Nitrite and Ph question

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This is especially true with ich which lives in substrate for a few weeks.

Ick is a parasite which mean it needs a host to live, normal strain ick(have not read any artical were someone was dealing with a different strain) only lives 2-4 days without a host. Not a few weeks. Different plants absorb different amount of ammo and nitrate. Its true plants are not the fix for nitrate but it helps just need the right plants. Also stocking, left over food also can contribute to access nitrates with in a tank.

If you get your plants from a tank with just plants in it, i would not worry to much. Might get some snails
 
Using plants for control of nitrates isn't nearly as effective as a lot of people think. I had a 29 that was filled with plants, good light, and fertilizers and it wasn't really touching my nitrate levels as I had to do a pwc twice weekly to keep my nitrates in check.
What did you have in your tank that required you to do pwc twice a week?
 
Ick is a parasite which mean it needs a host to live, normal strain ick(have not read any artical were someone was dealing with a different strain) only lives 2-4 days without a host. Not a few weeks. Different plants absorb different amount of ammo and nitrate. Its true plants are not the fix for nitrate but it helps just need the right plants. Also stocking, left over food also can contribute to access nitrates with in a tank.

If you get your plants from a tank with just plants in it, i would not worry to much. Might get some snails

Ich is a parasite that has 3 distinct stages to its life cycle.

1. The stage that the fish is infected which is the only time you can see it.
2. The parasite leaves the host and settles onto the substrate or decorations and multiplies.
3. Parasite releases from its protective shell and becomes free swimming. This is when it needs to find a host or it dies.

The whole process takes about 2 weeks.


What did you have in your tank that required you to do pwc twice a week?

I had a fairly overstocked 29g and a bad habit of overfeeding due to being new to the hobby.
 
Ich is a parasite that has 3 distinct stages to its life cycle.

1. The stage that the fish is infected which is the only time you can see it.
2. The parasite leaves the host and settles onto the substrate or decorations and multiplies.
3. Parasite releases from its protective shell and becomes free swimming. This is when it needs to find a host or it dies.

The whole process takes about 2 weeks..

Prob should have mention that temp plays a factor in this life cycle, normal temp the life cycle of ick takes about 4 days, this cycle would be longer at cooler temp, why they suggest to increase the temp to 86 to increase the life cycle of ick and reduce the time it has to infect a host. There has been server articles that have said that ick can't infect a host at higher temp above 86 but would put a lot of stress and discomfort on the fish.

I think this conversation should be Continued in another thread or pm for this does not meet the intent of the poster thread.
 
I'll see if my LFS can give me some gravel from his tanks, he's a pretty nice guy. How much gravel do you suspect I'll need for a 10 gallon to help cycle it, just any amount? I did pwc weekly, but didnt know id need more when cycling ive started to do more recently but levels are still high im starting to do 1-2 a day, also do you know of any articles or good forums I can read about fish-in cycles? So I don't read some misleading info, if not ill just look around. Thanks for all the help it's much appreciated!


To seed a tank with BB just get a filter bag and put a few handfulls of gravel into it. Just be sure to keep the gravel moist or the bacteria will die off. If you already have nitrate production this step should be unnecessary.

Doing a fish in cycle is a fairly cut and dry process. Some people think its inhumane on the fish, others say its not a big deal. Personally, as long as tank parameters are kept in check I don't think that its harmful except to the most sensitive fish. It can take a month or two to get the whole process finished but just keep doing what you're doing and it will turn out fine.

I think this conversation should be Continued in another thread or pm for this does not meet the intent of the poster thread.

Agreed.
 
agreed it takes longer doing a fish-in cycle because you are performing a lot more pwc vs the fishless cycle, the fact as he stated you have nitrate so your near the end of the cycle. just a little bit longer then happy fish keeping
 
Did another test today ammonia 0 nitrites 1.6-3.3 the colour seemed closer to 1.6 tho. Nitrates at about 20-50 again closer to 50 probably. Lost another tetra, a little upsetting...hopefully the store I bought them from will give me a store credit for their 7 day health thing rather then just more fish so I can wait for it to be fully cycled. I use the Hagen water test kit does anyone have any experience with it cause usually when I see people talking about tests it's always that API test kit.
 
API is the baseline for what people use for testing kits. It's cheap, easily obtainable, and fairly accurate. I'm not sure about the Hagen test kits, I've never even seen them before. That being said Hagen doesn't make terrible products so I'm sure its an effective kit.

