50% followed by another 50% or 50% 2 days in a row? Also does Prime detoxify ammonia and nitrite for 48 hours making higher readings safe? Not a substitute for water changes, but making it safer for fish in between? 50% water change and dose of prime dropped Nitrite to .50ppm. thanks again, learning lots
First fish added, 1 died while floating in bag...
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King Fisher
Aquarium Advice Addict
It can affect the readings for up to 48 hours. Ammonia is converted to ammonium. I don't think test kits differentiate between the two. Nitrites can be lowered after use of prime.
Back to back 50% water changes if you want to lower ammonia, nitrites and nitrates quickly. If your readings are really high that even might not be enough.
I think you're on the right track with the frequent water changes and dosing Prime every 48 hours.
Back to back 50% water changes if you want to lower ammonia, nitrites and nitrates quickly. If your readings are really high that even might not be enough.
I think you're on the right track with the frequent water changes and dosing Prime every 48 hours.
So it has been a week now with ammonia at 0ppm, Nitrites at .25ppm-.50ppm and Nitrates at 5ppm. Nothing I do seems to get the Nitrites to go down at all, just kind of stuck. I have been doing 50% water changes every other day, readings kind of just stay the same, maybe I am color blind or Nitrite test isn't accurate. To add to the sage, I found a local guy who has been into the fish hobby for 40 years or so and brings in some rare fresh water fish varieties. I have been chatting with him, and getting some Neon Blue Platies today, and he is giving me a bunch of bio media from one of his tanks. He figures this will solve my problem very quickly and fish should be safe. All fish he brings in are treated in hospital tanks before he sells them and his setup is immaculate. Looking forward to doing business with him in the future.
King Fisher
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you add the Bio media from his established tank it should cycle your tank within 48 hours. Good deal for you.
I know right. Amazing guy, his main tank is over 500 gallons and loaded with fish. I picked up 4 Platies and he gave me a bag of his bio media to add to my filter. I did a 50% water change this morning before I went to get the new fish and tested water before. 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite, and 5ppm Nitrate. Next few days will be interesting. How often should I test water with new fish added in your opinion?
King Fisher
Aquarium Advice Addict
Dream tank.
Test your water daily for a week. Then if everything is good up until day 7 do weekly 40-50% water changes. Stick with that regime and you more than likely won't have any problems if your tank is stocked properly, not overstocked.
Test your water daily for a week. Then if everything is good up until day 7 do weekly 40-50% water changes. Stick with that regime and you more than likely won't have any problems if your tank is stocked properly, not overstocked.
Great news!
So update time. Things seemed to be on track, the extra bio balls didn't help that much, maybe they were to new and didn't have much bacteria on them ( found a few snails on them couple days ago, but thats another story). So things seemed to be going swimmingly, ammonia at 0ppm, Nitrites between about .25ppm. I have been doing 50% water changes every other day and 25% in between, thinking this may have slowed the cycle from completing I tried stopping water changes and dosing prime about every 36 hours. 3 days no water change yesterday 0ppm ammonia, .25ppm nitrite, 5ppm nitrates. Today I did my daily check of water and ammonia is 0ppm, nitrite jumped to 2.0ppm. Not sure what happened. I completed a 50% water change and dosed with Prime. I have not changed anything in tank. Only thing I did was last water change 3 or so days ago, I did a really good gravel vac to get rid of waste thinking that was preventing the cycle from completing. Maybe I cleaned it too well and got rid of some beneficial bacteria that was growing in the gravel?
King Fisher
Aquarium Advice Addict
You don't want to do deep gravel vacs.
so did I just set my cycle back a couple of weeks or days? Are you supposed to just vacuum top part of gravel and not push tube down into gravel too far. I have seen a lot of videos where they are vacuuming the gravel and poke the tube down pretty deep. I thought I would be getting the waste out and any uneaten food up.
King Fisher
Aquarium Advice Addict
For your situation I would lightly vacuum the top of your gravel. Don't push it down into the gravel bed or to the bottom.
You can do periodic deep cleaning. Like 2-3 times a year. When you do this just deep clean 1/3 of the tank. The next week do another 1/3 and so on until it's totally cleaned. Don't deep clean all at once.
You can do periodic deep cleaning. Like 2-3 times a year. When you do this just deep clean 1/3 of the tank. The next week do another 1/3 and so on until it's totally cleaned. Don't deep clean all at once.
So trying everything right now. Trying to do less water changes and use Prime thinking that may have affected things. Yesterday did a 25% water change Ammonia and Nitrite were at around .50ppm slightly less. This morning Nitrite was between .50 and 1.0ppm and Ammonia was about .50ppm. Did a 50% water change currently as expected Nitrite and Ammonia are about .25ppm, dosed tank with Prime. I have added a sponge to HOB filter at intake and at bottom of basket along with bio balls I received from guy I got fish from and a small bag of ceramic bio media. Temperature of tank is about 74 degrees, thinking may not be warm enough for bacteria turned it up to 77 and see if that helps. Fish are happy, full of energy and eating well (keeping that to once a day right now). Not that I think it matters, the Danio had babies, saw them swimming around in bucket doing a water change, not big enough to affect things I would imagine as they are the size of an eyelash right now. I have a mountain type decoration in tank that is hollow inside, thinking of sticking some ceramic media inside to try and increase more surface area for bacteria to grow on (thoughts). Where the tank was at previously I think the gravel cleaning I did set the tank bank weeks and now playing catch up again.
You can start growing more BB on a bag of media. I used to always have a bag hanging in the back of the tank behind plants or DW when I was always ready to add a new tank, it would be ready. A handy item to place it in in the netting from the produce section for garlic or tomatoes, lemons, anything mesh. Rinse well and if not organic just soak in Prime for an hour.
The decoration placement (not exactly sure how you were thinking to put it in there) could limit the aeration and that can limit BB growth as water flow and O2 is important for the BB. Stagnant location can cause dead spots/black/ rotting space from anaerobic pockets/lack of O2.
The decoration placement (not exactly sure how you were thinking to put it in there) could limit the aeration and that can limit BB growth as water flow and O2 is important for the BB. Stagnant location can cause dead spots/black/ rotting space from anaerobic pockets/lack of O2.
