Help New Tank, Newbie

[andy281]

Help New Tank, Newbie
I have a 40 Gallon Freshwater Tank with the following...
5- Live Plants
Fluval 405 Canister Filter
H.O T-5 Lighting that is on a 10 hr timer
two Air Stones
circulation pump
200W Heater

I have had the tank set up for 2 weeks so far I have lost two of four fish. I know my tank needs to cycle. I was using API Stress Coat, Stress Slyme and ammo lock to control the water parameters. I need help my water was cloudy about two days ago now that it has cleared up there is a strong sulfur "egg" smell coming from the water. I stopped using the API products and switched to Seachem - Prime, clarity, and stability because of the great things I have heard about them from the forums about a week ago.

My parameters
- Temp 80 F
-Ammonia between 4PPM and 8PPM often on the higher side
-Nitrate 0
-Nitrite 0
-PH 6

How can I fix my water parameters and the smell? I have read not to change the water because it will disrupt the cycle and have read to change 25% every day I have done a mix and haven't noticed a difference nothing has lowered the ammonia levels. Any and all advise is greatly appreciated

 

[phishiephishie]

During a fish in cycle you have to be changing the water pretty much every other day or whenever you get an ammonia or nitrite reading. Also, with that low of a ph beneficial bacteria pretty much stop multiplying. People use baking soda, crushed coral, or holey rock in order to help raise the ph but personally I have never had to use those methods so I can't offer much advice in that area. What kind of fish do you have in there

 

[andy281]

I had two black molly one died the first day the other 2 days ago. Currently its just two Black skirt Tetra left.

 

[Caliban07]

Ok well first thing I would do is buy some prime. I would then do 2 x 50% water changes adding the prime to the new water.

Fish, Prime and water changes are all you need to cycle the tank.

To check the cycle you will need an API master test kit.

When ph is that low the ammonia is non toxic.

If you do water changes the ph will go back up and make the ammonia toxic again.

Prime will keep the ammonia in non toxic to your fish for 24 hrs.

After you have done the water changes and added prime test the water again the next morning and see what your ammonia is. You may need to do more water changes with prime to safely bring the ammonia down.

You could also pour the tank water in to a bucket. Net the fish in.

Drain your tank fully. Re-fill it with temperature matched water. Add dechlorinator and follow the fish in cycling guide on the homepage of this forum. Overfeeding and stocking too quickly will have caused these problems.

 

[andy281]

ok think im going to drain the tank completely I am down to one tetra now... do I drain the water from the filter? or just the tank

 

[Caliban07]

ok think im going to drain the tank completely I am down to one tetra now... do I drain the water from the filter? or just the tank

Drain everything but don't use tap water without dechlorinating it first.

 

[andy281]

ok got it thanks .... from there where do I go once I replace the water and get everything back up and running?

 

[andy281]

ok so last fish died .... what now do I do fishless cycling? or get more fish?

 

[Caliban07]

ok so last fish died .... what now do I do fishless cycling? or get more fish?

The choice is yours. If you leave the filter sponges untouched then the cycle is going to go faster anyway as you will have built up bacteria already.

Fish in cycling can be done safely. All you need to do is stock SLOWLY. This can not be emphasised enough. Good fish to use to start the cycle are fish like zebra danios, harlequin rasbora, swordtails, guppies. If you were adding a schooling fish such as the harlequin then these need to be in groups of at least 6. I have 8 BUT I put 4 in for 2 weeks then another 4. That's it. It depends on the fish.

Write a list of fish you want to house in your tank and we can go from there. Or you can do a fishless cycle.

 

[Caliban07]

The term bioload is the amount of waste a fish excretes that puts a strain on the beneficial bacteria.

So fish urinate and poop. This is broken down in to ammonia. Ammonia is also a waste product from respiration the is comes directly from the gills.

Fish like plecs, mollies, platies and gold fish have a high bioload which means that the Ammonia output will be higher. That's no problem for a cycled tank with a fully grown bacterial colony but in a new tank with an only just starting to grow colony this can't be broken down and so the fish suffer.

Just think you would probably need 5-6 neon tetra to create the same bioload as a Molly. Maybe more to match a plec or goldfish.

Now think if you are feeding more than you should your fish will poop more often and hence more ammonia. Not only that. The food that evades the fish and sinks to the bottom will begin to rot which equals even more ammonia.

This is why it's important to keep feeding, stock and bioload to a minimum when fish in cycling.

You don't even really have to be concerned with how long the cycle takes. Technically the cycle will not complete until you have added your last fish.

You must observe water parameters very closely though and still do at LEAST 25% water changes every week or if ammonia rises above 0.25ppm

 

[newbie_dave]

I cycled my tank with 5 leopard danios I still have them and bought another five after cycle was done they are really lively and they do nothin but poop I was doing 50% water change every other day took it while but got there in the end with the fish unharmed

 

[andy281]

Caliban07,

ok so I tested my water after draining the tank and the filter here are my parameters
-temp 80
-ammonia 0.50PPM
-Nitrate 0
-Nitrite 0
-PH 6.8

I'm guessing the ammonia is from the left over water I couldn't get out (below the rocks)

I filled the tank and filter again the water is very cloudy now. I think I would like to do fishless cycle I am just anxious to get fish in and I have read its faster. Do you have and recommended articles on how to properly fishless cycle? I'm very new and completely lost haha

 

[Caliban07]

Hi Andy.

You need to test the ammonia from your tap to make sure it's not coming from there. Also test your tap water ph after it has been left on the side for 24hrs, this will give a true ph reading and ensure that there is nothing in the tank that is lowering your ph.

I suspect that your tap water kh may be low. Imagine kh (carbonate hardness) is a big sponge that absorbs acid away from the water. This stops ph going down the ph scale to acidic. If your sponge is only a small one it will not be able to absorb acids anymore so the water becomes more acidic and ph will drop.

The bacteria create acid and use bits of the sponge when they do there job. The fishless cycle requires you to add lots and lots of ammonia which means the bacteria will be very active. Be careful that the ph doesn't drop and stall the cycle again because the bacteria stop working at a ph of 6.0.

A good way to make your sponge (kh) bigger and keep ph stable is by adding crushed coral to the filter or in the water.

The fishless cycling guide is on the home page of this website on a desktop computer. I don't know how to link them on the iPhone.

Good luck

 

[Caliban07]

Also the cloudy ware is completely normal and is part of your new cycle. It will settle and the water will become crystal clear in less than a week.

 

[andy281]

Thanks for all the help I was getting very frustrated I am going today to get crushed coral so I can start fishless cycling. I was also talking with a friend who thinks that the fact my filter was used for salt water that I should replace all the filter medium all I did was rinse it off he thinks that could have contributed to my tank crash. Thank again for all the advise and encouragement. I will keep updating this forum with further questions and how my tank is doing.

 

[andy281]

More Help

So I had to go on a trip for work during the second week of my fishless cycling. I explain everything to my roommate and how to do it and how to test the water everyday. Well I got back and he didn't keep the ammonia up around 4PPM he let it go back to 0. Needless to say Im not happy. I got the doses it back up to 4PPM my parameters are bellow. My question is how bad are my parameters and how do I continue my cycling from here?

Temp -80
PH.7.6 ......As my pervious post when my tank crashed I have added live rock to combat my low PH but now its quite high
Ammonia- 0
Nitrate-80
Nitrite-5