Recent content by shellieca

I would let the water test tell you when to do the water change. I did a 50%+ if my ammonia or nitrites were >.25 or if my nitrates were >20.

The best advice I have is . . . . don't make it too complicated or stressful. Have you test your tap water? I would start with that as it could have some ammonia in it. I suggest you test only every 24 hrs unless you have something extraordinarily high. I don't know all of your tank parameters...

How much ammonia are you talking about? If your tanks are fully cycled they should be processing out the ammonia within 24 hrs so it shouldn't be an issue. On a mature tank the weekly water changes are more about nitrates typically.

Welcome. In order to cycle the tank properly you need to supply an ammonia source; pure ammonia, fish food, raw shrimp, a fish; otherwise the BB will not build up. I personally am a fan of sponge filters for Betta tanks that are 10g or less. I wouldn't add any tank mates in a 3.3g tank. Most...

Glad to hear there has been movement. Its tough to be patient with it sometimes. Keep us posted.

Welcome & congrats on the larger tank. In fish cycling can take 6-8 wks, give or take. My 46g bow front if I remember correctly took 6 wks with me doing 50% +/- water changes every 2-3 days depending on test results. Nitrites on this tank showed up about 4 wks into the process. I would recommend...

What is the food you're feeding him? Some foods are larger in size than others & some swell more in their tummies than others will. I feed my Bettas New Life Spectrum, 5-6 pellets once a day, if I feed Omega One I feed a little less because the pellets are larger. Neither of these tend to swell...

Yes you can add it with fish in the tank. Keep in mind it does NOT remove ammonia only converts it to a less toxic form for 24-48 hrs which means you still need to do water changes. You still need to find the reason your ammonia is so high. I'm not familiar with your full story so not sure what...

Its not out of the question to see nitrates early, if I remember correctly I did. Personally, just keep testing & do the necessary water change since you have fish. Don't sweat it too much.

Have you tested your tap water? Sometimes there's nitrate in it & that could be what you're getting when you test.

What kind of test kit are you using, liquid or strips? What sized tank & what is the filtration? When you say clown pectis do you mean clown pleco? If so, my udnerstanding is that they are messy fish & therefore are probably the reason for the ammonia spike. The cloudiness is typically a...

I would be cautious about adding fish, only a few at a time. 2 Barbs in a ~23g may not be producing enough ammonia to feed much BB & the little bit of seeding you did is fine for them. Adding fish may overwhelm what BB you do have. Just make sure you continue to test, especially after adding...

I think this is getting off topic & some comments are a little rude. To the OP, because you have seeded media in your filter there should be little to no cycle to have to worry about. Whether you do fish LESS or fish IN, IMO, doesn't matter. Fish IN works fine, its what I've always done. I...

Does not look like 0 nitrites to me. I'd say you've had some progress. :-)

I see you're using seeded media from a smaller tank but what is your ammonia source in the new tank to keep feeding the BB? In order to build up the proper amount of BB in the larger tank you'll need to properly dose it with ammonia. Nitrites should process out & sense you are doing a fishLESS...