German ram tank build

[CharlieKlein]

Did a big wc(65%) and ill test In an hour or so. Hopefully levels are good. And I will be getting fishntuesday. ,not sure what yet!

 

[CharlieKlein]

Weird levels today

Ammonia is .5
Nitrite is like 4
Nitrate is like80
So what does this mean, what do I do, and why does this fluctuate so much?

 

[Wiggles24]

Yep I like Von rio, but I heard they are nippy? And the glowlights are still my 1st choice because my tank is black substrate and background, and in hoping to slowly plant it! And black phantoms are still up as well! I know, I've had months and now a few days before I think of all the posabitlties!!

Von Rios can be a bit nippy the orange variety more so then the flame, actually i wouldnt even call it nippy if the school is small they tend to jeep to themselves and be a bit territorial. I just recently added 8 flames to my 5 orange and they are doing really well together this seems to have eliminated the unwanted behavior totally

 

[Sambo7475]

are you dosing the ammonia EVERY day? It seems as though your BB keeps dying off, and you keep having to restart the cycle. I'm stumped, but maybe someone who's an expert at fishless cycling can help you.

 

[CharlieKlein]

Every day! Question. When I do a water change and the water level gets below the filter intake and turn the filter off. And the filter nearly e,pties out, does that kill it. It's like 25 min. Maximum

 

[Sambo7475]

no, the media has to dry out for the bb to die off.

 

[Hholly]

This is so weird. At this point, I'm wondering if you just went ahead and got the fish and continued as a fish-in cycle if you'd have better luck. Have you ever put any crushed up fish flakes in there? How's the pH?

 

[CharlieKlein]

Ph tested 6 again -_- I'll go to the lfs next week, waiting to see how this week goes, and then Mabye get some zebra danios.

 

[Hholly]

Well I guess that the pH dropped because the nitrates are so high. You should try doing a 90% change. :-/

 

[CharlieKlein]

I neve is get the crushed coral. They were out of the 2 doller bag and the next smallest was the 16 doller bag and I hae no other use

 

[Hholly]

If it makes your water stable, $16 is worth it. But maybe another store would have small bags available..

 

[Rivercats]

BB slows down at a ph of around 6.5 and at a ph of 6.0 the BB bacteria stops working and dies off, hence you will see a rise in ammonia. Have you tested your tap waters ph after it has sat in a cup for 24 hours? You also must either aerate the water or stir it off and on. Once you know your taps true ph that will tell you if you need to use crushed coral to help raise and stablize your ph.

 

[CharlieKlein]

It's like 6.8 so I don't know why it is dropping

 

[Hholly]

It's like 6.8 so I don't know why it is dropping

High nitrates make it drop.

 

[Rivercats]

You should never let your nitrates get above 20ppm so you need to do a 50% WC then another the next day especially if you already have fish. After you get your nitrate levels down all the WC's will have added buffers back into the water and your ph should go back up unless your tap water has a low ph which is why you need to test it as I explained above.