Just curious if there is anything I should fix?

[noteworthy]

Recently I've setup a 29 gallon tank about seven days ago. I added the water and 'anti' chloramine/chlorine pouch for the tank. About four days ago I bought three platies and acclimated them by adding a cup of water every 20 minutes (five times) - (Should I try the drip method? - I buy fish about 40 miles away from home). Unfortunately one of my cats snuck up when I wasn't watching and jumped 4 1/2 foot up into the air and ate one of my platies. So I added the two remaining platies and they seem to be doing fine. They have their fins spread out and stopped hiding as much.

Here are the tests I've done:

2/19
Ph Test - 8.0
Ammonia - 2.0 ppm

2/22
Ph Test - 7.8
Ammonia - 3.0 ppm
Nitrite - .05 ppm
Hardness - 179 ppm

I haven't removed any water yet. I'm wondering if I should or not. If I remove some water it will lower the Ammonia levels but it will also cause the cycle to take longer.(what i've heard)

I do want to make this a community fish tank and have somewhere between 12-18 fish in the tank. There is a 10-30 gal submersible heater installed and keeping the tank at 78F. The filter is a whisper 30 suitable for 15-30 gallon tanks.

This is the second fish tank I've owned. I have a 5 1/2 in the bedroom but doesn't have any fish either atm.

Is the filter enough? Do I need to do water changes? I've also been told to do about 20-25% water changes once a month once I've cycled the tank.


Thanks

 

[Allivymar]

What type of water conditioner do you use? Some can give false positives for ammonia. As for water changing and slowing down the cycle, the point of the cycle is to have a biological filter to remove ammonia and nitrites, as ammonia and nitrites are deadly to fish. If you don't have a mature biological filter yet, you will still want to remove them. Better to have a longer cycle then dead fish *grin* Most of us here do weekly water changes; fresh clean treated water is ALWAYS a good thing! Keep in mind, whatever you add to the tank stays there unless you remove it (even food, although in a different form *grin*). Its necessary to remove it otherwise you'll wind up with really high nitrate levels. Its ok to have some nitrates, but its best to keep them under 40ppm.

The tank is certainly big enough for a community tank, depending on what type of fish you'd like to add. Some may wind up too big, others need more space, still others are too agressive. What sort of fish are you interested in? And what is your pH level; that too will help determine the best type of fish for your tank.

Lastly, the platys MAY preclude adding more fish. Live bearers breed like bunnies; unless you have 2 males in there, you may wind up with a million babies!

 

[Devilishturtles]

I second what allivymar said, your ammonia levels are way to high. Don't worry about slowing down the cycling process, you need to save your fish

Anyways, as for the filter...look on the box and see how many gallons per hour it puts out. A filter should put out enough gallons to turn over your tank 6 times. That would mean that you should have:ulls out calculator:: one that puts out atleast 174 gallons per hour, but more is better. It is a judgment call really. If it keeps your water clean, and a good water flow going, keep it. If it doesn't get another, it'll never hurt

Also, you should do water changes (20%-30%) every two weeks atleast. HTH some!

 

[noteworthy]

I'm using 'AquaSafe' water conditioner, but I've also bought some called 'Start Right' - Ph is around 7.8 right now.

I think both platies are female because I can't see an altered anal fin.

The pouch was only enough to treat 25 gallons so it didn't cure the whole amount of water.

At what level of ammonia should I change water? or should I just do regular water changes? If so, how often? This tank has never been cycled.

I'm thinking about adding some danios and other types. not quite sure which tho.. any suggestions?


I figured other fish would eat the babies once I've gotten the tank establish (if they were breeding like bunnies)

 

[Allivymar]

Lessee...

Looks like your ammonia levels are true, especially since you haven't water changed yet (they would have either reduced, or remained the same if it were the dechlor), although I'm surprised to see levels like that with so few fish in so much water. You'll want to keep ammonia levels below .5 ppm; 1.0ppm may not kill a fish, but will stress it and that opens the door to disease. You'll also want to keep the nitrite levels below .5ppm as well.

Make sure to use the correct amount of water treatment stuff; chlorine and chloramine are also bad for fishies. Better to overdo it then under (overdoing it won't hurt the fish).

