Irish girl needing more advice !

[jetajockey]

Also, it's up to you what you choose to do, but with the fish in cycling, doing PWC every other day will endanger the health of your fish. It may not kill them, but the ammonia will burn the delicate tissue in their gills. Making breathing difficult for the rest of their lives. It will also compromise their immune system, leaving them susceptible to disease and an early death.

No it won't. That's the whole point of using Prime, it detoxifies ammonia/nitrite up to 48 hours. Also, assuming the seachem techs are wrong about their own product, that level of ammonia/nitrite exposure has not been conclusively shown to have any long term side effects. Also, ammonia toxicity is completely pH relevant, but that's another subject in and of itself.

After getting toxin levels down, doing big water changes daily or multiple times a day is detrimental to the growth of the bacteria colony and unnecessary if the precautions like proper testing and water conditioning are done.


If you don't believe me, go to their forum and ask them yourself.

 

[WendiDell]

In fact I have a 5g (18.9ltr) bucket that is just for growing nitrAtes.
The bucket has a filter, heater, and a mesh bag with gravel in it and extra filter media for my filters. The nitrAtes are up to 160ppm. I do an occasional PWC or it will start to smell bad.
But, having my own seed material has saved my butt, or I should say my fish a few times. It also helped a friend that got crappy advice from the LFS. So I let her hang my gravel in her 18.9ltr Betta tank which also cycled in 5 days.
The best part of growing your own nitrAtes is that you know it's safe, parasite/disease free and it's always available when you need it.

 

[donna541]

How much gravel u talking a handful, cup full, bucket load lol ??

 

[WendiDell]

How much gravel u talking a handful, cup full, bucket load lol ??

In my 55g (208.2 ltr) I used about 1g (3.79 ltr). So somewhere between a cupful and a bucket load. Not really.
I don't remember the size of your tank just now but I know it's smaller than mine. You could get away with 6 cups in pantyhose or a nylon mesh laundry bag, which is what I use.
If you'd like I can get it out of the bucket tomorrow and take a pic. so you can see what it is I'm talking about. I would do it tonight but the bucket is under the 55g tank in my grandson room and he's very much asleep.
Let me know, I can take care of it in the morning when he gets up for school.

 

[donna541]

Aw don't worry I understand wat u mean ... Thanks i'l get cracking ... Keep it in a week ?? b4 I will see any difference ??

 

[jimenezlee]

I had never heard of anybody growing nitrates. Do you mean to say that you are growing beneficial bacteria? Nitrates should just be the byproduct.

 

[WendiDell]

I had never heard of anybody growing nitrates. Do you mean to say that you are growing beneficial bacteria? Nitrates should just be the byproduct.

Yes, that's what I mean. I grow the Bacteria in a 5g bucket. feed it and maintain it. It give me seed material if I need it and it has help a few friends start up their tanks.

 

[jetajockey]

Another good method is to just run an extra filter, I prefer sponge filter, in an established tank and pull it out when needed.

 

[donna541]

Hey I think we have movement I put some cycled decorations from my goldfish tank into my tank that I'm trying to cycle about 24 hours ago ... Last test I did was yesterday b4 I did a 50% pwc, tonite ammon nitrItes and nitrAtes all look pretty close to zero ??? Wat u's think ??

 

[roydooms]

I'm going to go against the grain here and say cut back on your water changes. Condition the water with Prime and do water changes every other day rather than multiple WCs daily. The amount of water you need to change depends on what your tank is reading prior ti changing the water out. Example, if you are reading .5 nitrites/.5 ammonia then you would want to do a 50% water change to drop it down to .25.

The reason I'm saying this is because if you are doing constant water changes it is going to slow down the cycling process even further, and every other day water changes are plenty if you are conditioning the water with a detoxifier.

I agree with this one. You don't need to do a lot of PWCs. Just base on your ammonia and nitrite levels to see how many % of water you'll need to replace. Also PRIME will detoxify the ammonia in your tap water like what jetajockey said.

 

[donna541]

I gotta get some prime then ... Wat u think of all my readings close to zero ?? Have I stalled ??

 

[roydooms]

I don't think your cycle stalled. May be the PWCs slowed down the cycle a little bit but you're getting there. Just don't do too much PWCs. Only to keep ammonia and nitrite below .25ppm. If the levels are below .25ppm, PWC is unnecessary and will just slow down your cycle.

