new 50 gal

[joannde]

If you're not adding ammonia (ie: decaying shrimp) then the ammonia converting bacteria will starve so add some fish flakes until the nitrites get to 0. If you don't do the PWC it will take 2x as long to finish off the conversion, which may mean only another 48 hrs additional - your call - I just know how impatient I was LOL
Just keep adding that ammonia source to keep your bacteria alive

 

[crabguy]

good morning everyone, checked my water last nite, ammonia- .2, nitrires over 5. added some flakes. will check again tonite and do a 50% pwc.

 

[hc8719]

new tanks are always cloudy for a few days, its usually the new gravel, or carbon in the filter, it clears up though, and im sure that emperor 400 will clean it fast

 

[crabguy]

good morning to all, checked my water this morning, nitrires at .5. guess i'm on my way. i'll do another 50% pwc tonite or tomorrow. i'm going to try raising koi angels. saw some awhile ago at a local petco for $3.99 each. they were about the size of a quarter. they all had a touch of orange on top of the head, great looking fish.

 

[crabguy]

good morning to all, well my nitrites are finally 0, nitrates are about 10. should i do another 50% pwc before i add fish. i also plan on a planted tank, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[joannde]

congrats ! you're there. A water change never hurts so go for it !
Have fun with the tank - you made it through the rough part !

 

[jcarlilesiu]

if you are reading 0 ammonia, and 0 nitrites with a reading of 10 ppm nitrates, you are ready for fish. Remove what ever ammonia source you had (i.e. decaying shrimp) do a partial water change and then add your live stock immediatly. The new live stock will keep the cycle complete, otherwise your bacteria you have been building will begin to die off.

 

[crabguy]

thanks to all for your help, will start to look for some koi angels now. i saw some a while ago at a local petco for $3.99 each. they were about the size of a quarter. how many can i start with? also saw a black ghost knife fish for $14.00. they look kind of neat. heard they can grow to 18". can the angels coexist with the ghost?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Koi Angles will get up to about 6" each in an aquarium and their temperment is semi-aggressive. See this link.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1571&N=0

and also this link

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=857&N=0

Knife fish get pretty large. I think you would be ok with a knife fish (keep in mind they are sensative fish) and a couple of angles.

You could also run into problems with terratorial behavior with the knife fish as he out grows the angels. I would def. introduce them to the tank at the same time to avoid one becoming more terroritiol than the other

 

[crabguy]

thanks for responding jcarlilesiu. how many fish would be safe to introduce all at once now that my water specs are ready for fish? what about a cory or pleco?

 

[crabguy]

added a black ghost knifefish on july 1st, very neat fish and every thing was find. on july 4th, my wife couldn't resist buying three medium koi angels for $3.99 each and four rainbows for $2.99 each. every thing went okay until saturday. i figure i'll do a 40% pwc, then i checked the water. ammonia was .50, nitrites was .50, nitrates was 10, and ph was 6, yes six. i have two pieces of malaysian driftwood which i soaked in hot water for two weeks before adding to tank. when i do pwc's, i used stress coat and amquel plus. checked water 4 times on sunday and the readings are the same. what's happening? please advise.

 

[joannde]

the driftwood is probably reducing your pH - you might want to take one of the pieces out and boil it some to get rid of the tannins (which is an acid). I didn't think that driftwood could reduce the pH that much. What was your initial pH ?
As for the ammonia and nitrites, its a mini-cycle from the extra bioload from the seven new fish. your biofilter can only handle as many fish as is in the tank, so if you add alot of fish at one time this will happen. Better to add only 2 - 3 inches of fish at a time until you have a larger bioload (and more bacteria who will be able to multiply faster to keep up with the additions).
Don't do anything to alter your pH at this point. Just let us know what it had started at. It also would help if you could take a pH reading from your tap water and then set that tap water aside for 24 hrs and do another pH test.
I'm assuming you're using a liquid test kit and not strips (which can be inaccurate).

 

[crabguy]

thanks joannde for the response. my tap water is 7 and my tank water was 7 when i first filled the tank and ran it for two weeks. yes, i'm using liquid test kit. seems pretty accurate. should i load my emperor 400 filter media container with marineland white diamond to reduce the ammonia or just wait? thanks

 

[JRagg]

Using anything that absorbs ammonia could starve the bacteria that converts your ammonia to nitrite. I agree with Joannde, you're having a mini-cycle. The best thing you can do is to keep an eye on your parameters and do a PWC if they get any higher. I think I've heard to do a PWC if you see ammonia or nitrite above 0.5. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that level, but worst case 0.5 is conservative.

So to answer your question, I'd wait and watch.

 

[rich311k]

Jragg is quite correct. Do PWCs to keep nitrite and ammonia under 1.0ppm. That is all you can really do at this point.

 

[crabguy]

thanks to all for the info. the white diamond will not help? have not changed any of the filter cartridges since day one. could this be the problem? will addition of amguel plus help? suppose to remove ammonia and nitrites.

 

[rich311k]

Don't change your filter media until this is over. You can rinse it in dechlorinated water if needed. Those chemicals will reduce the danger but they will just make the cycle run longer. The best way to handle it, is to just change water, it will be over soon.

 

[JRagg]

It really depends on your definition of help. It will fix the problem short term, but could lead to a larger problem later on. I wouldn't add anything, and I would not change your filter media until after this mini cycle is over. Right now your bacteria are trying to grow to accomodate your increased bio-load. In the meantime ammonia and nitrite are going up a little while your bacteria are reproducing to increase their numbers. Your ultimate goal is to have enough bacteria to take care of the ammonia and nitrite, you don't want to have to keep adding chemicals to do this.

I'm not exactly sure how amquel plus works, so I can't adivse on that.

 

[crabguy]

thanks again all. do you guys and girls think i need more filtration? i have a 50 or 52 gal flat back hex. i'm using an emperor 400 on the right side of the tank and a duetto 100 at the left corner to circulate the water better. i can't have the 400 in the middle because of a center croos member. any suggestions?

 

[JRagg]

Should be more than enough. It is rated for 80 gallons, so it will do the trick.

If you want a filter that can be hidden (so that it isn't hanging off of the right side) you can always look into a canister filter. The Renas, Eheims, and Fluvals all have pretty good reps with most people on this forum.

Only problem with a new filter though... more money, lol. Aquariums are the ultimate money pit.