Sorry about another loss of fish :(
 
Alright well ill just keep doing the water changes the nitrites don't seem to be maxing out anymore so hopefully I'll be cycled soon thanks again for all th help guys much appreciated
 
Got a new tank, 20 gallon, cause I found out my 10 was leaking at the bottom (darn walmart tanks...should've read the reviews...) anyway I tested ammonia 0 nitrites 0.3 nitrates 10 got my old filter hooked to the tank along with a marina 20s power filter...hoping for the best and that my numbers stay low. Will test again in the morning, loving the bigger tank so far! Came with fluorescent light fixture in the hood too so I can hopefully start growing plants. The hornwort looks great got some marimo moss balls too :D
 
Got a new tank, 20 gallon, cause I found out my 10 was leaking at the bottom (darn walmart tanks...should've read the reviews...) anyway I tested ammonia 0 nitrites 0.3 nitrates 10 got my old filter hooked to the tank along with a marina 20s power filter...hoping for the best and that my numbers stay low. Will test again in the morning, loving the bigger tank so far! Came with fluorescent light fixture in the hood too so I can hopefully start growing plants. The hornwort looks great got some marimo moss balls too :D

Good plan! I love my plants :) take a look at plants with a low light requirement. Those are about all that a t8 can handle. Be careful though, plants are addictive. I started out with low light plants and next thing I know I've invested $150 in a light to grow higher light requirement plants along with fertilizers and a carbon source :)
 
Good plan! I love my plants :) take a look at plants with a low light requirement. Those are about all that a t8 can handle. Be careful though, plants are addictive. I started out with low light plants and next thing I know I've invested $150 in a light to grow higher light requirement plants along with fertilizers and a carbon source :)

I eventually want to have what you got going, wide variety of plants and just cover my aquarium in them aha but I'm going to wait and make sure I can handle easy to care for plants first before I get there seeing how moving fast into the hobby didn't seems to work out so well to begin with aha..
 
I eventually want to have what you got going, wide variety of plants and just cover my aquarium in them aha but I'm going to wait and make sure I can handle easy to care for plants first before I get there seeing how moving fast into the hobby didn't seems to work out so well to begin with aha..



Good plan. I'm having some sizable issues with a few of my plants atm and don't really know how to fix it. Not to mention that I killed a few plants due to using the wrong carbon source. It seems that it would be simple to keep plants alive but sadly it seems that they can be just as difficult as the fish sometimes.. lol
 
Well hopefully you figure out how to fix your issues with the plants :) so I tested my water this morning and again ammonia 0 nitrites 0.3-0.8 range closer to 0.3 and nitrates 10-20 range, closer to 10. Should I just leave the water as is and let it cycle out the rest of the nitrites or will a partial water change help bring the nitrites down?
 
It wouldn't hurt to do another water change. The nitrites are being continuously produced so there won't be a shortage for bacteria to consume. I am going to try giving my plants more light. I am building a Cree led fixture for my 10g betta tank and will move the plants in there to see if it helps.
 
It wouldn't hurt to do another water change. The nitrites are being continuously produced so there won't be a shortage for bacteria to consume. I am going to try giving my plants more light. I am building a Cree led fixture for my 10g betta tank and will move the plants in there to see if it helps.

Yea i ended up doing another change. Bought some more hornwort and got some anubius along with two albino corydoras too they are the cutest aha gunna get a third when i find another. Nitrites are still around 0.3-0.8 before the change. Having high light means you need co2 right? sorry if theres any spelling errors my phone sucks aha.
 
Yea i ended up doing another change. Bought some more hornwort and got some anubius along with two albino corydoras too they are the cutest aha gunna get a third when i find another. Nitrites are still around 0.3-0.8 before the change. Having high light means you need co2 right? sorry if theres any spelling errors my phone sucks aha.

To create a proper balance with high light you should dose a fertilizer and co2 of some form. I use the liquid kind but that tends to kill Vals from my experience. What light are you running on your tank?
 
To create a proper balance with high light you should dose a fertilizer and co2 of some form. I use the liquid kind but that tends to kill Vals from my experience. What light are you running on your tank?

I got a 15 watt fluorescent sun-glo bulb on my tank. I feel like I should have more light tho? Like another 15 watt. I ordered 2 15s when I had my 10 gallon and they are screw in bulbs so I think I'm just going to use a lamp and put one of them in it when they arrive. What brand of fertilizer do you use, or have you heard of the seachem flourish tabs? Are tabs better then the liquid stuff? Cause I want to get jungle Val eventually.
 
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