Fatcatmatt
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2020
- Messages
- 33
Hi all!
So I’ve started my new tank and honestly, it has been pretty worrisome each day. I spend hours and hours reading and reading. Sleepless nights.. the more I read the more worried I get. So I decided to take it to the forums
So I’m here to seek help. Here’s my disaster story..
(Ps: i moved to China a year ago, hence there’s some stuff I wish I could find)
Day 0: woohoo new tank (10 G)! Started planting the tank. Built in side overflow sump filter (2 layers sponge, 1 big bag of bio media+some small bio balls ). Added a corner filter for additional oxygen (sponge+bio media)
Day 1: I’m gonna go fishless cycling! Can’t find pure ammonia. Decided with fish food. Added 2 LARGE teabags floating in the tank.
Day 2: Ammonia: 0.75ppm
Day 3: ammonia same; nitrite 0.08mgL.
Day4: WAIT! BAG OF FOOD FULL OF WHITE STRINGY STUFF. Removed immediately, white stuff everywhere in tank! Omg. Did my best to remove. Settled in the soil and plants. Disaster. 30% water change to remove white stringy stuff. Ammonia 0.3ppm. Added smaller bag of fish food.
Day 5: ammonia 0.8ppm; nitrite 0.8mgL
Day 7: ammonia 0.5ppm; nitrite 0.1mgL. more stringy white stuff from food. Attacking plants. Gave up. And decided on fish-in cycle. Purchased Seachem Prime, Seachem Stability. I bought my full stock online. Cause it’s cheaper with the store. One honey guarami, 7 ember tetras, 2 snails. I told the store to send 2 ember tetras and 2 snails first. Which they did. The brown algae was also taking over the tank so I thought the snails will help me there. They did. Munch munch.
Day (while waiting for fish)- continue small bags of fish food + first dose of Seachem stability (double dose)
Day (i Cant remember), Fish-in+2 days of Prime/Stability- Ammonia 0.6ppm, Nitrite 0.08mgl. Fishes look healthy. Prime is working! I hope..
Today - oh whoopie.. white stuff. And when I dropped in the micro pallets, it basically gets swished around in the white stuff and ember tetra bit it and spit it immediately. In fact it panicked a bit as it cling onto its body for a while. Disaster. Tweezers in, removed as many as I can. It looks clean now (there’s some part at the back of the tank I can’t reach). Did a water 5L water change. (Havent tested water). I also realise the food just gets blown all over the place and sticks to plants and rocks. So I adjusted the filter to reduce as much water flow within the tank. Figured since it’s an overflow sump, that should be ok? Also to help the tetras I guess.
Also today, the fish shop just informed me the rest of my stock has been shipped. What.... I didn’t tell them to, they just decided it was convenient. DISASTER.
So it’s red alert over red alerts now. Should I just continue with the daily prime and stability? Stability says double dose on first day, single dose for the next 7. I’m currently just double dosing stability everyday is that ok? Single dose on prime. What are some things I should take note now with a full stock fish in cycle? I don’t have a spare tank.. just a head full of worries....
I’ve also removed one waterweed as it’s just a trap for the white stringy stuff. I used my tweezers to agitate the moss a little so the white stuff got out of it. Overall to the eye, it’s much less now. Bits here and there I can live with I guess. But now, I’m just very worried over the full stock coming. Any advice? Also on how to fully utilise prime and stability. I read they do not encourage WC with stability. I also read they encourage WC with fish in cycle. Confused. I’ve not experienced a bacteria bloom. The past couple of days I added stability into the sump. Today I added into the tank directly.
Probably questions are gonna be raised about why I’m not testing nitrates. The brilliant test kit I bought here only has ammonia and nitrites. I need to go hunt for a nitrate tester. Tetra Safe start is almost 100USD here a bottle. It’s nuts. Thankfully I can find Seachem.
So I’ve started my new tank and honestly, it has been pretty worrisome each day. I spend hours and hours reading and reading. Sleepless nights.. the more I read the more worried I get. So I decided to take it to the forums
So I’m here to seek help. Here’s my disaster story..
(Ps: i moved to China a year ago, hence there’s some stuff I wish I could find)
Day 0: woohoo new tank (10 G)! Started planting the tank. Built in side overflow sump filter (2 layers sponge, 1 big bag of bio media+some small bio balls ). Added a corner filter for additional oxygen (sponge+bio media)
Day 1: I’m gonna go fishless cycling! Can’t find pure ammonia. Decided with fish food. Added 2 LARGE teabags floating in the tank.
Day 2: Ammonia: 0.75ppm
Day 3: ammonia same; nitrite 0.08mgL.
Day4: WAIT! BAG OF FOOD FULL OF WHITE STRINGY STUFF. Removed immediately, white stuff everywhere in tank! Omg. Did my best to remove. Settled in the soil and plants. Disaster. 30% water change to remove white stringy stuff. Ammonia 0.3ppm. Added smaller bag of fish food.
Day 5: ammonia 0.8ppm; nitrite 0.8mgL
Day 7: ammonia 0.5ppm; nitrite 0.1mgL. more stringy white stuff from food. Attacking plants. Gave up. And decided on fish-in cycle. Purchased Seachem Prime, Seachem Stability. I bought my full stock online. Cause it’s cheaper with the store. One honey guarami, 7 ember tetras, 2 snails. I told the store to send 2 ember tetras and 2 snails first. Which they did. The brown algae was also taking over the tank so I thought the snails will help me there. They did. Munch munch.
Day (while waiting for fish)- continue small bags of fish food + first dose of Seachem stability (double dose)
Day (i Cant remember), Fish-in+2 days of Prime/Stability- Ammonia 0.6ppm, Nitrite 0.08mgl. Fishes look healthy. Prime is working! I hope..
Today - oh whoopie.. white stuff. And when I dropped in the micro pallets, it basically gets swished around in the white stuff and ember tetra bit it and spit it immediately. In fact it panicked a bit as it cling onto its body for a while. Disaster. Tweezers in, removed as many as I can. It looks clean now (there’s some part at the back of the tank I can’t reach). Did a water 5L water change. (Havent tested water). I also realise the food just gets blown all over the place and sticks to plants and rocks. So I adjusted the filter to reduce as much water flow within the tank. Figured since it’s an overflow sump, that should be ok? Also to help the tetras I guess.
Also today, the fish shop just informed me the rest of my stock has been shipped. What.... I didn’t tell them to, they just decided it was convenient. DISASTER.
So it’s red alert over red alerts now. Should I just continue with the daily prime and stability? Stability says double dose on first day, single dose for the next 7. I’m currently just double dosing stability everyday is that ok? Single dose on prime. What are some things I should take note now with a full stock fish in cycle? I don’t have a spare tank.. just a head full of worries....
I’ve also removed one waterweed as it’s just a trap for the white stringy stuff. I used my tweezers to agitate the moss a little so the white stuff got out of it. Overall to the eye, it’s much less now. Bits here and there I can live with I guess. But now, I’m just very worried over the full stock coming. Any advice? Also on how to fully utilise prime and stability. I read they do not encourage WC with stability. I also read they encourage WC with fish in cycle. Confused. I’ve not experienced a bacteria bloom. The past couple of days I added stability into the sump. Today I added into the tank directly.
Probably questions are gonna be raised about why I’m not testing nitrates. The brilliant test kit I bought here only has ammonia and nitrites. I need to go hunt for a nitrate tester. Tetra Safe start is almost 100USD here a bottle. It’s nuts. Thankfully I can find Seachem.
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