Have I done the right thing so far with tank set up?

[Nukleopatra]

Hi everyone,

I've set a tank up now for my new axie arrival tomorrow. I was supposed to get him/her a week ago but plans changed so the tank has been sitting there filled, filter going for 2 of those 7 days, plant and sand substrate. I have added dechlorinator, and 'quick start (chemical to start aquarium cycle). Now i just want to know, have i done everything i need to do? Will my tank be ready to put my new arrival in tomorrow?
I bought an ammonia test kit a couple of hours ago too. Will there be any need for that before the axolotl is in there, given that theres no waste etc, yet?

Cheers!

 

[axowattyl]

No, not really the right thing at all...you've jumped the gun a bit.

You really should have had a look at articles here about cycling your tank, and gone through the procedure for 2-4 weeks, testing all the time.

Might be time to look at that and see if you can delay the arrival of this animal?

 

[Nukleopatra]

Ok Thanks for letting me know. Yes i don't necessarily have to go and get him/her tomorrow. I've been reading articles about cycling on other websites but I've obviously misread as i was under the impression that this could be done whilst the animal was in the tank.

Ok back to square one! eek.

 

[axowattyl]

That's a sensible approach that you won't regret.

 

[keiko]

Cycling can be done while the axie is in the tank. However I wouldn't recommend it to anyone because you have to be very careful that the ammonia and nitrites won't get to harmful levels. That means massive water changes everyday and when the levels are down it'll take a lot longer to get the cycle ready. So you could be doing 75% water changes every day for months.

And don't use that "quick start" stuff. Often it's useless and won't help your cycle one bit and it contains chemicals that are no good for your axies. Get some pure ammonia from a shop and use that to feed the necessary bacteria in your tank untill you can put your axie in. An easy and safe way to quick start the cycle is to get some soil (no pesticides or fertilizers!) mix it with water, filter it so you only have the water and pour it in the tank. That way you get some of the bacteria in there that can then multiply.

 

[vlcuXX]

The only quickstart stuff that WORKS is either Dr Tim's One and Only or Tetra SafeStart, but I noticed you said you already put the stuff in there...

With that being done, the bacteria are probably all dead by now because they starved from the lack of waste being produced since there was nothing in the tank to feed them. So if you wanna go down the "quick cycle" route, I'd get a bottle of Tetra SafeStart or order a bottle of Dr Tim's for freshwater and follow the directions.

A lot of people say the bacteria in a bottle doesn't work, but in fact there are the two I mentioned above that many hobbyists including myself have had luck with, there's always going to be that cloud of negativity surrounding the product and generalizing it though.


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[vlcuXX]

I'm currently cycling a 30 gallon with 4 baby Axies in it and they're staying in it until they get big enough to go into a 75 gallon with my other two juveniles, which are being kept in a 40 gallon by themselves right now, which was cycled by Tetra SafeStart, partially. The reason I say partially is because the ammonia levels got to around 4 ppm and I was told to not test for 14 days after the product was used, thank god I was stubborn and still tested it, I left them thinking that it was false readings though but it was indeed a dangerous amount as I saw a slight ammonia burn on my golden albino's tailfin so I did a 75% water change 2 days in a row and the levels are now 0.25 ammonia, 0 Nitrite, and under 40 nitrate. The whole reason for the ammonia getting that high was because I didn't follow the directions as needed and had toxins in the tank already, SafeStart is supposed to be put in with a NEW tank with below 1 ppm of nitrite and ammonia, and a certain amount of Nitrate, which I was over and had 2 ppm of nitrite and ammonia and idk how much Nitrate, but with the right attention it's a great product and is proven to work in the hobby by many people including myself.


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