Cycle Thread: 46G Bowfront

[FroggyFox]

Hey all...its been awhile since we had one of these "case study" threads...so since I'm going to be setting up a new tank I figured I'd start one.

I'm going to do a fishless cycle on this 46G Bowfront tank and each day or every other day I'll make a point of posting here and letting everyone know what I did and what the water parameters are.

Right now the tank is sitting empty in my office (I know, its driving me crazy!). Last night I put my order in with www.bigalsonline.com because they've got better deals than I can even get on ebay (since their shipping is low and their prices are good). I ordered a Fluval 304 and a Hagen Tronic 200watt Heater (and a new ammonia test kit). This will be my first time having a canister filter instead of a HOB or UGF filter...so hopefully wont be having many challenges with that.

I have several established tanks and will be seeding w/ material from them as often as I can remember...as well as have some ceramic filter pieces in each of my filter cartridges that I'll take out and put in the canister (assuming that they fit). I can't start setting the tank up until Friday or Saturday though, since my roommate and I are moving. We're moving to a house 5 houses away, so I'm not really worried about different water conditions and I'll be in and out of the house every day so not worried about finding time to attend to the cycle. Actually, might be a good thing that it wont be my only thing to focus on so the cycle doesn't drive me crazy

When I'm not focusing on moving or the cycle...I'll do the usual research and try to put the tank together in my head. Money is a teeny bit tight right now, so I'm actually thankful that I have a couple weeks until I can put fish into the tank....cuz it'll probably be a couple weeks until I have some extra $$ for some more decor and fish. As far as that stuff goes right now here's what I have figured out, (and of course any comments/suggests are welcome):

-9 blue tetras (and two danios who are roughly the same size/color as them and think they're the same heh) out of my 10G tank will be going into this tank. The 10G (with its snails) is going to be handed over to my roommate for her puffers.
-An angelfish...I've always wanted one and finally I have a tank big enough for one, so I'm gonna get one!
-A pictus catfish...again, I've always wanted one and finally a tank large enough. I know they can't be with any little fish that will fit in their mouth...but the blue tetras are plenty big.

So, by my calculations that is about 38 inches of fish...and I dont mind keeping up with maintenance/water changes and I think the canister is plenty adequete filtration...so I'm trying to decide on about 10 more inches of fish. Either a school of about 5 or 6 smallish tetras or something else that would get along with what I am planning on, and make this an interesting tank.

Alrighty...so thats it for an intro. Will update again when I get the equipment and go from there!

 

[public_slots_fr]

pictus catfish can get very large and outgrow that tank.

 

[Cave]

I recommend a banjo catfish. They're a bit ugly and nocturnal, but that's okay because they're the best fish.

 

[FroggyFox]

Pretty much everyone I've ever talked to that has one and most places I've found online say that they usually only get up to 8 inches or so in captivity...even though in the wild they can get much larger. Petsmart's tags say 10'...and I'm counting on that it will take quite awhile for it to get that big if it even does. Like planet catfish says...there are reportedly two different types that are commonly sold as pictus in the store and the columbian ones get larger...but there isn't any good way to tell them apart...

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/pimelodi/pimelodu/276_f.php (4.8 inches)
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile70.html (5 inches)
http://www.petfish.net/Pictus_Catfish.htm (6 inches)
http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/pimelodus_pictus.htm (4.5 inches)
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/pictus.htm (5 inches)

 

[Cave]

I think a pictus would do fine in that tank. Banjo cats are very selfless and courteous to their fellow catfish, a perfect tankmate...

 

[FroggyFox]

Banjo's are interesting...I get to see a lot of interesting fish when I'm working on the profiles and that was one of them. Although I think I'm gonna have to only have one catfish in there, because I'd rather have some more activity in the rest of the tank. Any suggestions for another fish that isn't a bottom dweller?

 

[lordroad]

Go for the pictus, froggy, you've clearly read up on it and made a decision. It sounds like your tank is very well thought-out.

Thanks for starting this thread; this will be fun to read!

 

[Orion]

Hatchet fish come to mind. I really liked mine, and they rarely leave the top portions of the tank. They are a schooling fish, but I kept 8 at one time, and if you can afford it, I would actualy get more. They are a very neat and active fish.

I also am fond of rummy nose tetras. But there never around here. Hariquin rasboras are very nice when in larger schools.

I don't think that shrimp would fare well with a pictus, but it would be neat to get some of the larger species.

Just a few off the top of my head that you might enjoy some.

 

[FroggyFox]

Hmm I will look into hatchet fish...but I thought they got pretty big? I could be wrong. I would hope that the tank is big enough that the Angel would be able to stay out of the hatchets way? I think they're mostly top level right?

I LOVE harlequins...but I'd be worried that the pictus would pick them off (no pun intended) because of their odd sleeping/resting positions. I might have to think about that some more though...because they are cool little fish and I already have ONE of them that I could move in there with them. hmmm

I think I'll probably get some more ghosties and add a few to all my tanks. If they make it cool...if not, well...they're fun to watch while they're alive. Unfortunately I've NEVER seen any other kind of shrimp around here except ghost shrimp...so thats gonna have to wait.

Thanks for the suggestions...definitely something to ponder...

 

[Orion]

I had silver hatchets and they only got to about 2in, and marbled hatchets I belive are a tad smaller around 1.5in.

