# New Tank help ;)



## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

Hello people
well i got my 55 gallon set up and running. i got only 40gallons of water over there cause i dont want to fill it up on max. Bought Cascade 700 filter and product on Cycling water and here is my question.
I used "cycle" product as they wrote 
How long will i wait for water to be cycled? What should i do next? 
What about that NO2,NO3,pH,KH and GH?what are the best number in these??
thank you in advance


----------



## Corner (Feb 27, 2007)

For your tank to cycle you need a source of ammonia, like fish or pure ammonia. You want 
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - anything above 0

When you have that your tank is cycled. It should take 2+weeks. pH depends on what you want to put in the tank, and the other two I don't believe you have to venture into unless you are going into plants.


----------



## smithgrind_who (Mar 26, 2004)

wizardslovak1 said:


> What about that NO2,NO3,pH,KH and GH?what are the best number in these??


This question really depends on your water source. Stable water with constant parameters is the best. Once you start changing the chemistry, there are possibilities to create problems.


----------



## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

update
i put "marine sand" in tank --> looks very cool
i bough The Silver Dollar Fish (Mylossoma sp., possibly M. duriventre) so now i am waiting for water to cycle









I already started to find a caribe








cant wait 
I will update u


----------



## Guest (Jul 14, 2008)

wizardslovak1 said:


> update
> i put "marine sand" in tank --> looks very cool
> i bough The Silver Dollar Fish (Mylossoma sp., possibly M. duriventre) so now i am waiting for water to cycle
> 
> ...


Some Marine Sand is made with Calcium Carbonate and raise your pH. Some sand is inert and will not affect your pH. Do you know which one you bought?
What brand and product name is it?

Now that you added a fish, you need to chill for a while and let the tank cycle. How long this takes depends on the conditions of the aqurium and what you add to it to speed up the cycle. The only way to know what's going on with your water is to buy a water test kit.


----------



## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

well the sand i bought is called Estes Ultra Reef Marine Sand , theres written that is good for tropical fish and as far as i know Piranhas are 
i got test kit but i might get another one ,better one


----------



## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

i bought Api Freshwater Master kit today and did tests here are the results
PH 7.2 
Amonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
nitrate 5.0

i see amonia is little higher so i changed app 20% of water + added Api stress zyme and Ammo lock
let me know


----------



## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

wizardslovak1 said:


> well i got my 55 gallon set up and running. i got only 40gallons of water over there cause i dont want to fill it up on max. Bought Cascade


may i ask why not fill it up all the way?
the more water, the more stable your tank will be.

and as far as tropical, does the sand say its for marine fish? because if so, it means salt water. if it says marine and fresh water, then you should be good, im not familiar with that sand though, so i have no idea.
but reef marine sand sounds like salt water to me, which may affect the PH.


----------



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Make sure the sand says right on it "will not alter ph". Most marine sands will alter ph (increase to over 8) so they are onyl recomended for marine fish and some cichlids.


----------



## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

on it says that sand for marine and tropical aquariums, and i got it for couple days already and PH is still 7.2


----------



## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

new test today
ph 7.2
AMONIA 1.0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5

i changed water yesterday and add some stuff to help it but it raised up,water got milky btw i got small catfish to help cycle
what should i do?
PLZ HELP


----------



## Guest (Jul 22, 2008)

wizardslovak1 said:


> new test today
> ph 7.2
> AMONIA 1.0
> nitrite 0
> ...


Adding what stuff to help what?









Sounds like the tank is cycling. The 'milky' effect may be a bacteria bloom, which is very common with cycling aquariums.


----------



## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

i wouldn't even be performing water changes during the cycling process... i am also a bit puzzled as to what you added to your tank, looking at your params, the only thing that i can think of is that you added something to lower your ammonia, which is not something that you want to do during the cycling process, ammonia is needed to properly cycle the tank. i suppose you could have been talking about adding something to lower your ph, but i don't know why you would have done that either.

my suggestion: leave your tank alone... just let it sit with the filters running and don't mess with it until it is properly cycled. patience is key when setting up a new tank, you shouldn't need to be testing the water everyday either, it'll take more than a week to finish the cycling process.


----------

