Hi! New and confused

[Fish]

Welcome to the forum.

Cycling is very simple but most sites, and people, overthink it. 2ppm, 4ppm, it makes no difference whatsoever. Have a read of this guide...

https://www.aquariumforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=8002

Thank you, that was really helpful! I’ll save and refer back to it. I’ve definitely been overthinking it all, and over reading and it’s all become information overload and the excitement has died off. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and wanted to get it all spot on.

Do you think I have enough plants in there?

Just getting started myself and I feel your pain regards the overload of information, but it's nice that you want to do it right and doing the research even though there's so much conflicting info out there and just so much it certainly can be overwhelming. But you you're doing the sensible thing and asking advice, so kudos.

Thanks! Yes the conflicting info was the hardest for me. I started with Google and ended up on Reddit. Which then lead me on to the importance of a level surface and all sides of a frame tank having to touch the surface it’s on (which mine wasn’t so I had to empty it and start again). To think 40 years ago I won a goldfish from the fair as a kid, would throw the tank around while cleaning it and carrying it downstairs each time, didn’t have a clue what I was doing. But he did live for ten years, no idea how!

[black ghost]

Actually only the four corners of a tank need to be supported, and they need to all be in the same plane.

I would put a background on the tank before you add fish. It makes a big difference to them to "know" that they can't be got at from all sides.

[Fish]

Actually only the four corners of a tank need to be supported, and they need to all be in the same plane.

I would put a background on the tank before you add fish. It makes a big difference to them to "know" that they can't be got at from all sides.

I haven’t quite relayed how much stress the whole getting everything level caused (and that was after I’d not cleaned the sand as thoroughly as I thought and completely ruined the filter refills and had to replace it). And now I’m concerned it’s continuing! When I first set it up I had no idea about any of this, and after reading about I checked and found I could fit a folded leaflet under the front left corner. So I emptied it out and tried sliding it around to find an area where it had all 4 corners down. Didn’t happen so I found a piece of plywood and placed it underneath. Found one spot where all 4 corners were firmly placed and refilled it. Then I realised I could fit the leaflet under the middle of an area (pictured). So I posted on Reddit asking for advice, and was completely ignored. Did a lot more searching on there and there is so much conflicting advice I ended up removing the water again. But no matter where it was placed I couldn’t find an area where every corner and edge was in full complete contact. So I added a piece of felt under a few areas. But now you’ve said on the same plane I’ve realised it clearly isn’t. And now I’m going to have to empty it again to remove the felt



I’m guessing I need to do this again ^ as it’ll be safer than how it is now?

[black ghost]

Four corners touching is all you need. Ignore the sides, that's just the frame, not the glass. The glass is held full length by the silicon and is cushioned by the frame. Just get the corners touching and leave it. Or put it on polystyrene or carpet or something to level it out?

[Fish]

I should have just left it last time. Though one thing I did read a lot was polystyrene or levelling mats are a no for framed tanks?

I can’t risk losing that much water on the floor so I’m going to have to empty it again and remove the bits of felt. This will be the third day in a row, bit like Groundhog Day but not funny.

[plankton]

Welcome to the forum.

[black ghost]

The base glass is raised so anything
soft like a mat and the frame might bed into it so that it pushes up on the glass, which you don't want. You can use polystyrene if the frame itself sits on it.

[Fish]

I couldn’t sleep last night because of this so got up early and emptied and moved it before work. Couldn’t bear the thought of coming home and having to do it again 3 days in a row. It’s now on the plywood with only the cabinet underneath and all 4 corners touching. Ugh. I just wanted to watch pretty fish

[fr499y]

If its a framed tank base then nothing under it as the frame does the supporting. If its a bare glass base then use a tank mat, styrene, yoga mat etc under it.

[Fish]

Yeah that’s what I was reading about. I’ve only put plywood under it and all 4 corners are now touching it, all felt under the plywood removed. Can only slip the paper leaflet in the middle on the right hand side. Tbh I’m not entirely sure the frame is completely level as my spirit level tells me my cabinet is. I removed the water this morning so I could get the felt out and put the same water back in so hoping that’s okay as I added ammonia yesterday and it read 2.0ppm last night so I’ll check it again later.

I just need to decide if I have a black background or plant type pic.