What They Forget To Mention About the Nitrogen Cycle In Aquariums
I've always seen videos explaining the nitrogen cycle but never really hitting home the pint that bio load is critical and balance can't be accomplished if there is inconsistencies. This video explains other aspects that affect the nitrogen cycle that people don't really touch on while explaining. This also explains why fishes cycling can be tricky and not work that well, while in the end what's actually happening is you're balancing the tank with "fish in" instead what you thought was happening.
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your channel is awesome. the way you explained the cycle in this video really made it finally click for me. ive watched hundreds of hours of fishtube and this channel is easily my new favorite. i could not be more excited to have found this channel. keep cranking those videos out. great content!
Thanks for this video. Good info others don't tell you. As a relatively newbie you stopped me with a fishless semi-cycled tank from buying 18-20 neons all at once (which the fish store would have gladly sold me) from fish tank disaster. Two thumbs up! I subscribed
This is great insight. I actually just got into the hobby because I tried to keep a couple bettas(separately)in a 1.6gal tank with a filter and heater preset to 78°. For some reason, they both died before one year. When I got my third, I did a bunch of research on how to keep bettas, and fish in general, and discovered the nitrogen cycle… Which I never even heard of before! Basically, I would set up a new aquarium and plop the fish in… Not clean it until about four weeks later when the water looked like it needed to be cleaned... but the fatal mistake was that I didn't just clean the water, I would put the fish in a separate container and completely clean the tank, filter, everything which had water going through it with antibacterial soap... then put it all back together with fresh, clean water. Now I realize I was resetting my nitrogen cycle and wiping out the good bacteria every time I did this and it probably stressed the fish out and over a few months they would get sick and die. This time around, I bought myself an API freshwater test kit, and every day, I would test for ammonia and nitrites. For the first week or two, the ammonia would rise to between 0.25-0.5 ppm every day, so I would do a 25% water change daily in order to keep ammonia at bay. The third week it was reaching between 0.5-1.0 ppm daily, along with the nitrites, so I would do a 50% water change every day to keep the levels safe. at around the 3.5 week mark, a magical thing happened! My ammonia and nitrites stayed at zero for a few days in a row with no water changes… That's how I knew the cycle was completed! The fish has been very happy and active the entire time and is now awaiting his new 9 gallon tank to cycle before I add him. I planted some plants and added some driftwood for tannins(with a couple small anubias plants attached) yesterday, and today picked up six small tetras to cycle the tank with. The betta will wait in the smaller tank until the bigger tank is established with the tetras. This video made me feel like my plan might actually work well! Luckily I have a very good local small fish shop and they definitely know how to keep fish… They are the ones that guided me for this plan, but it's good to see someone like you confirming the information! Edit: new subscriber here!
Thank you for sharing this video 🙂👍
I like the idea of balancing. I only do one thing per day, at a time. I don’t clean my filters the same day as I change water, for example. Seems to be working for me. I never scrub my decor and add fish gradually.
Great video gracias
Great video sawyer , very true it is definitely a balancing act🙂👍🏻 Another big misconception newer hobbies do is they set up a new tank…add bottled bb and let it run empty for a month… they add fish a month later, 3 weeks later they all die.. why? The bottled bb died from no food to feed the bacteria, just like fish shrimp and snails, the beneficial bacteria has to eat to survive🙂 great video my friend💯⭐️
yeah, I'm not sure how bottled bacteria works. it is a living organism. Always kinda wondered that myself, but I've also always just done low volume fish in cycling with gravel and filters out of other tanks. Taking water from another tank is another haha thing people do that really does nothing.
What do you feed the bottled bacteria while you are waiting to add fish? If bottled bacteria don't work and taking water from a seasoned tank doesn't work, what does work?
@@karinchristensen220 anything that rots basically, fish food is a good thing, a pinch per day. taking gravel and filter media from a seasoned tank is best. any way one looks at it though it's a time thing. the video I posted yesterday goes more into that stuff.
@@karinchristensen220 well what I do is get used filter media usually sponge filters from well established tanks and add a few fish immediately to keep the beneficial bacteria alive. I rarely use bottled bacteria unless I’m running low on used media.. the thing is everything needs to feed used tank water has very little if any beneficial bacteria in the water column.
@@pelhamsaquatics I am setting up a 10 gal. I have no other aquariums.
