Hello Everyone

[ashley]

My name is Ashley,
I am currently reintroducing myself back into the hobby. I have recently purchased an Aqua 1, 4ft tank and I'm currently cycling it. I have 10 neons 2 pepper coryes, sand substrate, wood , and a few plants, just to get things moving.
Its only been running for a week and is slowly building up ammonia. I'm not too sure if I have enough bio laod to get the ammonia build up I need to get a spike, I guess it will get there eventually.
I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with you all,and hearing of yours.
Ashley :D

[Merrilyn]

Hi Ashley and welcome to the forum.

Those Aquaone tanks are lovely. Yours will make a great home for discus.

Yes, your bio load is pretty small, and your tank could take 3 months to cycle. You can speed things up by taking some used filter media from a well established tank and adding it to your filter.

Do regular checks on your water. Your neons won't appreciate an ammonia spike.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Discus Ashley. Glad you could join us.

[ashley]

Thanks Merrilyn for the welcome,
Your Discus look fantastic, look forward to getting some guidence from someone who obviously has a good knowledge of the hobby. I have heard of people putting bits of meat in there filters to speed up the process, would this be wise? Sounds a bit strange to me. :roll:

[Merrilyn]

The idea of putting some rotting meat or a green prawn in the tank is to increase the ammonia. As you know, ammonia is a food for the nitrifying bacteria that need to colonize your filter to complete the nitrogen cycle. The more ammonia, the larger the colony.

Trouble is, it's pretty tough on your fish, because as the meat rots, the ammonia will shoot sky high. It works well if you don't have any fish in the tank, but it's not something I could recommend with fish already in the tank.

Slow and sure, the way you're doing it now, sounds just fine.

[ashley]

Ok, I thought that was the case. I think I read it in a fishless cycling Forum. people putting bacon and all sorts of wonderful stuff in there tanks to bring on an ammonia spike. Will leave it as it is.