Question: New tank - ready to get started?

Asso

Asso

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My new tank has been running with plants and snails for over a month and a half. I put in some frozen blood worms about a month ago to start the cycling process, I'm a bit unsure though if they decomposed or got eaten by the snails. Plants have decomposed in the tank. I also put in the water pump from my old tank. Now I finally got my water testing kit and the water showed no signs of NH4 or NH3.

Before putting my newt in the new tank I'm planning to put him in a smaller box and change the water into the "new" water gradually so he get used to it.


Should I try to start the cycling again and take away as many of the snails as possible, as I wasn't sure the blood worms was properly decomposed, or should it be "safe" to transfer my newt to the tank?
 

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As long as the water perimeters are good there shouldn't be any problem, what are they?

What newt(s) exactly are you planning on keeping? Different species - different needs ect. I also noticed your tank is hitting 24C.

If your water is fine, then your water is fine, I was just thinking about some of the other things, such as temperature.

Also that's quite a nice looking tank there.
 
Thanks for your answer!
I'm not really sure about what "perimeter" means, but according to the testing kit there's no NH3, NH4, NO2 or NO3, the pH is about 7 and the other things measured is also "good".

I have a jfbn, and as there is no animals but snails in the tank at the moment I haven't bothered to cool it down. :)
 
Crysta said:
Also that's quite a nice looking tank there.
Click to expand...

Agreed! Is all that for just the one newt?
Also, what kind of snails do you have (or are you planning on removing them from the tank?)
 
Yes, I have only one, I'd like to get some more but I don't want to buy from the petstores and don't find any breeders here :(

The snails came with the plants (even though I rinsed them) , they help cleaning and they co-exist quite well with my newt (have a couple in the old tank as well), he doesn't care about them.
 
Well if you keep looking on the for sale/trade section of this site, I'm sure you'll be able to find someone eventually who's willing to post or even close to you. also you could post in the 'wanted' section just below it.

I just mean the over all state of your water. which seems to be lovely.
So yes as soon as it's nice and cool your JFBN will love all of that space! :)

A couple of hitch hikers then ^^ they can be either awesome or disastrous, I love my snails that came with the plants that are in my tropical frog + pleco tank. lovely and clean in there. still I don't trust them too much, my frogs have tried to have a snap at them a few times, thankfully they're too big to fit in their mouth though, still that many stories about snails asphyxiating amphibians is worrying.
 
Asso, for the cycling process to work, you need to provide a constant supply of ammonia. The bacteria NEED the ammonia to feed on, if you don´t introduce a source (wether natural or artifitial) they can´t grow, and so the tank doesn´t get cycled.
 
Then I have to do the cycling again then. But I don't understand it, if I keep putting in the frozen blood worms to decompose, when are the water going to be ok?

I read some threads about it but obviously I missunderstood.

According to this guide Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling they seem to put in the substrate 3 times?

I really need a idiot guide :(
 
The water will be fine because a) if you use small amounts of ammonia producing materia, it won´t reach dangerous levels and b) the bacteria will deal with the ammonia as it is produced.
An stablished tank with newts is constantly receiving ammonia from their metabolism, but it gets processed by the biofilm of bacteria, thus not having any effect on the water quality. The same goes for nitrites.

As i said the bacteria need to be fed with ammonia so that it can be processed into nitrites, and these, into nitrates. Just introduce a regular source of ammonia and in a few weeks, the tank will be fully cycled, i guarantee.

Anyway, being heavily planted, and underpopulated, you shouldn´t have any problems with water quality at all.
 
Thanks for taking time to explain, it means a lot to me!

I'll put in some more frozen blood worms then and continue for some time until it's time for him to move in :)
 
Yes, I think he will like the new tank a lot, with all the plants and space :)

Yes, Rupert has tried to nibble at the snails some times, but loose interest in them almost directly he notice he can't eat them. Sometimes he stalks them, but when he recognize them as the usual not edible snails he leave them alone.
 
Have you ever spotted the snails taking an interest in him?
I've never had any experience with it myself, as I've never had snails with newts, and the ones in my tropical tank have only been there for a short while.

I have heard of snails having a suck on newts though.
 
No, they just mind their own buisness. Good to know though that people have seen snails sucking on newts.
 
As far as i know, such a thing only happens with the larger snail species such as apple snails, and sick or debilitated caudates.
If you have one of the small aquatic species, don´t worry, they pose no threat.
 
Yeah the ones that usually come in on plants are the smaller variety. So as long as their too big to fit in his mouth there shouldn't be a problem there.
 
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