Thank you so much for making this video. Like you said all the videos out there about the nitrogen cycle only give you the basics. They don't tell you what can happen during it and the problems that arise!! We need more videos like this !! And you seem very informative about the hobby. I have just subscribed!!
I appreciate it. I’ve got other ones coming up that I’m working on now. It’s all me and only me… recording editing and all that jazz, even recording and making any background music.. I’m a busy body, 4 KZhead channels all passions of mine.. had to separate stuff due to niche algorithms clashing.
@@sawyercustomaquatics3094 don't make any background musics and sounds! It is absolutely idiotic approach. It's like you walk into a pizzeria and they ask you to... cut your hair: "why waste time? eat pizza while cutting. pull out your hair that falls into the pizza."
According to the top editors and producers, this statement is completely opposite what all the big channels are doing. just cause you don't like pineapple on pizza doesn't mean others don't love it.
Great video
Great insight, friend. I overdid fish add in one of my new tanks and paid the price.
best way to compensate is if you see things starting to look funny do a water change. it'll slow down bacteria growth a touch, but your fish won't die. even if it's 4x a week till you get a closer balance. This just gave me a neat idea for another video. it's like a pendulum swing. as time goes the swings get smaller and smaller.
I prepare because I know I'll be over stocking slightly. 1. Build tank; Substrate, filter (undergravel just my preference), lighting, and lots of plants (a few fast growers for best effect i.e. water wisteria or hornwort) 2. Add ammonium chloride, enough to bring the tank to 4-8ppm ammonia (NH3) 3. Add starting bacteria (Seed, Stability, Fritze your favorite whatever that is) 4. No water changes and 12 hour light cycle 5. Wait for Ammonia (NH3) and Nitrite (NO2) to hit zero at which point your Nitrates (NO3) will be high do I large water change. 6. Stock to your hearts content (remember fish like space too😊) The high starting ammonia causes a lot of beneficial bacteria to spawn and sustain them ensuring that you never come across new tank syndrome and as long as you follow the start bacteria regimen your tank should be cycled in about 8 days.
My variation on this is; 1; Set up aquarium, substrate, filter, lighting, use media from an established tank to jump start the cycle 2; add a bunch of live plants, wait 24-48 hours 3; add snails (ramshorn in my case) and wait 24 hours 4; slowly add fish or snails, no more than 2-3 depending on tank size per week, wait a week between adding more animals. The real secret is cramming as many live plants in as possible, plants can directly use ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, fast growing floaters are the best starters, water lettuce, frogbit, red root floaters, guppy grass and hornwort… Let the plants be your safety layer, they give you a major buffer capability
I can confirm that plants are a godsend, it is MUCH harder to keep water stable without live plants, I’ve been spoiled by them now that I know how to take care of them and it’s very easy to do so, and the fish will thank you too, the fake stuff isn’t their cup of tea.
Thank you I love the Video 📹 do more
Just posted a part 2 last night
Great video. Keep it up 😜.
Thanks 😁
Thank you. Like you said, no one mentions about adding fish and I added 5 fish one week then another 7 fish and my tank was cloudy for 1 and a half month because of the bacteria bloom. I had to do weekly water changes and nothing changed. By time the second month hit, all my fish were dead. Made me almost quit. But now I'm in the process of cycling my tank again and Its been 4 weeks. I might buy 3 fishes to start the bio load and slowly add the rest every other 2 to 3 weeks
Plants are your buffer, they aren't a fix, but help. Having a set up tanker a month would drive me crazy, I'm not a very patient person naturally, but I also know when there is no choice. It sounds like there was a lot more than just a bacteria bloom in the tank. there is a learning curve with the hobbit for sure. We all become biologist, chemist, and doctors.
I think this is very helpful to newer fish keepers. I firmly believe in sump filters and their ability to harbor huge quantities of beneficial bacteria. Good point you made. Constant water changes during initial cycle. The bacteria will grow with a stocked tank. I set up with ample amount of quickstart and lots of dirty media from my already established 660g setup. When a tank is established and an overstock of new fish happens, people forget that its cycling again to catch up. I sub'd and Im gonna keep up with you.. Happy New Year
I made viewers comments vid I'm trying to finish up this morning. got some good comments and a couple trolls I couldn't leave alone. your feedback is awesome, really appreciate it.
Great video! Very good info! I always test ammonia and nitrite with new setups. Maybe I'm an A-type personality? But, W/C's keep the fish safe and in short order the tank/ bacteria works it magic!
