SarahBear1009
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2015
- Messages
- 29
Hello everyone! I am new to this group and to fish-keeping, and I have some questions and concerns regarding my tank I have.
I have had this current tank up and running for about 3 weeks. It's a 55 gallon. The unfortunate part, is I am fresh new to fish-keeping and knew nothing about any aspect of it and relied on the advice I got from a LFS. Which come to find out with more research here and some other places that that wasn't the best idea.
So now I have a 55 gallon tank full of fish and in the middle of the nitrogen cycle.
Right now I am past the ammonia phase. That has been testing at 0ppm. (I did do one thing right it seems, and I bought the API Master Test Kit). My Nitrites are spiking, and I do have some elevated Nitrates (but my tap water has Nitrates in it as well, however my tank is registering with more Nitrates than my tap).
I have read that doing daily water changes are best to keep the nitrites under control, but how much water? I have read anywhere from 20% to 50%. I have Seachem Prime and have been using that the last few days my Nitrites have been spiking along with my daily water changes. (Right now I have only been doing about 30% water changes the past 2 days to keep the Nitrites low..) But I wasn't sure if that was good enough for a 55 gallon tank.
Also, would maybe adding Tetra Safe Start at this point do anything? I want as little harm done to my fishies as possible through this, so anything I can do to protect them, I want to do. I read that TSS can bring levels down low so that they are less harmful - but I wasn't sure how this would work mid-cycle.
Re-homing my fish too, isn't a possibility. I don't have a spare tank at the moment and do not know anyone who will take my fish temporarily (or even permanently). My LFS won't take fish either once it's past their return policy date. So I am stuck with my fish - which is why I wanna do the best by them. Obviously I shouldn't have got any to begin with, but being new I figured I was getting good advice from the LFS.
Right now I have:
5 male guppies
2 female mollies
One fathead Minnow
One Male Betta
6 Glow Light Tetras
4 Amano Shrimp
3 Peppered Cory Catfish.
I have learned so much just reading what I've been finding here and on the internet, I just wanna take the best course of action right now to help my fish through this.
Oh and I do know now (thanks to more research) that Cory's like to be in groups.. I was going to increase their numbers once my tank was cycled if I had enough room in my tank. Don't want to add more fish to this already trying process.
Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I very much appreciate it!
I have had this current tank up and running for about 3 weeks. It's a 55 gallon. The unfortunate part, is I am fresh new to fish-keeping and knew nothing about any aspect of it and relied on the advice I got from a LFS. Which come to find out with more research here and some other places that that wasn't the best idea.
So now I have a 55 gallon tank full of fish and in the middle of the nitrogen cycle.
Right now I am past the ammonia phase. That has been testing at 0ppm. (I did do one thing right it seems, and I bought the API Master Test Kit). My Nitrites are spiking, and I do have some elevated Nitrates (but my tap water has Nitrates in it as well, however my tank is registering with more Nitrates than my tap).
I have read that doing daily water changes are best to keep the nitrites under control, but how much water? I have read anywhere from 20% to 50%. I have Seachem Prime and have been using that the last few days my Nitrites have been spiking along with my daily water changes. (Right now I have only been doing about 30% water changes the past 2 days to keep the Nitrites low..) But I wasn't sure if that was good enough for a 55 gallon tank.
Also, would maybe adding Tetra Safe Start at this point do anything? I want as little harm done to my fishies as possible through this, so anything I can do to protect them, I want to do. I read that TSS can bring levels down low so that they are less harmful - but I wasn't sure how this would work mid-cycle.
Re-homing my fish too, isn't a possibility. I don't have a spare tank at the moment and do not know anyone who will take my fish temporarily (or even permanently). My LFS won't take fish either once it's past their return policy date. So I am stuck with my fish - which is why I wanna do the best by them. Obviously I shouldn't have got any to begin with, but being new I figured I was getting good advice from the LFS.
Right now I have:
5 male guppies
2 female mollies
One fathead Minnow
One Male Betta
6 Glow Light Tetras
4 Amano Shrimp
3 Peppered Cory Catfish.
I have learned so much just reading what I've been finding here and on the internet, I just wanna take the best course of action right now to help my fish through this.
Oh and I do know now (thanks to more research) that Cory's like to be in groups.. I was going to increase their numbers once my tank was cycled if I had enough room in my tank. Don't want to add more fish to this already trying process.
Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I very much appreciate it!
