Stupid questions.

[Bub]

I'm setting up a 75 gallon tank and I have a few stupid questions...

1. I was planning on having 1.5" of gravel. Is this too much, too little, or just fine? I do not plan on having any live plants for now.

2. I'm gonna be using a Magnum 350 Pro filter (that is, whenever Petco decides to ship it. I placed the order over 48 hours ago and it still hasn't shipped. meh.), and when I was reading up on it they mention that it also aerates the water. So, does this mean I can use a smaller air pump, like maybe one meant for tanks up to 60g?

3. About how long will it take the dechlorinator to do it's job in a tank this size (with the magnum running)?

4. When the tank is sitting on the stand does every square inch of the perimeter have to be resting flat on the stand? My stand has some slight warping on the backside. There's about an 8-10" stretch on each side of the center brace where there's 5-10mm of space between the wood and the tank. However, the front, 2 sides, center area of the back, and all 4 corners are making flush contact with the wood. I'll post a pic later if I can.

5. I plan on cycling the tank with some hardy fish (i.e. Cherry Barbs, Dwarf Gouramis, etc.) Can I throw them in as soon as the water is dechlorinated?

I'm sure I'll think of more questions later.

[Cichlid Man]

1. If you're not having plants, you can have as much or as little gravel as you like.

2. You don't need an airpump to airate the water, as long as you place your filter outlet near the surface of the water there should be enough water turnover to have sufficient oxygen dissolved in the water.

3. Instantly

4. It's fine

5.The secret to cycling is to start off with one or two small fish, and then add one every week or so so that the bacteria in the filter will grow with the amount of fish so that the filter can keep up with the waste.
The most important factor is DONT OVERFEED YOUR FISH! Even if you only have one small fish but feed it a lot, this can put a big strain on the establishing filter.
If you put too many fish into a tank which has only been running for a few hours/days, your nitrite levels will be too high in concentration, and this will kill your fish.
So remember, start will a few fish, and add them gradually.
If you want to make sure your nitrite levels stay down, buy a test kit, if the levels are too high, do water changes with dechlorinated water to avoid damage to your filter bacteria.

[fish_doc]

cichlid man pretty much said it all.

Except - I was always told in school that the only dumb question is the one that goes un-asked. Although some of the kids in the class managed to find the dumb question somehow. LOL The one I always remember is when someone asked who taught monkeys how to fight with guns? This was in history class while we were talking about gorilla warfare. Dont worry your questions were no where near that catagory. Yours fell in the good question catagory.

[Durbkat]

I would suggest not cycling with fish simply because I've done so on my 10g when I first started (I had 5 black widow tetras) but they died a short time after me getting them then I got more to replace them and they are still alive today but it seems to have stunted thier growth as they have not grown in the 3 years I've had them and I've seen black widow tetras at the pet store that were bigger than mine. So there are negative effects with cycling with fish so I would suggest cycling the tank without fish by getting bio spera this instantly cycles your tank I believe and then you can add a few small fish once you add it to the tank.

[Bub]

Thanks for the replies.
I'm really only concerned about the gravel depth as it relates to build up of good/bad bacteria and crap in the gravel. I figure having less gravel means it doesn't need to be vacuumed as often, but I don't want to deprive the good bacteria of housing either, so to speak. I'll probably end up going with 1.25-1.5".
As for cycling, I found a LFS that has Bio-Spira so I'll probably get that and then add a few fish a day or two later. Other fish will be added gradually over time.

[Cichlid Man]

You will only get sufficient bacteria growing in the substrate if you have an undergravel filter. So it doesn't matter how much gravel you have. Also, when using gravel, it doesn't matter how much you have you still need to vacuum regulary to remove nitrate.
If you don't wish to vacuum a tank, by fine sand. This means that dirt can't get trapped, and most of the dirt goes inside your filter. If any waste builds up on top of the sand, you can always syphon it off without picking up any sand in the process.

Cycling a tank with fish is not recommended, but once the bacteria starts to become established, the tank stock should be increased gradually instead of one big bucket full.

[Bub]

About how long would a fishless cycle take in a 75g tank?

[Lydia]

If you are using Bio-Spira, you can put in fish instantly. In fact you NEED to put in fish instantly, otherwise the bacteria in Bio-Spira will die. Bio-Spira eliminates the need to cycle, since it already has the bacteria that you cycle for. So you can put in quite a few fish at one time as long as you put in the right amount of Bio-Spira right before you put the fish in.


If you were to do a fishless cycle without adding any bacteria, it could take a month or more.

[Bub]

I will probably end up using Bio-Spira. I've heard enough good things and praise from people who've used it to believe it does the job. In fact, I don't think I've ever read reports of it failing, from people who've actually used it. It seems that the people who say it doesn't work are always people who've never used it (no offense intended ). Anyhoo, some say you have to add a full load of fish with it. Well, and I suppose this is the tricky part, what would be considered a "full load" for a 75g freshwater tank (assuming an average fish size of 3-7" at full growth, and no live plants.)?