Oh I’ve got my api test kit, don’t use it very often, but it’s good to have when a tank goes wonky
I'm a bacteria keeper, not a fish keeper.
ehh, maintain it, it'll come and go as things change.
Facts
Good info! I start all my tanks with snails and slowly build up the fish stock.
oh you're brave.. I put one snail in a tank and I've got a thousand in a matter of a couple months. check out some of the other vids, you can see the mass amount of snails. I try to manually remove them here and there. but also sell them as food for puffers and such.
@@sawyercustomaquatics3094 snail overpopulation only occurs with over feeding. I love snails in all my tanks, and welcome them before any other critter is added!
@@CryptKeeperAquatics I definitely won't say I don't over feed, mornings are a walk through the house and outside throwing handfuls of food in most of the tanks. Malasian trumpet snails are reproducing monsters lol.
@@sawyercustomaquatics3094 yes they are! I’ve noticed in my caridina tanks the MTS and ramshorn don’t breed nearly as quickly. The soft acidic water slows it all down significantly. The 75G does have quite a few though. I’ve been feeding heavier trying to get some rainbows to spawn.
@@CryptKeeperAquatics yeah, that’s my main issue.. I’m trying to either breed or grow so food is important. Maintaining a display tank is when you can go all technical and regulate how much food you give them. I have a few that I do not feed that much, others get a buffet. I’ve got another cycle vid coming up I’ll address feeding and affects.. it’s a convenient addition since im talking about how the parameters will always sway but a balanced left alone tank has little vs a new set up.
Something i think that should be added to this great video is beneficial bacteria in substrate. With an under gravel filter, oxygen is making all the way to the bottom of your substrate so beneficial bacteria will grow all through the substrate. If you just take and put substrate directly on the bottom of your tank and it's worse the deeper it is. Oxygen will only make it so far into the substrate, and what water is making it into the substrate the beneficial bacteria is pulling the oxygen out of the water. As the oxygen level decreases, the efficiency of the beneficial bacteria decreases. Once the oxygen level drops low enough, beneficial bacteria can no longer live. What I'm getting at is only so much of your substrate will have beneficial bacteria. Filters are the ideal environment for bacteria. About a year and a half ago I bought a 110 gallon aquarium. I wasn't planning on getting another tank but the price couldn't be beat. The tank had been taken down and cleaned. Picked it up and set it aside. The next day I went and bought the filters I was going to use on this tank. One of the new filters I setup on an established tank and let it run for a month. The other filter I left in the box. After the month had gone by on a Friday I built a stand and setup the tank. Brand new substrate, decore, heater, ect. I got my temp set on the heater and setup the filter I ran for a month. The other new filter still in the box I setup but took the new media and swapped it for the media in another well established filter. So now I have a filter that's ran for a month on an established tank and a new filter with established media from another filter. I let the tank settle and clear over night. That next morning the tank had cleared up and the temp was right where I wanted it to be. So i added 25 adult African Cichlids to the tank and monitored for a few days. No spike, no bacteria bloom, no illness, no loss. Two weeks after adding the 25 fish I added 20 more adult African Cichlids. A week after that I added another canister filter with nothing but sponge, and to this day no spike, mini cycle, illness, or loss. Now I'm not recommending anyone do this. In fact don't do this especially if you're new to aquariums. My point to this is how much bacteria filters can hold. They're the perfect environment. Flowing oxygenated water, constant food source, dark, tons of surface area, ect.
I mention under gravel filters and substrate. Even zoom in on the 55 grow out with peacocks and under gravel. I personally really like the under gravel systems. they've worked great for over 40 years.
3:00- like 3:40 I talk specially about gravel and under gravel systems
Only just finding your channel. Gonna dig through your library here, but if you havent maybe do something like this on the confusing subject of KH, GH, PH, and how they aggect each other and possibly the plants+animals? (Shrimp, snails, fish, etc)
Oh that’s a good one. Will take some research not most definitely will do that in the future
Transplanted a whole 55 gallon African’s . Lots of gravel from an established tank and some bio balls not a single loss
I remember when I first had my OWN tank I had started all myself I got a community 10 gallon and overstocked it unknowingly, half of them died but the rest lived, eventually it balanced out and the fish were healthy, but the cause was not only overstocking but adding too many too quickly, with only 24 hours to cycle for that many fish. I’ll never make that mistake again because I still feel bad about it.
