Just wanting an opinion

[scooter2210]

Please accept my apologies for being rude before. Im really not like that usually. I was having an extremely bad weekend with my ex and vented my frustrations here. Sorry. I know that's no excuse for bad behaviour.
Anyway, thanks for your input.

 

[Alyxx]

Reading through this, I do want to point one thing about the use of a water conditioner vs aging the water - some areas use chloramine instead of chlorine to treat the water and this will not evaporate like chlorine. Heavy metals will also remain. Try to get a report from the water company to make sure there are not high levels of metals and that they use only chlorine and no chloramine before you go the aging method. If they use chlorine and the water is free of other contaminants aging the water will be fine.
I also want to congratulate you for trying to fix what is wrong with the system. The bigger the tank you end up with, the better. Once you do upgrade, I would get the conditioner, though. Prime treats a lot of water with a small amount, so it is really more cost effective than other brands even though it is a little more for a bottle. A small bottle of prime will treat probably ten times as much water than many other brands.
If you can, pick up another big container like the one you have just in case your nitrate levels ever end up getting so high that you need to do a couple huge water changes back to back. I'm sure you have seen someone on here say that a 50% pwc will reduce nitrate by 50% and so on. Also remember that if you get a reading at the highest the chart shows, it could be much higher than that, and a 90% change (15 out of 17 gallons changed) will still result in a nitrate level that is too high. You want nitrates under 20 ppm, and with 7 goldfish in a 17 gallon tank, you should probably be changing the water a few times a week. Did you ever get a result for your nitrates?
If you have more questions, don't be afraid to ask! Good luck with your fish!

 

[scooter2210]

I have recently upgraded from the 17 gal to a 35 gal. I only did the aging thing once or twice then purchased the API brand water conditioner. I will try the prime next. I have been testing the water for about a month now. While the fish were in the 17 gal I was changing about 25% every 2 days. That kept nitrates around the 10ppm mark. Now in the 35 I change around 40% twice a week.
I am still waiting for a 65 gal to be made for me so they will have to stay in the 35 for a while yet.
Thanks for your advice

 

[Alyxx]

No problem, I'm happy to hear you have things under control for now!

 

[scooter2210]

I do have another question....I have now changed the water in the 35 gal twice and it is a real pain to be using a bucket. If I was to fill the tank straight from the tap, would I only treat the water going back in or should I treat the whole tank before filling back up? I have heard of something called a python to refill. What exactly is it and are they expensive?

 

[Alyxx]

The python and other similar water changers cost roughly $45-50 for the 25 foot long one and around $75 for the 50 foot one, however you can sometimes find them a little cheaper online. I really want one myself, seeing as I have a 30 gallon, a 20 gallon, a 5 gallon, and change it all with buckets and a siphon. You can also make one yourself if you want to go that route, you can google DIY python instructions and find out how. As for dechlorinatong with one, add enough dechlorinator to the tank to treat the whole tank (not just the volume you removed) before you start to add the water back in. Remember to turn your filter and heater off before you start to take water out to prevent damage to either, and wait five or ten minutes after all the water is back in the tank before you turn the filter back on. This is to be sure that the dechlorinator has had time to work so that the new water getting sucked into the filter doesn't have any chlorine left in it to kill off your beneficial bacteria. Thinking of the filter, have you upgraded it along with the tank? The better the filter, the better off you will be as far as water quality goes. For goldfish you want one that filters at least 350 gallons per hour (10x the volume of the tank) and with 7 goldfish in there, you might want to aim for 500 gallons per hour or so just tone safe. On my 30 gallon tank I use 2 filters, one rated for a 30-55 gallon tank and another rated for 15-20 gallons for a total of around 450-500 gph if I remember correctly. I have 3 green spotted pufferfish, and while they are smaller than goldfish now they are similarly messy fish. Like goldfish they tend to be a bit messy with their food and they output a lot of waste. With my two filters I don't need to change as much water as often as I would with a smaller filter. Over filtration is a very good thing, especially in an overstocked tank like yours.
Thinking of goldfish and their messy eating habits... Do you feed them blanched veggies along with their staple flake or pellet diet? They really love veggies and they are very good for them. And another thing - goldfish love eating aquarium plants, but if you can get some fast growing stem plants in there that would help remove some of your nitrates as well. Sorry for the long answer to a simple question, but I hope I helped!

