Have fun

I would leave the external running on the tub right up to the last minute on Friday. Make it the last item to be removed and transport it still full of water to the new house then set it running on the tank immediately. If that can be done in under two hours you'll lose little, if any bacteria.

Sorry to hear that Daniel. I think the trauma of being caught by the cat and then trying to heal while the filter was uncycled was probably just too much for him. Fish don't always float immediately when they die which is why most of us do a head count regualrly just in case one has died and is at the bottom somewhere polluting the water.

I'm sure you'll have more success with a proper tank, cycled before buying fish - obviously that couldn't happen for Geoffers as he was an emergency rescue, but at least you tried your best to help him.

Hi

A spraybar is a useful addition as you can ensure you get good surface agitation to improve oxygen/CO2 exchange. Also by positioning the spraybar to point at the back wall, or having it below the waterline and pointing up to the surface, you can reduce the force of the flow too if needed.

There is one thing you can do to speed it up. If you have a friend with a mature tank, ask them for a piece of sponge from their filter. Keep it in tank water while transporting and put it in your own filter within the hour. That will give you a small starter colony of bacteria to kick things off and will maybe reduce the cycling time by a few days or more.

HTH

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It's very hard to describe really but egg yolk is basically what Advocaat is - though it tastes nothing like that.

Looking forward to pics when it's all done

If the pond is in the foyer could it be general cleaning chemicals used around the area for floor/window cleaning etc? Or possibly something thrown in by one of the wonderful British public?

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Stick to one species with the Gourami. Male Dwarves won't be interested in Honeys so will fight, and vice versa. 2 males and 4 females of either Dwarf Gourami OR Honey Gourami will do well in a 180 with plenty of plants.

The rest of the stock sounds fine. I'd add them in 4 batches at fortnightly intervals afer the cycle is done. Gouramis first, Penguins next, Cories third and Angel last.

That will be enough initial stock, but you may be able to add something more when the tank is more mature if all readings look good.

The cloudiness varies from a day or two up to about a week, but is perfecty normal and will sort itself out.

I've used online shops for fish before. Never had any issues with fish arriving healthy and no more stressed than they are when bought from a local shop and transported by car. Use one of the established, reputable online shops or small breeders for the best results. Trimar, Kesgrave Tropicals and Wildwoods are all good. Smaller individual breeders can be found trading on eBay, but tend to specialise in one or two fish.

RO will have zero nitrate so I wouldn't expect to see any in the water after 5 days which means you're most likely testing correctly.

I'm afraid I'm not well up on which kits are good on the marine side these days, but years sgo the ones that tended to be most recommended were Salifert test kits. They were liquid titration tests though. I think you'll find that type is still the best.