I cycled my tank without fish and your right it will work but I also took like five months to stock it with fish. This I did very slowly for the exact reasons you mentioned, my tank is a 125 gal. and I stocked it very slowly to allow the tank to catch up with the bio load. I had no problems , the tank is heavily planted and I lost no fish or had any other problems. Your right it took me about a year to get the tank perfectly balanced and as Cory would say seasoned. It took a year for the tank to go through all it's different stages and become the stable tank it is today. Patience is a must in this hobby and slow and easy wins the race. P.S. My advice to beginners is to do your homework first, do it before you buy anything and be thorough about it. Know exactly what you want and know exactly how to achieve it, this way you will know exactly what to expect as you go through each stage.
The problem with homework is it's all relative to who they watch or what they read. So many ways to do the same thing, so many processes used that will work for some and not others. to this day I'm baffled as to how I can set up 10 tanks with the same stuff the same day and always 1 oe 2 go funky.
@@sawyercustomaquatics3094 That's why it is important to take it all in. My first attempt at a planted aquarium was a smashing success because I took it all in, the good information with the bad. My one tank is a !25 gallon with a 40 gallon sump, it is heavily planted and absolutely thriving. When you take it all in you can start to see what is pure none sense and what make sense. Doing your homework means patience and that my friend is what is missing, most people do not take the proper time to do their research or they only take information from a single source. When doing research it is very important to hear the good advice along with the bad. My research allowed me to not have to do it one way or the other, it afforded me the ability to do it my way. When doing your homework you want to hear it all, the good and the bad.
@@kosys5338 You are absolutely correct.. I've actually got a Masters in Research Psychology. the one thing that degreee taught me was research is subjective no matter who does it and the outcomes can be replicated or not just due to user error. So what's right and wrong can sway either way. Some also have a hard time with criticism or negativity so they end up missing out on key information because of context. The learning curve is definitely a person to person thing.
So I have a tank they I set up for about 2 weeks now, on the api master test kit it says my ammonia is 4.0 but I’m waiting for my nitrite to go bad should I do a water change or leave it be? There’s only live plants in the tank no fish
Just leave it to balance naturally. No fish.. nothing to really hurt. If you do a wc it’ll drop the ammonia but might take longer to settle.
Oh yes, the feared Nitorgen invasion. Every aquariums nightmare.
Thanks for this…but I’m still confused about water changes during a fish-in cycle. Yay or nay? I’ve been doing WC on my 5 gal thru the cycle process…but I am at week 11 and it’s still not cycling. Does it take longer because it’s fully stocked (I was told by 2 lfs that stock amount was ok for 5 gal) 1 pea puffer, 6 cherry shrimp, 6 maculata rasbora, 2 dwarf Cory cats, 1 nerite….Java fern, sword, crypt, Marimo ball, Java moss, tiger lily dwarf, hornwort, and subwassertang
I’m not good about weekly wc, but it wouldn’t hurt things. 3 months it should be rather stable, that’s 14 fish in a 5 gallon, I hope it’s got a rather oversized filter for that stocking. On the other hand.. a 5g will fluctuate a lot more than a 20 or even a 10, so all you can do is hope it doesn’t have a strange spike. The plants and filter will definitely help keep things in check, also, don’t chase exact numbers. You’ll go crazy especially with a small tank. I put 1 or 2 fish in a 5g that’s it. Typically my betta holding tanks when they aren’t breeding. Girls go in with the guppies if I take them out of the grow out tank. Boys get a 5g apartment. If stuffs not dieing, keep with what you’re doing.
Im new to fish keeping. I have a 10 gallon heavily planted walstad tank ( im using a sponge filter). My plan is to wait a month or two and add 6 harlequin rasboras. Is that too much? Thank you.
if that's all you're putting in, it should be fine. They are small and that's not a large number for the tank. But it may still unbalance for a short time. something like that I wouldn't worry about waiting because the plants will compensate for the new filter. That species I've seen in no filter painted tanks with no issues.
So, what are the numbers? I watched to then end and didn't find out what I am supposed to do as far as how many fish to start with. What does someone do if they are starting their first tank and have no seasoned tank to draw from? I had aquariums 30 years ago, with UG filters. I do not remember things being so complicated.
check out the vid I posted last night it gets more into numbers and what affects things. best thing is don't chase numbers you'll go batty.
