Magoop
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2016
- Messages
- 23
So I've had this 10 gallon aquarium for about a month and a half now. For a while it was a bit rough because I had fish that were dying and despite my best efforts and those of my coworkers (I work at a pet store, I deal mostly with dogs and cats, but I love just about any critter). Our fish aren't always the hardiest because of vender issues, so most of the die off was attributed to that as all my parameters were WNL (within normal limits)
Now things seem pretty stable, nothing has died in over 2 weeks. In my attempts to find out why I cant seem to keep more than 4 fish, I've been doing very frequent water tests, usually about once every other day, or once a day.
The big issues seems to be that while my ammonia stays at 0, the nitrates and nitrites are usually in the mid range on my strips.
I'll stop babbling for a moment to give you guys my specifics and parameters.
10 gallon brackish tank (SG ranges from 1.010-1.008)
Current inhabitants: 4 male guppies, 1 nerite snail, 3 ghost shrimp
Plants: 2 marimo moss balls
Temp: 80 F
I am using API 5 in 1 strips
Latest readings after today's %25 water change:
General hardness: 180 ppm
Carbonate hardness: 80 ppm
pH: 6.5-7.0
NO2: 1-3 ppm
NO3 40-80 ppm (color is closer to matching the 40)
Filter: Top Fin power 10
I am currently feeding them a small amount of tropical fish flakes once a day, every few days making them fast.
For water dechlorinator I use SeaChem Prime, and use their Stabilize for bacteria.
I do frequent tests with the people over in aquatics, and the past few times ammonia has been 0. Last test with them was on Saturday.
Let me know if I need to tell you guys anything else. Thanks for any help!
Now things seem pretty stable, nothing has died in over 2 weeks. In my attempts to find out why I cant seem to keep more than 4 fish, I've been doing very frequent water tests, usually about once every other day, or once a day.
The big issues seems to be that while my ammonia stays at 0, the nitrates and nitrites are usually in the mid range on my strips.
I'll stop babbling for a moment to give you guys my specifics and parameters.
10 gallon brackish tank (SG ranges from 1.010-1.008)
Current inhabitants: 4 male guppies, 1 nerite snail, 3 ghost shrimp
Plants: 2 marimo moss balls
Temp: 80 F
I am using API 5 in 1 strips
Latest readings after today's %25 water change:
General hardness: 180 ppm
Carbonate hardness: 80 ppm
pH: 6.5-7.0
NO2: 1-3 ppm
NO3 40-80 ppm (color is closer to matching the 40)
Filter: Top Fin power 10
I am currently feeding them a small amount of tropical fish flakes once a day, every few days making them fast.
For water dechlorinator I use SeaChem Prime, and use their Stabilize for bacteria.
I do frequent tests with the people over in aquatics, and the past few times ammonia has been 0. Last test with them was on Saturday.
Let me know if I need to tell you guys anything else. Thanks for any help!