need help with water paramiters on new setup

[billandkerri001]

Hello everyone have the old 40 gal up and need help with the paramiters. I will either collect rainbow darters or long ear sunfish. This is my setup at this time. 40 gal with 80 lbs of natural gravel collected locally with 30 lbs of colored gravel from a previous setup. I am running 2-30 gal whisper internal filters. At this time am using the 2-18in florescent hood lights. 1 peice of driftwood and rocks that was collected locally as well. I have added liquid bacteria and am feeding flake food every third day. Still have no fish or plants. Water test with a 5 in 1 test strip is as follows ... Nitrate is 10ppm... Nitrite is 1.0 ppm... Hardness GH 75ppm... Alkilinity 30ppm... PH 6.8 ... What adjustments do I need to adjust it to to keep either of the two native speices that I have mentioned? I am adding a pic and it is also in my photos. I will eventually add live plants. At this time the tank is still just a little cloudy.

[snakeskinner]

two awesome fish. first off, I do not trust the test strips and I recommend at the least getting a good liquid test kit (with the reactants you drip in a vial).

your nitrite should be zero as should your ammonia. nitrates will begin to rise once these two hit zero but you should keep them as low as possible doing water changes (40ppm is usually the recommended max with the fish). is that your tapwater? the PH is quite low from what I would have expected in your area but not sure.. being wild fish, I would attempt to get it close but the temperature will be more important. the waters you will likely be catching those fish in will be cooler than the typical tropical tank so you'll want to try and keep that fairly close.. hardness I doubt will matter.. The sunfish are surely more hardy than the darters and can handle a broader spectrum of PH and temperature but I feel the 40 might be too small for them. the darters would work great in a 40 breeder, just make sure the water is cool enough and you have enough oxygen for them. they may also require live foods. Kyle

[billandkerri001]

Hey Kyle that is my tap water. We have only lived here 2 months and it is rural city water. I have a 10 gal I think I will use as a feeder tank. My ambient tank temp is going to have to be watched very close. I had the ac off earlier and looked at the tank and it was up to 80 deg F. I plan on ordering a master test kit maybe this month. The test strips are just to give me an idea of about where its at. I am thinking I will decide the area I will collect my native fish from and get a water sample and test it to see where my tank needs to be close to.

[snakeskinner]

I do not believe the darters would survive the 80 degrees. you might want to look for some tropicals you like instead..

[sumpnfishy]

The carters would survive if there was enough aeration but it may be hard to keep them fed well. The sunfish would do just fine either way though.

[billandkerri001]

Hey guys I dont know alot about the darters but I do know some of the shallow areas where the Sunnies live the water gets really warm in the summer. I can keep the tank cool as long as I keep the ac on. The more I think about it and study it I am thinking I want the sunnies. Will let everyone know and will post pics when I get the tank cycled and fish in it....

[billandkerri001]

Good Morning Everyone, I ordered an API Master Test Kit this morning will be in early next week... I will feel alot better once I am able to test properly. I think I will decide where I will collect at and test the water there to see where my tank needs to be.

[billandkerri001]

Got my API Test Kit in today. Tank is as follows... Ammonia .25ppm,Ph 6.4ppm,Nitrite 5.0ppm
Nitrate 2ppm

[mewickham]

I'm not sure what the best pH is for the local species, but be aware that, at a pH of around 6.4, the helpful, nitrifying bacteria that perform biological filtration begin to cut out. So ammonia levels can rise. Fortunately, in the lower pH, the ammonia ionizes and becomes the less-toxic ammonium. So it's usually best to keep aquariums closer to a neutral 7.0 pH, to be sure that biological filtration functions. I note that your ammonia and nitrite levels are not zero, which is a hint that biological filtration is not fully functioning now. Whether this is due the tank being new and still going through a cycle, or due to the low pH, I cannot say from this end.

[billandkerri001]

Goodmorning everyone. I went down to my local collection area this morning and got a water sample. It tested as follows. PH,7.0 Ammonia,0 Nitrate and Nitrite were also 0. I did a 50% water change on my tank last night and it has clouded up this morning. Water test on the tank is as follows... PH,7.0 ammonia is now 0 but nitrite is 5.0 and nitrate is 10. I replaced my filters last night . I did rinse well and I think I will add more charcoal to the filter bags. I cannot ever rember ever having city water from the tap this hard to balance and adjust for tank water.

[snakeskinner]

don't replace the filters, that's where the bacteria are colonizing... depending on what you are using to seed the bacteria, it is possible it could be skewing your test numbers. I have heard of many different chemicals (and bacteria starters) that cause mis-readings. I personally just use a seeded filter from an established tank when I start a new one. I tried a fishless cycle once using pure ammonia as an additive and I did not like it. Kyle

[Herpchat]

Tis what I do as well, I never cycle tanks.

[TerriM]

Definitely!! Don't clean that filter media, you're killing your cycle. As the two prior to me said used media is one of the best ways to set up a tank. Do you have a friend nearby with an established aquarium? A true cycle can take weeks, even a couple months to complete. I did use some of that Dr. Tim's to cycle my first tank, it doesn't eliminate the cycle totally but it did cycle it in about a week. You have to follow directions carefully but it is a fishy cycle.