Newish and in need of help!

[Amirrorsj3909]

Hi Everyone,

I have been having some issues with my 20 gallon long aquarium recently (one and a half weeks). I set it up at the beginning of february this year (fish in cycling against my better judgement and hindsight with one of my LFS advice). It was cycled fully in two and a half to three weeks. I tested with API liquid test kit. For some unknown reason though something has gone wrong and I'm getting weird readings on my test kit. My water looks cloudy as well. I know the tests are not wrong as my fish are showing severe signs of stress (four platy and two mollies now that one has passed on and a pleco). I'm wondering if it is due to the fact that i can't really clean my floramax substrate as well as i would like with my siphon pump during water changes. I do regular filter maintenance, one filter at a time every two weeks, on my penguin 350. The ph is 7.6 constantly with Api Salt and hard water in my area. My parameters are as follows: ammonia is in between 0-.25 (more zero maybe due to free harmless ammonia), nitirites 1.0 (up from .5 last night), and nitrates 10-20 (up from 5-10 last night). I'm at a loss and don't know how to fix it. I use prime and stability if adding that info helps. I want to see my fish get better and no more deaths. Should i get rid of my Substrate to allow for better siphoning. I only have two floating plants and two small patches of dwarf hair grass which I'd be okay with not having if need be. I love my fish, my only hobby and i couldn't stand to see something happen because of me.

 

[cgthebeast]

Not the substatre, I would bet money that by cleaning your filter, you getting rid of half of your bacteria every two weeks, thus causeing a bacteria bloom, or bb. I only rinse my filter media monthly in tank water that I had just drained to do a water change, you don't change filter pads that often. I also use a sponge in my filters, def invest in that as sponges are pourous and have a ton of surface area for bacteria.

 

[cgthebeast]

Not the substatre, I would bet money that by cleaning your filter, you getting rid of half of your bacteria every two weeks, thus causeing a bacteria bloom, or bb. I only rinse my filter media monthly in tank water that I had just drained to do a water change, you don't change filter pads that often. I also use a sponge in my filters, def invest in that as sponges are pourous and have a ton of surface area for bacteria.

Also, I would do a big water change to bring your levels down, like a 50%

 

[Amirrorsj3909]

Also, I would do a big water change to bring your levels down, like a 50%

So do a water change now and leave the substrate? I figured with my biowheels and fluval ceramic cylinders in my filter i was safe to change my filter pads. I gues i wont unless they fall apart from now on. Do i need to use activated carbon filters or can i take activated carbon out of the equation? Are those readings from the api test kit bad or do they just mean it is cycling again?

 

[cgthebeast]

So do a water change now and leave the substrate? I figured with my biowheels and fluval ceramic cylinders in my filter i was safe to change my filter pads. I gues i wont unless they fall apart from now on. Do i need to use activated carbon filters or can i take activated carbon out of the equation? Are those readings from the api test kit bad or do they just mean it is cycling again?

Carbon usally just polish the water and removes impurities. It's the foam or whatever in the front of it that works. And yeah your cycling agian, you should have 0 ammonia and nitrite and very low nitrate.

 

[Amirrorsj3909]

Carbon usally just polish the water and removes impurities. It's the foam or whatever in the front of it that works. And yeah your cycling agian, you should have 0 ammonia and nitrite and very low nitrate.

Okay. I also think i need to add in a second HOB that i can customize more to use in conjunction with the penguin biowheel 350. Can you recomend one that would allow for the activated carbon to be taken away from the equation?

 

[Mebbid]

Those readings aren't necessarily bad, but they aren't great. You will definitely want to get your nitrites down lower. The ammonia test can be finicky at low levels and can frequently give a false positive of 0.25. Regardless, even if your ammonia is 0.25 it's nothing to worry about.


Kick up the water changes to 50% and do them every time your nitrite or ammonia read 0.5ppm. You can do multiple water changes daily as long as you give it a few hours between the changes.

For filter suggestion: I am loving the fluval line of HOB filters. I think the C2 would be right up your alley.

How much of the salt are you using and what are you using it for?

 

[Amirrorsj3909]

Those readings aren't necessarily bad, but they aren't great. You will definitely want to get your nitrites down lower. The ammonia test can be finicky at low levels and can frequently give a false positive of 0.25. Regardless, even if your ammonia is 0.25 it's nothing to worry about.


Kick up the water changes to 50% and do them every time your nitrite or ammonia read 0.5ppm. You can do multiple water changes daily as long as you give it a few hours between the changes.

For filter suggestion: I am loving the fluval line of HOB filters. I think the C2 would be right up your alley.

How much of the salt are you using and what are you using it for?

I will definitely do that with the water changes. It is okay to do that while cycling right? I was using the api aquarium salt since i heard that platys and mollies prefer alittle. I only use one tablespoon per 10 gallons. I also read that it can help prevent fish illness. Am i wrong? I was thinking fluval but needed advice. Is it customizable with the media?

 

[cgthebeast]

I like aquaclear hob, I ran one on my 10g nano and now I run one on my 36g fw. And yeah molliea can be brackish, but they do just fine in freshwater. I only use salt if I'm treating sickness or sometime, bot all the time. I don't know about fluval, I've never used those filter products

 

[toolman]

Aquaclears.... will never buy another brand again. Aqueon...died, penguin....died, but my 4 Aquaclears are still going strong.

Have a 110 & 70 on my 75 gallon livebearer tank (no salt for my platys by the way) and a 70 &50 on my 55 gallon guppy mansion (still no salt even though I have mollies).

 

[Mebbid]

The aquaclears are definitely excellent filters. I have 3 of them. Currently in my oscar tank one is running next to my fluval. With a choice between the two, i am going with the fluval in the future.

 

[toolman]

Will have to try one then, no more aqueons or penguins definitely.

 

[Amirrorsj3909]

Thank you everyone for the fast responses! I went to petsmart down the road from me and i ended up going with the fluval line of filters after researching the fluval line. I ended up going with the fluval 306 canister filter due to space saving in and on the tank. I wanted to also customize it so i could make it purely a mechanical and bio filtration system. I opted not to use the included carbon bags and instead picked up a fluval polishing sponge pack and some eheim biofilter pearl medium. I also figured this was when i get new tanks i will always have cycled bio media. I really hope this works out. Im going to test my water again soon to hopefully see some improvements. I will let you all know how it goes. I'm using this in conjunction with my penguin biowheel 350.

 

[Amirrorsj3909]

I just did my parameters testing. The results were shocking and unbelievable. Ammonia 0ppm, nitrites 0ppm, and nitrates were between 5-20ppm! This is good right? Does this mean I'm at or close to the end of the cycling phase? If so, im wondering if it is due to adding of the new filter because the other couldn't keep up with the bioload (which i wasnt aware was high)! I also wonder if it could be that it suddenly cycled before I even added the new filter. I forgot to test before hand.

 

[toolman]

Your were probably going through what they call a mini cycle.
Imho you probably caused it changing the filter pads as someone earlier in post said.
A fully cycled tank will usually rebound pretty quick during a mini cycle, and you believe you were cycled fully.

 

[Amirrorsj3909]

Thank you for all of the information everyone. It put my mind at ease and my fish aren't stressed anymore. How much water should i change now that the tank is cycled again?

 

[flchamp89]

I would do at least 50 pwc every week. The last wc of each month I like to do a larger one.