And yes the hatchets are true surface dwellers. (the up turned mouths give that away)

 

[FroggyFox]

OK reading up on these little hatchet fish...damn cute! Esp the marbled ones! AND they'd fit with the little "Amazon biotype" that I have going with the pictus and the blue tetras and the angelfish. Will have to do some checking and see if there are any available around. Here's a cool picture of the marbled ones if anyone is interested (mft doesn't have a profile on them...yet. heh) http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile32.html

 

[FroggyFox]

SHIPPING UPDATE! I just got a tracking number...shipment should be here right on time to start, Friday morning woohoo. Friday is going to be a very LONG day for me waiting to get out of work heh Have the empty tank and a bottle of ammonia just raring to go! (and just for informational purposes...this is the same bottle of ammonia that I bought originally to cycle my first tank...its not even half gone and only cost me like 2 bucks. I got it at Albertsons...so if you're looking for clear/pure ammonia, try your local grocery chains. This one is actually Albertsons brand and has nothing on the label except that its ammonia.)

 

[Orion]

So hows it comming along?

 

[Balloon Fish]

another angel will be great, you can probably get loaches too (thats what i'm gonna get for my 40 ) rainbows will be nice too, or more danios to go with the 2 danios you have. Is your tank gonna be planted? can't wait to see pics =)

 

[FroggyFox]

Sad thing about moving is that no one understands quite how much I want to get this tank started!

I am headed over to the other house right now to level the tank and fill 'er up. Dad pointed out that the floor in my new bedroom isn't quite level (grr) and then I showed them the new canister filter, they were less than impressed...but oh well They're more the types that like to see the tank set up and decorated and see what I've done with it, rather than try to understand what I'm doing setting it up or how it works.

SO my heater and filter showed up yesterday right on schedule. For some reason I didn't realize how BIG that fluval 304 was gonna be! I always saw pictures but I guess I didn't see them "to scale". Anyway, after some frustration reading the directions I *think* I have the filter ready to go...so all I need to do is fill the tank up and get started.

Thanks balloonfish...I'll take a picture of it empty in its new 'home' I found the hatchetfish I want at a store, so I'm good with that. Next thing I need to find is someone who has cool driftwood. I found ONE piece at a store nearby...but honestly, the best one I've found so far for anything resembling "roots" has been the fake ones at petsmart I got a couple of bags of gravel yesterday too...so I'll rinse those off and put them in there this afternoon before I fill it up w/ water.

I will update again tonight...

 

[FroggyFox]

Day 1 ITS UP AND RUNNING! I set the temp at 81, put in 3 caps full of ammonia to get it up around 5ppm (added two caps, waited an hour, wasn't high enough, added another) The fluval was a little hard to get started going...but once it started up it seems to be running just fine. Tomorrow I'll check the ammonia level again and then if its not in need of adjustment I'll seed the tank with a filter cartridge from one of these tanks in my house.

 

[FroggyFox]

Day 2 The new ammonia test kit I got, I decided its just too difficult to decipher what the level of ammonia is...so I'm going to stop by the pet store tomorrow and pick up a new one (since the one I have here is almost empty) It looks lower to me this morning than it did yesterday, but I know the ammonia level isn't going down (since I didn't seed it yet) so it must have just mixed into the water some more...either that or I just can't read the darn thing. Temperature is steady at 82 and there is SOME ammonia in there...so cycle is still moving forward.

I've added a picture of the tank...aint it purdy? The thing floating at the top is some driftwood...figured it couldn't hurt to have it in there...could it?

 

[Orion]

Would the driftwood soak up some of the ammonia in the water, and then give false readings? I have no idea. But thats the worst i could think of with it in there.

If you wanted to change out any gravel in any other of your tanks now would be a great time to do so. Actualy, if you did, you could take the old gravel and put it in the fluval to help seed the tank. The 304 has 3 media trays, right? (I'm just assumeing this as my 404 has 4) Use filter floss in the lowest one, put the gravel in the middle with a layer of floss on top to keep any gravel from getting through, and then the bio media on the top. If you mixed up where you took the bacteria from out of your old tanks (ie: gravel from one, but leave the old filter media in that tank; Take the media out of another, but leave the gravel alone) that should really help speed up the cycle. But of course you've already thought of that.

Looking good Froggy!

 

[FroggyFox]

"of course you've already thought of that" NO I HAVEN'T! Thats the thing...The fluval was so new to me that I just pretty much did what the box suggested. I'm not a big advocate of using carbon in tanks...but they gave me three packages of that and three packages of that biomax stuff (the porus cylinders) so I just set it up like the book showed. Yes the 304 has 3 media trays...so I think I'll have to get some floss stuff for the bottom one and then try to decide what to put in the others. Would it hurt if I leave one of the 1/2s empty? I actually only have gravel in two of my tanks (now this one too) so when I move the betta into the 5G and retire the little 1G I'll take that gravel and add it to this tank (either the filter or with the other gravel, since its the same stuff) The 10G has gravel...but its going to my roommate so I better not steal it

As I was typing that about the wood last night thats exactly what I was thinking about the ammonia...started the wheels turning...I'm not sure what it would do to have the wood in there. I think I'll start another thread about it because I have some other driftwood questions.

 

[FroggyFox]

Day 3 I picked up a new ammonia test kit at Petco this afternoon (they didn't have any good driftwood ) and tested the water. Its pretty close there around 5ppm so we'll call it 5ppm. I dropped in a gunky filter cartridge from one of my tanks (that had some ceramic cylinders in it). When I move the 1G I'll take the gravel from it and take the filter apart and put it in one of the media baskets and move the filter cartridge in to another one with the little ceramic pieces.