Accidental fish in cycle. [My journey]

[JessiBeau]

Alrighty! 36g parameters-
0ppm ammonia
~.50 nitrites
~.50 nitrates

Added a correctly sized intake sponge (the other one was too small and kept clogging after just a day.) it cleaned the floaty mess up within 15 minutes. Water is clear, fish are much more relaxed, no surface gasping.

 

[flchamp89]

Sounds alot better

 

[JessiBeau]

Sounds alot better

Agreed! Btw- does the fl in your name stand for Florida? If so, hi from Alabama! We're (sort of) neighbors!

As for the diatoms: Are they good in an aquarium?

 

[flchamp89]

Yes mam. Just south of valdosta Ga.

Diatoms are caused by silicates and are common in new set ups. They typically go away on there own in weeks to months. Those pond snails love diatoms. Manually remove them with your weekly maintenance.

 

[JessiBeau]

Hmmm, good to know!

Just south of Birmingham here. I'm debating on tossing them back in, but I have some Malaysian trumpet snails on the way so I just don't know.... lol. I'd planned to have snails all along.

On a side note- I just found these- what kind are they?

 

[flchamp89]

Those look like pond too. You can have both. I have mts ponds and ramshorn.

 

[JessiBeau]

Well I see several of those in the tank. I'm tempted to take the ones I have in the cup and add them to the 65g.....

 

[flchamp89]

I enjoy them. Good scavengers.

 

[JessiBeau]

Alrighty, they've been added to the 65g. And are in heaven. I already had some algae buildup in there so they went right to work. In the smaller tank there are a couple of shrimp, so they scavenge a bit too, but in the living room, there were no snails or shrimp so it was beginning to buildup.

 

[flchamp89]

They will breed. Asexual

 

[JessiBeau]

Just finished the 75% water change in the 65g. (Had to cook dinner, clean the kitchen and the living room so it took a bit, plus I filled a 5g bucket, added conditioner and stress guard and placed it high enough for the siphon to refill the tank. I just refilled the bucket with a pitcher used only for the fish tanks as it got low. So it took a while. But the stress and messing up of the substrate was minimal.)

Letting the water circulate and my feet recover and I'll be testing the water.

 

[JessiBeau]

65g water parameters:
0-.25 ppm ammonia
~3-5ppm nitrite
~10-20ppm nitrate

Sigh. This one will need another big water change either tonight or tomorrow. I have to work from 10-12 tomorrow during the day, but I'll be able to do water changes either before or after that. Or both. Since this tank is apparently struggling pretty harshly.

 

[JessiBeau]

Should I just go ahead and do another water change on the 65g? Or maybe a couple of 25% water changes spaced out a little tonight?

 

[flchamp89]

1. I want your job...2 hrs lol
2. See number one

 

[JessiBeau]

lol. I work at my local church. 2 hours on Wednesday and 2hrs on Sunday. My husband has a very very good job, so I'm able to mostly be a stay at home mom. I only got the job to get us out of the house more. I also work on the church website from home about an hour a week that I get paid for as well,

 

[JessiBeau]

Well did 25% water changes.

The 36g nitrites are hovering between .25-.50ppm

The 65g is still giving me a lot of trouble. It's still between 2&5ppm. Closer to five. I'm going to give it a little bit for the water to circulate and do another 25% water change. Ugh. My fish are not looking good. They're very pale and lethargic. In the 65g anyway. I guess I'll just stay up tonight and do some water changes until I can get it down. My diy water changer will be here Monday, but until then I'm sticking to multiple smaller changes with breaks in between. My back is killing me.

 

[easywolf31]

Here's a few links if you want to check them out

http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/water/72-heterotrophic-bacteria.html?device=desktop

https://youtu.be/h_6lnp0-M2o

 

[JessiBeau]

Ahhh my drinking grade hose and waterbed drawn and fill came in today. Took me less than an hour to do 40% water changes on both tanks!! How wonderful!

 

[cherokeejack]

Super handy, isn't it? I really like the amount of time it's cut out of my maintenance routine.

 

[eco23]

Nice! And you're adding Prime directly to the tank? Just make sure you dose for the full tank volume, not just what you're adding.

Tellin ya, that thing is a life and back saver.