Don't be surprised to see babies despite likely having 2 females. Female livebearers can store sperm and have babies a month or 2 later! And there is no guarantee other fish will eat em; I've often seen goldfish in tanks with oscars. The goldfish were supposed to be food, but the oscar for some reason didn't eat a particular few. And with just one male platy surviving, there is the source for new fry!

Also, make sure not to add anymore fish until you get your QT tank; it would suck to get the main tank all cycled, and wind up having to treat the tank cause some new fish were carrying disease.

 

[Devilishturtles]

LOL, we posted at the same time...

Anyways, Aquasafe and startright are both good, start right I believe is better for your un-cycled tank because it contains electrolytes and some other beneficial stuff. You shouldn't have to test ammonia that often in a cycled tank, but since you have an uncycled tank, I would test it often. Usually ammonia levels of .5 ppm or higher are enough to be harmful to the fish. Ammonia spikes quickly in an uncycled tank because there are no beneficial bacteria present to break it down. The more your fish excrete and produce waste, the higher your ammonia will get. Danios are cool, some mollies or swordtails would be cool too if you want to keep a livebearer tank, however, they will have babies like WOAH!!

As long as you provide lots of plants and stuff, most of the fry will survive after birth. If you want a schooling fish, try some rasboras, they are cool. There are alot of possibilities. Ok, I've written enough, time to go to bed

 

[noteworthy]

My test kit shows the ammonia level may surge to 6 or more in a new tank until the biological filter becomes established. I used stress zyme when first adding the fish. It states to add another 2 full doses... one 7 days from inital usage and once 14 days later. The Stress zyme is suppose to speed up the presence of a biological filter?

I'm currently adding water back (25% change) into my tank and will measure the levels again to see if my kit is screwy?!? The ammonia guide is in increments of 2... it goes 0,2,4,6,8,10 maybe it means .0 .2 .4 .6?

I have the 'Freshwater Master Liquid Test Kit..' by Aquarium pharmaceuticals, inc.



it does seem odd to have only 2 platies and have such a high ammonia rate in 4 days...

 

[noteworthy]

Well I just checked the Ammonia after 25% water change... it's right around 2 ATM... maybe it hasn't had enough time to circulate? Guess I should do daily changes for a little while

 

[Endgame319]

Sounds strange going up in large increments like that, maybe its measuring it in something else? try to find out if it does. Ammonia should never be allowed to get to 6 in an aquarium, that is very dangerous to fish. My guess is that your test kits arent measuring in ppm, remember ppm is mg/kg or ml/kl (correct me if i'm wrong).

 

[noteworthy]

It does measure in ppm.. (shows .25, then .5, 2, 4, 6, 8 on the meter) it does seem very odd to still be high.. the fish seem okay.

My filter does about 4 times my tank which is inadequate... what would be the best type of filtration for me? A penguin 330 biowheel does 11.37 times my tank. Would this be too much?

Is it really worth going for a canister filter?

 

[Menagerie]

Canisters are wonderful, but so are bio wheels--I have both. Canisters are running in the 80 gal and 29 gal tanks, the bio wheel is on the 10 gal. Since you mentioned a cat, I will tell you that my three cats go out of there way to drink from the fish tanks--having a canister has cut down on that (at least there's less room to get a paw in!).
The one thing I learned in this hobby is HAVE PATIENCE! Once the tank is cycled, then you can add your fish. Take a look at the fish in my sig--they are all colorful, easy to keep fish and most of them have been with me for over a year. (FYI--my tank is overstocked right now because 4 fish need to grow up before moving to the 80 gal and I am upgrading to a 50 gal in the near future.)
If you are thinking of a community tank, there's so much to choose from. My favorites are the dwarf cichlids (rams and brichardi)--colorful and peaceful!

 

[Menagerie]

One other thing--research the fish you plan on buying, before you buy!

 

[noteworthy]

Do you think a penguin 330 bio wheel is too much for my 29 gallon tank?

I was thinking about using my current whisper 30 (140 gph) in a quarantine tank.. but would 140 be too much for a 10 gallon? Could I divert the water flow to be less stressful?