New Aquarium

Corals cause more trouble than fish...they constantly fight for space and sting each other you think keeping tropicals is bad this is a whole different ball game lol

 

I agree with @Perki fresh H2O Master Kit.. make sure is has pH Ammonia Nitrite and Nitrate tests. If your pH is too low the ammonia will just build up and not digest. You can get into trouble with that condition. If pH is above 6.6 and you have ANY waste products, being Ammonia, Nitrite or nitrate, the est answer for you will be to H2O change 1/4 at a time only until is all goes down. As Ammonia starts staying low the Nitrites will rise and then same thing with Nitrates until they all go down to ZERO and they should stay down unless you are over feeding...

How's that for a mouthful....Takes about a month or so to get straight...don't disturb the gravel too much or wipe walls and it will go quicker.

 

@Fat Controller You are probably ok without water changing. Just don't disturb the gravel. Even those levels will go down to nothing most of the time. So the bacteria will digest solid waste from the fish and plants into more gaseous, less dangerous stuff. So Ammonia is dangerous over to Nitrates being the least dangerous, After that it works it's way out of the tank just by fact that gas is lighter than water....It all takes time...

I would question why you have any waste products in your water....do you have a private well?

 

Hi FC,

To be honest I would not worry too much about cleaning the gravel, you need to get the bacteria working.
Just use the syphon to lightly to pick up the large debris without disturbing the gravel is the way I would go.

Just a thought about your water changes; as I know lifting heavy buckets is out of the question for you both. Most bigger supermarkets stock 2 ltr bottles DeIonized water for £1 in the Car sections.
They are lighter to use and if mixed 50/50 with your tap water should reduce the input of Nitrates to 25ppm as well has reducing the hardness.

Also if you can place a bottle on or above the tank you can use a piece of airline hose, via a little cheapo airline tap and allow it to slowly flow into the tank by the filter flow pipe without the need to pre heat etc. Just need to add the de-chlor to your tap water.

 

@Fat Controller If you gravel clean only do a quarter of it at a time. Do the next quarter the next week. That way you will not disturb the whole tanks worth of bacteria at one time. What @ricky101 is saying is when you pour the water back into the tank during a water change don't let it plunge down into the gravel let it trickle in slowly and softly.

Also knowing the plants are beginning to develop new growth is a good sign. The waste products will burn and kill plants as well as fish. That just multiplies your problem. So again the plants are doing a good thing right now. They use some of the nutrients to grow.

 

Cough!!!..Just follow the basic principals of the Nitrogen Cycle and you'll be fine...Way way too many hangups..You can measure this and that and the other till the cows come home and get different readings hourly, daily, weekly depending on kit type, calibration, user error or what ever...I can go into specifics of water chemistry but it would bore the ass off most would be aquarists into submission, stress and defeat..so long as you understand the basis you can move forward...even if the cycle is not fully complete in the eyes of the purists, you can still keep fish...even without test kits you can wait it out for about 3-4 weeks and add a male Guppy say...dont go any farther, observe and feed sparingly and proceed from there...dont overstock, dont overfeed and use common sense with your species choice...whilst I do conduct religious tests and observations and adjustments to water chemistry (as a breeder) I wouldn't push this on someone just wanting to set up a home display aquaria...Even after all this folks who test test and test again still loose fish...dont let them tell you any different..
You dont need to suck any substrate a small net will suffice to remove plant debris or let it break down naturally....Waterchange regularly (weekly) no more than 2-3 inches of noticeable volume.
Aquariums of old were used in Doctors surgeries and dental establishments care homes and anywhere that needed the patient to enjoy a therapeutic experience..this seems to have gone way off the mark and become a total STRESSBALL....I have seen this hobby go from being relaxing, whilst still taxing (when breeding certain species) to being a victim of market forces...Lets get back to what this hobby should be all about...Enjoyment without the Stress...Sorry I dont really know how to word my feelings better to advise a novice fishkeeper (and I use that term loosely as we are all still novices really always learning)...Enjoy your fishkeeping...