55G Aqueon Setup Advice

[spangler2k3]

Will do. Thanks so much for the help.. my son is almost 3 and he enjoys helping me test the water.. We have some fish In our sights to pick out in the next week or so..

Going to hold them in the small tank for a week or so before transferring

 

[Ceej]

Keep it up. Keep dosing ammonia until you see it disappear within 24 hours. You're almost there.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[spangler2k3]

Well I had a bonehead moment and need a small piece of advice on a suggestion.

I bought 2 pieces of Mopani wood for the 55g, one floated and one sank.. no big deal.. but the issue was that I forgot to boil to leech that color out before throwing it in the tank!



But on the bright side, after 48 hours, my ammonia is gone and I have nitrite and nitrates.. So im happy there.


So heres my question.
1. Should I re-dose ammonia to 2ppm and check to see if its gone tomorrow in 24 hours?
2. should I do anything about the off colored water at the moment?

Thanks in advance.. Almost there

 

[sinibotia]

Well I had a bonehead moment and need a small piece of advice on a suggestion.

I bought 2 pieces of Mopani wood for the 55g, one floated and one sank.. no big deal.. but the issue was that I forgot to boil to leech that color out before throwing it in the tank!



But on the bright side, after 48 hours, my ammonia is gone and I have nitrite and nitrates.. So im happy there.


So heres my question.
1. Should I re-dose ammonia to 2ppm and check to see if its gone tomorrow in 24 hours?
2. should I do anything about the off colored water at the moment?

Thanks in advance.. Almost there

Yup. Redose the ammonia! You are SO CLOSE!

The off colored water isn't harmful at all. In fact many intentionally leave their driftwood unboiled or even buy essentially a bottled form of the stuff that leaches from it- some fish LOVE it. (I have one tank where this is the case). If it bothers you you can remove it with water changes and just take out and boil the driftwood.

 

[spangler2k3]

Doesn't bother me one bit!
Redose 2ppm and check tomorrow.

Thanks.

Now for the tough question.
If im buying 8 glo fish at once would you suggest I get them from glo fish website? its free overnight shipping after 25$ which id surely surpass, and they have the colors I want
GloFish® - Experience the Glo!®

my LFS has a small selection of them

 

[sinibotia]

Depends on the weather. I dunno what it's like in PA right now. Do they do overnight shipping? What's their packing like? Shipping in winter is risky, you want to make sure you get overnight with lots of heat packs, and on a relatively warm day.

 

[spangler2k3]

Great question, it says overnight shipping, Weather is in the 30's in PA.. so kind of cold to be honest.. I could just ask the LFS to get some in and they can surely do that I would imagine?

 

[sinibotia]

Checked the site. It looks good to me; their 1-day guarantee means they either pack their fish well or lose a lot of money My recommendation is to hold out for a warm-ish Monday or Tuesday. That way if there are delays your fish isn't in limbo over a weekend.
And make sure you're there when the fish arrive.

Above 30 is fine. I'm in Maine so my definition of "warm" is skewed... I don't want fish moving if the temp is below 20 degrees. But for example it was around 30 degrees when I got my most recent pair of angelfish last month.

And yeah, if your LFS can get them in that's always an option

 

[Tropical Aquarist]

It's a really cool site, free shipping is pretty cool! I think they automatically ship only on Monday-Wednesday ... Plus the 14 day guarantee is nice.

Only thing is you can usually get them cheaper at petco and they have a 30gay money back guarantee.....

 

[spangler2k3]

Well i checked the tank after 24 hours and i still have a green 2ppm register of ammonia with .5 nitrite and .5 nitrate.. Letting it ride and checking tonight to see whats up.

 

[sinibotia]

Just keep it up

 

[spangler2k3]

Ph 7.0
Amm 0.25
Nitrite 0.50
Nitrate 5-10

Do nothing?
Re-dose ammonia?
Water change?

Thanks

 

[sinibotia]

How long has it been since you last dosed ammonia?

 

[spangler2k3]

48 hours ago I dosed it to 2ppm

 

[sinibotia]

Hmmmm.... I personally think you've got a strong enough biofilter for what you're adding to the tank. Keep in mind that processing 2ppm ammonia in 48 hours is still roughly twice what your fish will produce.

 

[spangler2k3]

If that's the case, I'll probably do a water change and add the 4 glo tetras, and get the other ones into the quarantine tank.

How much of a water change and what temp should I keep the tank at?

Thanks

 

[sinibotia]

If that's the case, I'll probably do a water change and add the 4 glo tetras, and get the other ones into the quarantine tank.

How much of a water change and what temp should I keep the tank at?

Thanks

A big enough change to get everything down to roughly 0, so close to 100%. And most fish are good around 77-78 degrees, but remind me what fish you're stocking? Some fish may need higher or lower than that.

 

[spangler2k3]

12-Glo tetras
6-Guppies
10-Black kuhli loaches
2- GBR
5 -cory (maybe)

 

[sinibotia]

I would do 81-82 degrees then. GBR like it pretty warm. And if you do corydoras I would do sterbai corydoras as they like it warm, most other corydoras don't.

 

[spangler2k3]

well crap... I may or may not have another issue... I drained the tank down to minimal water... and my Mopani wood piece I got from my LFS is covered in a clear goo/slime.


right now its taken out of the tank ready for me to boil and clean if that's what you tell me to do.


its like an 1/8 slime coating.. ive read mixed reports online... some say its mold, some say its fungus, and some say its beneficial bacteria cleaning the wood


what say you?