 

[scooter2210]

Thanks heaps for the info, I really appreciate it. Yes I did upgrade the filter too. I purchased a second hand canister filter rated at approx 396 gph. I have seeded it with everything out of the 17 gal's tank. I have some more space in the filter for bio media and I have heard that pot scrubbies work good. I have been looking for them but I can't seem to find them here in oz so I had the idea of using those mesh shower/body scrubbers instead. What do you think?
I do want to get some plants for the tank but dont have adequate lighting yet. What are some good ones to get for goldfish and are easy to look after?
Their diet consists of floating granules, shelled peas about once a week, frozen blood worms probably about once every 2weeks. I tried them on some broccoli but they didn't like it and when we had heaps of rain I come across some tiny earth worms which they gobbled up in no time at all. I rinsed them off in a cup of tank water to clean them up first.
I will google a DIY water changer and see if it's easy to do.
Thanks again.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Thanks heaps for the info, I really appreciate it. Yes I did upgrade the filter too. I purchased a second hand canister filter rated at approx 396 gph. I have seeded it with everything out of the 17 gal's tank. I have some more space in the filter for bio media and I have heard that pot scrubbies work good. I have been looking for them but I can't seem to find them here in oz so I had the idea of using those mesh shower/body scrubbers instead. What do you think?
I do want to get some plants for the tank but dont have adequate lighting yet. What are some good ones to get for goldfish and are easy to look after?
Their diet consists of floating granules, shelled peas about once a week, frozen blood worms probably about once every 2weeks. I tried them on some broccoli but they didn't like it and when we had heaps of rain I come across some tiny earth worms which they gobbled up in no time at all. I rinsed them off in a cup of tank water to clean them up first.
I will google a DIY water changer and see if it's easy to do.
Thanks again.

Sounds like you've got everything under control now. Well done! Port scrubbies aren't available here in oz. I got some off a guy selling them on eBay. I'm not sure if body scrubbers would work or not. Sponge works fine as biomedia.
Some good goldfish proof (well sort of) plants are anubias, java fern, swords and elodea. They like to munch on the elodea but it grows so fast it doesn't matter.
I made a water changer out of an old gravel vac, long bit of garden hose and a couple of hose fitting to join it all together. Cost me $2 in parts.

(what happened to your name? The new one threw me off...)

 

[scooter2210]

Hi there Mumma. Sorry about the name change. I did that a couple of weeks ago. I wanted something a little less personal than what I had before.
I'm sorry about my post a few days ago (if you seen it). Really bad form on my part. The ex does my head in sometimes.
Anyway, I really am trying to do the best I can now for my fish and even if I never get that huge tank that they need, I know that their water and diet will be good. Those things I can control without too much problem.
I hate watching TV and spend most of my spare time just sitting watching my fish....oh and telling my cockatiel (Scooter) to shut up....lol

 

[Alyxx]

Wow, I had no idea they didn't sell pot scrubbies in Australia, any reason why? Either way, a good sponge will work perfectly fine. Have you thought about hanging the old filter on the tank with new media in addition to the canister? It could only help.
By the way, this thread makes me think of how much self control I had earlier to not pull children aside who had won some comet goldfish at the festival I was working at this weekend and explain that their new little pet needs way more than a bowl... Just had to keep reminding myself that their parents probably would not appreciate it and I needed to just keep the traffic flowing where it needed to be going.
I'm happy you have been able to give your goldfish a nicer, healthier environment and that you were willing to do what you can to give them that. I'm always happy to help! If you can find those plants, I wish you the best of luck with them... goldfish seem to find most plants pretty tasty. Hopefully yours will have similar taste to mumma's and won't care too much for the ones she listed!