 

[donna541]

Thanks !!! oh this feels like the saying "how long is a piece of string" ... I maybe got carried away wit my pwc's and I'm not give the BB a chance .. Well at least all my finned friends are still alive and swimming

 

[eco23]

Hi guys. I'm kinda jumping into this at the end, but did I see in your other thread that you were initially showing nitrAtes of 10 when you first joined us here on the site? I would just double check your testing method for no3..we all mess it up occasionally. Make sure you are shaking the number 2 solution for a full 30 seconds, than the entire tube for a solid minute. It seems to me that you should be seeing nitrAtes by this point because of the rate your tank is producing nitrItes. I also wouldn't let the thought of a stall in your cycle bother you..stalls are caused primarily because the beneficial bacteria uses up the nutrients and buffers in the water. The fact that you are performing so many pwc's should eliminate the possibility of a stall.

You're doing great and you are getting fantastic advice from other members.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Hi donna541,

Finally got thru skimming this thread and I'd say you're looking pretty good . The main thing to consider is the fishes health and the worst element that can hurt them is any nitrItes (no2) over 0ppm IMO, gasping at the surface is the first sign of no2 poisoning. Ammo below .25ppm is less harmful to their gills and naturally 0ppm is best. Keeping the no2 down to 0ppm is a must as no2 will do more internal harm than anything else from my research. That said, don't worry about the nitrAtes (no3) too much, as anything <40ppm is perfectly safe and I've personally seen fish survive sustained no3 as high as 160ppm+ with no ill effects.

I highly recommend you get Prime and when doing a 50% PWC, dose normally for the total volume of the tank, not just what you're adding. If at anytime the no2 won't drop to 0ppm, dose at 5x the norm with a 50% PWC to break them down. While using Prime you can/may see ammo as high as .25ppm, don't worry about it as API is reading a bound form of ammo that is safe for your fish, but the bacteria can still use.

I'd also suggest you test (liquid) at least 2x a day (AM/PM) and if all looks well (safe levels of 0pp no2/<.25ppm ammo in that order), then forgo a PWC, but be prepared to to preform a PWC if either gets above safe levels.

PM me back if you need anything else or have a question, I'm in for the evening .

 

[donna541]

I am definitely doing the test correctly, im reading the instructions every time as I go here is a picture of my results I am going to do a 50% now and maybe one later as I'm reading the results for nitrItes as 0.50 :-( and nitrAtes as 0

 

[jetajockey]

Definitely do a water change to get that nitrite level down. What's your ph? Nitrite is far less toxic in basic (higher than 7) ph than it is in acidic water. Ammonia works in the opposite way.

That being said, its still a good measure to keep nitrites/ammonia as low as possible, no matter the toxicity.

 

[donna541]

My ph normally sits over 7.6 I will test it shortly and update ... I must have a seriously weird tank it has me cookoo lol

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I am definitely doing the test correctly, im reading the instructions every time as I go here is a picture of my results I am going to do a 50% now and maybe one later as I'm reading the results for nitrItes as 0.50 :-( and nitrAtes as 0

The no2 test is pretty straight forward and anything above blue (0ppm) can be hard on the fish and even cause death, so even a back to back 50% PWC may be needed to get it to 0ppm. FYI: no2 could careless what your pH is, it's harmful to fish no matter what IMO/E.

Here's a great link on no2, signs fish will exhibit from nitrIte poisoning and what it can/will do to your fish.

Fish Disease - Nitrite Poisoning

My ph normally sits over 7.6 I will test it shortly and update ... I must have a seriously weird tank it has me cookoo lol

Is your pH fluctuating? I've seen that in tanks cycling and that can have an adverse effect on your fish too. If it's constant (7.6), I wouldn't worry about it. My tap waters pH comes out at 8.2 (avg) and if I let it sit for a couple hours, it drops down and locks in at 7.8. All my tanks have a pH of 7.8 and none of my fish have a problem with it.

 

[WendiDell]

I am definitely doing the test correctly, I'm reading the instructions every time as I go here is a picture of my results I am going to do a 50% now and maybe one later as I'm reading the results for nitrItes as 0.50 :-( and nitrAtes as 0

Hey Donna,
I was looking at your photos of your test and it looks to me like your nitrItes (the blue one) are 0. And that your nitrAtes ( the light orange one) is a 5.0ppm. That is unless the test equipment is different in Ireland.
But as long as your test is the same as our API Master Test Kits here in the US, your doing fine.
Can you take a photo of the test tubes for your ammonia, nitrItes, and nitrAtes, with the color code card behind the tubes? Worry about th pH later, after the rest of your water issues are under control.