Old and New Tank Syndromes

[Magicmarymac]

First, I want to thank everyone on this forum for all of your advice. I followed up on that advice and did lots and lots of reading, which led to some thoughts.

1. I am nearly positive that my original 12-gallon tank, (and the 24 fish within), suffered from Old Tank Syndrome. This was new to me. I had too many fish, but they seemed "happy" -- in spite of very few PWCs.

2. For my birthday, the beginning of October, I got a new 36 gallon tank and, at the advice of a friend, siphoned up 50-60% the nasty, nearly black "water" from the gravel of the 12 gallon tank to help cycle the new tank. Truthfully, this DID result in a whole bunch of immediate nitrates in the 36...

3. In spite of having two tanks, I still HAD too many fish, so a bunch were returned this weekend, including a common pleco that had been sold to me as a BN.

4. So now, both tanks have readings that are stable, (see below), the tanks are not overstocked according to the calculator, (see profile), they are now newly planted, and my Python is repaired so the PWCs are now possible.

I thank you all again for your patience with me--I may be old, but I am learning... ... and I welcome your comments.

Mary


PH
Tap: 7.4
12: 7.4
36 7.4

AMMO: All zero

Nitrite: All zero

Nitrate
Tap 3 (estimate, it's hard to read)
12 20
36 40

 

[librarygirl]

Good job! The tank stocking looks much better; maybe a tad too many schools in the 36 but nothing detrimental and you might have some aggression amongst the gouramis but just keep an eye on them. Nitrates are on the borderline side for the 12 and bordering too high on the 36. If your tap is only 3 nitrate then you'll want to increase your water changes and make sure you're sucking up waste from the bottom. As long as the other parameters stay at 0, I'd advise a 50% water change weekly on each tank as good maintenance. This should keep your nitrates down unless you're overfeeding.

 

[Magicmarymac]

Thank you for responding!


I had just done an 80% pwc on the 12, which may explain the readings, but I will continue to test and do pwc.

By the way, how do I clean the gravel now that both tanks are planted?