Search results

:whistle: I figured had sped things up by adding media from established tank. I guess I'm in for the long haul. The waiting game sucks. Day 15.

24 hours later, no change. Ammonia is steady at 2.0, no nitrites, nitrates 5.0. Maybe I should do another water change? On a positive note, my plants are growing gangbusters. Hades, the betta, is patiently waiting in his bowl, but I feel bad for him.

Oops. Yes, ammonia was 2.0. My bad!

This morning's reading: Ammonia 20.0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5 -- up a bit, this is the only change So several days of nitrite at 0. If that ammonia would start moving down, I'd rejoice!!

I'm going to give it an hour and retest the ammonia. I was pretty careful though.

That's a very good question! I have no idea! I haven't added anything - only did 2 25% water changes yesterday. There are several plants. So why the ammonia is going up instead of down is very confusing.

Boo! I think perhaps I've lost all progress. I did a 2nd water change yesterday to bring the ammonia to 1.0. 24 hours later the ammonia has risen again to 2.0, still 0 for nitrites and just a trace of nitrates now - between 0 and 5. The tank is really clearing up, all the cloudiness is...

Okay, I think your advice is good news for my first fishless cycle. It sounds like not all is lost. I think I'll check that I brought down the ammonia via the water change and wait until it's almost 0 before I add more. I'm so excited to get this tank up & running -- I sold my 46 g a couple...

Hoping someone might have some insight: I'm doing a fishless cycle in a Fluval Edge 5 gallon using pure ammonia (planted). I'm on day 10. 3 days ago, I added some media from trusted LFS. From day 1 I've kept the ammonia hovering around 4ppm. Both before and after I added the media from the...

I guess the long and the short of it is that I'm willing to spend more money to get a set up that doesn't involve me pulling out my hair trying to deal with algae, BGA and sitting by the tank for half an hour every few days trying to get the bubble counter right. I am realizing you get what you...

Thank Aqua_Chem. I'll try not to bother you after this: I have the citric acid/bicarbonate in pop bottles set up. It's okay, but not great. I get very frustrated trying to regulate the bubbles. Speeds up, slows down to nothing; it has a very inconsistent dial. I get by with it, but also...

Aqua Chem: Would you advise, then, that a pressurized system with EI (dry ferts) is the best route to take if I want to keep my fluval LED light? Would I get to grow more interesting plants and control the algae?

It's been 12 hours since I did a 33% water change and put the carbon back in. I did all my tests this morning: Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate Between 10-20 pH 6.6 KH 30 mg/L (ppm) - I think this is really low. ? GH 60 mg/L (ppm) Chelated Iron - 0.1 (also low I think) So my BB did just fine...

Regyan and Fresh 2o, do both of you use Metricide 14 instead of CO2 injection? Are you able to grow red plants? Also, doing some reading this afternoon about carbon, and wondering if that is part of my problem re. nutrients and phosphates... maybe I should use purigen instead? I'm hesitant to...

For ferts? I'm doing Flourish once a week. That's it. Yes, I agree citric acid/baking soda is amateur (but hey, that's what I have been so far - an amateur!). Am I getting the results I want? Well, no. Although all the easy to grow plants grow like crazy, I've repeatedly ripped out all...

Thanks aqua_chem for the input. I must be overfeeding, as I've cleaned/PWC my tank regularly. I also had 2 HOB filters running (now switched to Fluval 306 canister this week). For months I did maintenance once a week, then I was told that was overkill by people who say they are lucky if they...

Good morning. For some reason Jarrod, the link you added in your reply above about the filter product to limit phosphate is not showing up... could you repost the link or give me the exact name of the product and I'll google it and find it in Canada? Would you recommend not using carbon then?

Thank you so much for the help! I am intimidated by the new canister - afraid I will break it and flood my living room!! I will lift the white lever and unplug during PWC.

Given the test results and my antibiotics ending tomorrow, what sort of water change should I do before I put my carbon back in. You know, i LOVE my fish tank, but I am also getting really darn stressed about it!

According the AQ Advisor (which I checked today), my tank is stocked at 103% mostly with small schools of tetras - rosy, ember, cardinal, harlequins, but also have 2 german blue ram, 1 platy, 1 bristlenose pleco and now 2 siamese algae eaters. Just yesterday I took my 2 small clown loaches back...

Me again. Just tested my phosphate. My tap water as 0. My tank has 1.0 which boggles my mind because I've 3 25% water changes in the past week and I've barely been feeding them anything!! What gives??? Gah!! I don't have any phosphate removing pads in my new fluval canister... I just set...

This is very helpful... A few things. I have a sand bottom. I hover my aquavac over it as I clean. I clean and do a 25% water change every 2 weeks - maybe that isn't enough...?). I am pondering if I should switch to gravel... (but OMG, what a lot of work that would be). I am on day 3 of day...

Thank you so much for letting me know that Reygan!

Hmmmm - that must not be the problem, as my intake was below water the whole time; it was just a 25% water change. So, next time around, if I'm doing just a water change, I'd lift the aqua stop, then unplug. Would I think need to actually disconnect the hose?

Hi all - Just got a canister and read through all the instructions on how to do maintenance. (Eg. close aqua stop valve, unplug, then lift locking lever), but what about just a partial water change that doesn't involve maintenance. Do you just unplug it or do you have to close the aqua stop...