[justzx]

Hello from Vancouver!

Small intro, always had fond memories growing up helping my dad maintain his tanks. Most memorable was feeding his 2 x 1.5 ft aros. Have always had some sort of setup growing up wether it be fish, salamanders, frogs, turtles and hermits. My last setup was a 55gal with spotted puffers in brackish. That was about 15 years ago.

My son is now 2 and is fascinated by fish, so my wife told me to go out and pick up a beta and a small bowl. I came home with a 40gal bow lol.

I'm about a month into my cycling and so far so good!

 

[DunderBear]

Welcome, luckily you know about fish and bowls haha!

 

[jagermelifter]

thats a huge bowl bro


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[cpat83]

Thats how you get back into it...haha

 

[guppygeorge]

Thats how you get back into it...haha

Exactly how I "got back into it". My daughter wanted a small tank with a few community fish ....... and then it begins.... :bigsmile:

 

[Jousters]

Where's the Betta?

 

[Jcmalouie]

Exactly how I "got back into it". My daughter wanted a small tank with a few community fish ....... and then it begins.... :bigsmile:

same here, my daughter wanted a betta in a bowl.

 

[Me_and_rai]

Welcome fellow newbie! Yes, my tanks are for my kids too
(As long as they don't mess with them! Lol)
Have you always done planted tanks, or are you new to that aspect?

 

[charles]

Welcome to BCA

 

[justzx]

Never done planted, all new to me. Seeing what people can do with planted is amazing. That's the direction i'm leaning towards. However i'm still battling cycling issues, been stuck @0.25-0.50ppm ammonia. Gonna be a bit more aggressive w/ water changes and started using prime a few days ago.

 

[Me_and_rai]

Well in my experience a heavily planted tank can be stocked with fish almost immediately. The plants love ammonia and soak it right up. I never spend weeks cycling a tank, I just load it up with plants let it settle for a week and start stocking. You should look into it, not only will your tank look great with all the plants, but it will be safe for fishies!
***there is a lot of science behind this as well, not just my anecdotal experience

 

[wslam]

Well in my experience a heavily planted tank can be stocked with fish almost immediately. The plants love ammonia and soak it right up. I never spend weeks cycling a tank, I just load it up with plants let it settle for a week and start stocking. You should look into it, not only will your tank look great with all the plants, but it will be safe for fishies!
***there is a lot of science behind this as well, not just my anecdotal experience

What about nitrites?

 

[Me_and_rai]

Yes they suck up nitrites as well, but the key is to Heavily plant the tank, use fast growing plants, and adding emergent plants (that grow on the surface or to the surface) helps too. If you are interested in the planted aquarium, especially without going "high tech" (CO2 injection, ei dosing etc) then I highly recommend the book The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad ;-)
Just a nudge in the right direction because.... It's all about the plants!

 

[khiyasu]

I added fish to my tank relatively quickly, not all at once but a couple at a time as soon as a couple days after setting up. But I made sure to add plants first. Most fish are pretty hardy and after 2 weeks I had my tank fully stocked and all were healthy and happy. But yes I would agree that having lots of plants will help with nitrates and you can do more water changes to help (although I didnt but half of the tank was filled with water from an already cycled tank).