I never cycle my tank. I add water as it evaporates but I don't remove water. My tank has plenty to bottom feeders, shrimp and snails, plus plants. I even throw mulberry leaves in the tank which are eaten by many of the various inhabitants. I don't have problems with nitrogen or ammonia. .
Some people are lucky like that and have little issues, others struggle. It really depends on the person and set up.
I have a planted fish bowl for my betta fish. I've had it for about a month and he is thriving. He also has a mystery snail in with him. But for the past several days I have noticed a clear/cloudy film on the bottom of the bowl that has risen up from the bottom about 1/3rd of the way up. Can you tell me what that is? I don't want to remove it if it is beneficial bacteria. I'm just not sure. I'm really new to this.
Haze is usually a bacteria bloom, not beneficial though, that I’m aware of. There’s many types of bacteria in tanks, if you can actually suck it out with a hose cause it’s a “layer” I’d try that. A bubbler will also help things circulate slowly and give oxygen for bacteria to grow. Beneficial bacteria needs air to grow. Sometimes plants will be enough other times not so much. It’s all relative to your application
@@sawyercustomaquatics3094 thanks for responding. Turns out it was hard water build up 🙄 I’ve since moved him to a different bowl that is less crowded and more manageable.
I’ve been trying to cycle my tank for 2 months. I have ammonia at 4 ppm and I can’t get any nitrite. My ph is around a 6, can that cause the cycle to stall?
What are you using to seed the tank? Food? Fish? Liquid ammonia?
@@sawyercustomaquatics3094 I have some fish in there and I use seachem prime for the ammonia
My tank is 5weeks in I started with 3 fish zebra danoi .then that 3rd week I added five tiger barb(the fish store tested my water said the tank us cycled,the water us perfect lol) I added 5 tiger barb,within a week 1 danoi died and 3 of the tiger barbs died.what could have. Happened?
You went from an established 3 fish bio load to an 8 fish bio load and the cycle collapsed. Weakest fish died first. You had multiple aspects working against you. Mainly the health of the new fish and the old fish. Quarantine is a month long process for a reason. Sometimes it takes that long for sick fish to present issues. All the fish that doe’s probably would have by the end of the 30 days sadly anyways. When I buy fish from fish stores be it big or little there is typical a 25% die off. So I take the recipe and fish to the store and trade them in for swimming ones. Yes it’s a small hassle, a lot of times I don’t bother and just call it a loss. As a breeder I’ll have a ton of them in a short time anyways. Sad to lose fish but it happens. Wholesalers care about numbers not quality. Local breeders are a safer avenue. See if there is a fish club in your area.
Did you see the test results? Most lfs staff don't really understand the test results, and some will lie to make a sale. I remember being called to a tank disaster similar to yours (I'm a consultant) and carried out my own tests. Nitrate was low, nitrite was over 1mg.L, ammonia was low about 0.2mg L. So clearly, my clients tank was not "cycled " and the process had a long way to go. The shop assistant did not show the test results to the client, and told him that adding more fish to the tank would be OK. So the 40 gall went from 2 fish to 7 very quickly. It was OK with 2 mollies in there, and minimal feeding, then suddenly it went to 9 fishes, guppies, danios and a large blue gourami. So the filter was overwhelmed, but the owner didn't know because he didn't have any test kits, and he blithely added more food. The danios went first, because they are very sensitive to ammonia. Followed by the rest as more food and wastes built up, not giving the filter bacteria and archaea a chance. What people do not seem to realise is that the filter flora take weeks to develop to a point where their population is sufficient to handle all the dissolved ammonia coming through their medium. The shop assistant failed to advise my client that, in order to ensure that the filter would work quickly, adding some media from a mature filter would kick start the nitrification part of the N cycle, and then to add a couple of medium-sized fishes (or 3/4 small, or even 1 gourami-sized fish) every 10 days, taking ammonia and nitrite readings weekly, until both tests read zero. Sadly, too many novice aquarists are let down by shops and a lack of good advice. Asking some staff about mechanical, chemical and biological media and where activated charcoal stands is akin to asking them to calculate the thrust of a Saturn 5 rocket. A few of the fish store staff used to groan when I walked through the door, because they knew they were in for a hard time. Before I moved, I used to make good money giving tutorials to pet store staff who were rotated to work in the fish section.
