove ammonia

Water changes are only necessary if the ammonia and nitrite levels are far off level, which should only occur if more than 5 drops is used per 10 Gallons of water. After the cycle has been completed use activated carbon to remove any possible perfume or additives, which might have been in the ammonia.

After stocking your tank with fish, general maintenance of the aquarium is all that is required. The bacteria will adjust to the fish load and if you plan to add new fish the bacteria will have to adjust again.

Keep in mind to feed your tank with ammonia until you introduce fish. The waste generated by your fish will then provide the tank with all that is needed to balance the environment.

With this method, all aquarium types can be cycled in a very short period of time.

Professionals use the ammonia drop method to keep live sand and rock alive, which they sell in their stores.

We recommend you read about the nitrogen cycle so you have an understanding about what happens during this cycling period. You will also need ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits to perform your daily testing of the water.


I will seed the water by transferring half a tank full of water from my existing big tank and half a bag of the biohome used. Maybe with a slab or two of granite slate.