And as for your one snappy post, it happens sometimes. We have all had those days where our tempers run short and we take it out on the wrong people, and you're right, there really is no good excuse for it but it does happen.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi there Mumma. Sorry about the name change. I did that a couple of weeks ago. I wanted something a little less personal than what I had before.
I'm sorry about my post a few days ago (if you seen it). Really bad form on my part. The ex does my head in sometimes.
Anyway, I really am trying to do the best I can now for my fish and even if I never get that huge tank that they need, I know that their water and diet will be good. Those things I can control without too much problem.
I hate watching TV and spend most of my spare time just sitting watching my fish....oh and telling my cockatiel (Scooter) to shut up....lol

It's cool. We all have moments like that occasionally.

Alyxx - I've never ever seen them for sale. I've read a few threads about people not being able to find them. Must just be an American product. We have scrubby things but the are usually steel wool.

 

[scooter2210]

I don't know why pot scrubbies aren't available here in Australia. Pure ammonia is also hard to get.
I'm still using the original filter on the 17 gal. With new media though. I have 2 + a tiny baby yabbies (fresh water crayfish) in there now. I live in a semi rural area of Sydney and we have a dam (large pond) in the paddock. I caught them using some meat in a trap. But OMG, you's think that goldfish are messy!!!! These are 10 times as messy. More so on the mechanical media not so much on the bio.

 

[Alyxx]

Yeah, I've kept crayfish before. I know what you mean about the mechanical filter mess, they love to shred stuff and they don't eat half of what they shred up. They are fun, though. And as for the lack of pot scrubbies, you would think that some company out there would realize that they exist elsewhere and can be sold for a profit and they would jump on it, unless perhaps the reason is that some company over here holds some outrageous copyright that keeps other manufacturers from making a similar product... Although I must say, where I live you see the steel wool ones much more often than the plastic ones. And while thinking about that, another media idea struck me! Instead of synthetic sponge, perhaps cut up a natural loofah for a bio filter! I'm pretty sure you could fit that in a canister, and it is similar in texture to plastic pot scrubbies. I think a normal sponge may be a bit more porous, though.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I don't know why pot scrubbies aren't available here in Australia. Pure ammonia is also hard to get.
I'm still using the original filter on the 17 gal. With new media though. I have 2 + a tiny baby yabbies (fresh water crayfish) in there now. I live in a semi rural area of Sydney and we have a dam (large pond) in the paddock. I caught them using some meat in a trap. But OMG, you's think that goldfish are messy!!!! These are 10 times as messy. More so on the mechanical media not so much on the bio.

Lol! I use to keep yabbies as a kid. They are messy as!

 

[scooter2210]

Yeah I did think of the loofa sponge but I think it would end up costing more than just buying more bio balls or ceramic rings. I seem to think that normal sponge would impede the water flow but I haven't tried it so I don't really know.

 

[Alyxx]

Are they really expensive in oz? Here you might pay $3-5 for a nice sized 6" long one that could be cut up for a good bit of media.

 

[scooter2210]

Lol! I use to keep yabbies as a kid. They are messy as!

My profile picture is the baby. He is about an inch long. My kids named him Simba.

 

[scooter2210]

Are they really expensive in oz? Here you might pay $3-5 for a nice sized 6" long one that could be cut up for a good bit of media.

Not too sure really how much they cost. I was only assuming that they would cost a bit. The spare compartment in the canister is about a half foot square in diameter and about 3-4 inches deep. I will have a look though. I think they will be good too.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Simba! Lol. I see I'm not the only one with lion king fans at home.

I went to bunnings and got packs of car wash sponges for only a couple of bucks. You could cut them up into squares and stuff them in your canister. It works well. Don't use kitchen/bathroom sponges. They can antibacterial properties or be impregnated with soap.

 

[scooter2210]

Simba! Lol. I see I'm not the only one with lion king fans at home.

I went to bunnings and got packs of car wash sponges for only a couple of bucks. You could cut them up into squares and stuff them in your canister. It works well. Don't use kitchen/bathroom sponges. They can antibacterial properties or be impregnated with soap.

Thanks for that. I have used a green scourer (the ones without a sponge) in my HOB filter. I boiled it up first. I used that to help seed the canister. I couldn't think of anything else to use as there is only about a half inch of space behind the filters own bio cartridge.