@majorbruster5916 thanks for the info.since then I added more bio media,some lava rocks,more plants ,Amazon sword plant,drift wood ect. ,none have died but I haven't added any new fish since the incident I described.i have five fish right now. My tank is two months in ..how long does it typically take before you can add 5-7 fish and it won't kill all the fish??? Ifa you by schooling fish they'll tell you,"you need to at least by 10-12 fish lol
@CLifemusic what size is your filter? What sort of media do you have in it? Are you testing the water? What, and how often do you feed? What are the species and sizes of the fishes you are keeping?
@@majorbruster5916 I bought a fluval c4 hang onnthe back filter,I have bio rocks,lava rocls,drift wood,and carbon in a mesh bag...sand and soil substrate, I feed them once every two days..I have 3 zebra, danoi and two tiger barbs, 30-gallon tank...and the 1 thing I haven't started doing is testing the water my self.i always bring it two the aquarium place and get it tested
people ask me how many fish can they put in. I keep saying it all depends on how many w/c you want to do.
Size of filter plays a large role also.. to a point the more times you can pump the tank through a filter the more fish you can put in. I00g tank with a 500gph filter vs a 1k gph cycling water 5x or 10x an hour makes a huge difference on stocking. You also don’t want a super strong current in the tank if it’s not the type of fish being kept.
ive always used a bit of roast chicken skin for a week or two....worked for 40 years for me...
Now that’s old school at it’s finest!! Love hearing all the different ways to accomplish the same result. Thank you! This is by far the coolest and kinda funniest way to do it. Honey we got chicken for dinner. Throw a piece of skin in the new tank on the walk by please. Awesomeness!!!
Why does no one talk about the last true stage of a seasoned tank. In theory, as fish keepers we should be aiming for generation of anaerobic bacteria that converts nitrates to free nitrogen. Free nitrogen is easy for plants to utilize and unlike nitrates, it will off gas out of the aquarium.
Ahhh the rare and unusual unattainable. It’s a stage not commonly found cause, usually cause the tank doesn’t stay in one type long enough or other factors play a part. Took my dad 10 years to get his tank like that, but he like myself swapped between salt and fresh too often to have a truly seasoned tank
Who are they? The people who are withholding information?
The idea of Cycling is so redundant and out date
did you watch the video and see the different aspects I'm hitting vs the basic info ? there's a lot to it.
Who is they?
did you not watch the video?
@8:30 Guppy tank Setup..... Nitrogen cycle...last step Water changes 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Plants, Plants,Plants!! hell even algae.... A Cycle that requires intervention by an outside force (repeated human intervention), is not a cycle That is simply an ongoing repeated process
All tanks require maintenance, that maintenance messes with the cycle, from feeding, to basic water changes. There will always be fluctuation throughout the day. No tank stays 100% perfect all the time.
Simply put.. don’t chase numbers.. let the tank do it’s thing..
@@sawyercustomaquatics3094 I wasn't per se disagreeing with your video, more agreeing but that everyone thinks weekly water changes are necessary, they might be if the tank is over stocked and under planted, but often too much maintenance is harmful
I may have fallen foul of this, I have added to many fish to my 350L tank (in UK we deal with litre not gallon) now I did have a bloom but in last 24 hours its resolving itself, I do have amonia but its not crazy amounts 0.5 on my last test, however I have zero Nitrite and some nitrate. I have live plants, and a 350 Oase external filter and I have started pumping it full of Seachem stability in the hope they survive, I have approx 10 platys and 3 medium silver tetra (not neons) so far they dont seem phased but I will be testing for amonioa and watching for it creeping up, I can not do water changes because its a huge tank , and tap water here is only 8oC and I have no means of pre warming 100 litres of water
Spend 30 or 40 dollars on plants and add fish….not too many…..20 gallon tank……4 or 5 Cory’s
Cories like being in groups, so when you can add a few more. 6+ is typically desired. It's won't hurt a 20 gallon by having that many in there. with the plants as a buffer you're good as long as bacteria and other things don't take over. it happens, Cories are usually pretty strong fish though and can take a bit of a beating.
If im going to add two or more fish, that morning ill toss a shot glass of bacteria in my 29
Filter and stuff should compensate, just take a day if that.
Bottom line.....go......slow. This is not a race.
It was interesting to get on the channel of a fish breeder in the third generation. I signed up (subscriber #161). But I am completely unprepared to see dozens of videos about sunrise and sunset in Florida in my feed. I feel that unfortunately very soon I will have to unsubscribe. :(
That series was a flop and a haven’t done any of them in a while