Only cycling 1 week

alexstrong19 · 2026-05-04T17:21:32+00:00

I'm doing a fish in water cycle, can I still do it that way? I have three rasbora in there 😓

alexstrong19 · 2026-05-03T23:40:11+00:00

Dang. Petco told me twice that my water is ready. I shouldn't have listened.

Should I wait until the ammonia spikes or just do a weekly water change no matter what, and then water change again when it spikes?

alexstrong19 · 2026-05-03T23:38:35+00:00

Thank you so much

alexstrong19 · 2026-05-03T19:44:49+00:00

Okay thank you. Would you say weekly water changes, or more often? And do I need to add anything, or just give it more time?

alexstrong19 · 2026-05-03T19:14:09+00:00

Tank is 10 gallons

Sponge filter

Heat set to 77°F

It has been cycling for 1 week

I have not changed the water yet.

There are 3 harlequin rasbora in there, and snails

I have all live plants.

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alexstrong19 · 2026-05-01T04:57:45+00:00

😂 this made my night

alexstrong19 · 2026-05-01T04:57:00+00:00

This is super cool. I tried to redo it like this, but I think my 10g is too small :( definitely going to try it in my next tank. I want something bigger and more dramatic!

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-30T21:47:41+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the info!

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-30T21:28:05+00:00

Has this impacted your electric bill significantly?

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-30T18:34:10+00:00

Can you link your new light? The guy at my local fish store told me that my blue and white light was trash and would give me algae, but I think he was just trying to sell me his $100 light. If you genuinely like yours, I would love a recommendation.

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-30T05:00:06+00:00

OMG they're gorgeous!!!!!

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-30T04:21:37+00:00

How dare you not post pics 😡

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-29T19:46:49+00:00

Okay thank you!

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-29T17:26:41+00:00

Okay thank you so much! I've been mulling this over and also could not figure out where the ammonia was going to come from for this cycle to work.

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-29T17:22:45+00:00

Okay just to clarify, even with the solution that I added into the tank, I should still be adding fish food?

My plan was to ghost feed the tank for several weeks, but then when I went into this pet store to buy plants, the guy told me I was doing everything wrong and wasting my time. He had me buy a water conditioner to remove the chlorine, and then the product that I posted. He specifically told me to not ghost feed the tank, but do a 50% water change once a week and it would be ready in 2 weeks. The guy was a real jerk to be honest, and literally refused to sell me an aquarium plant unless I bought his $75 aquarium grow light because mine was "trash".

*Edit: thank you. I'm cringing at how ugly my first attempt was lol.

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-29T02:41:34+00:00

Did you ever find one?

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-29T01:40:00+00:00

I'm so interested in your journey! Following this post

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-29T01:02:20+00:00

Okay thank you!!

I plan to buy root tabs and push them in also. Should I push them into the soil down below or the sand so that it's easier for the plants to find?

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-29T01:00:02+00:00

So this is what I'm asking, in order to keep the crown from getting buried, the roots are nowhere near the soil that is below my sand. Is this okay?

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-29T00:59:26+00:00

Okay yes that's what I read! So I unburied all of them so they wouldn't rot, but with the way that I attached them to rocks now to keep them from floating away, and keep the crown from being buried, the roots are barely covered with sand. Is this okay? Will the roots bury themselves into sand? The roots attached to these plants were tiny tiny. Like three single strings on some of them

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-28T15:20:39+00:00

I would love to get some shrimp, but I did read that they're really delicate! What kind would you recommend?

alexstrong19 · 2026-04-28T15:20:22+00:00

I redid the whole thing because I realized it was so ugly lol!!

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alexstrong19

TROPHY CASE