horsedogfish
Aquarium Advice Activist
BTW, I am able to add water straight from the tap through the python because I have well water with no chlorine or heavy metals or benzine or all the interesting things that sometimes show up in well water.
Well the water will be treated bc I add prime directly to my tank before adding new water to my tank it doesn't need to sit I have 51 fish in my tank that get a 50% water change ones a week that way including german blue rams, gold rams, khuli loaches, platies, corys, placos and tetras there is no need to let it sit in a bucket you might want to do a little more research
I'm really glad your levels are stabilizing.
Well done
I am afraid I can't comment on guppies as I only kept them as a little boy. I now am into much bigger fish like discus.
I'm sure someone will reply to u on this though.
For now don't add any more fish until u r certain your tank is ABSOLUTELY stable
M
When you say "when this cycle" ends what do u mean?
This hobby can become extremely addictive AND very very expensive. I started with a few small fish and now it's become both ridiculously expensive and almost an addiction. Be warned lol
Thanks for clarifying
Hahaha yeah nothing wrong with taking over the house and making every room a biologic preserve. Take pics along the way to journal your progression and someday u will look back and giggle about how it all began.
Best of luck and plz feel free to ask any advice whenever u need
M
Well done so far. Welcome to AA btw. Ive read everything and I dont see the need for discussion on how to treat water. You can let it sit over night or you can put prime in the water and add temp safe tap water. Its all the same. I let mine sit in a bucket to get the same temp. I add prime 5 mins before I put it in the water and I havent ever had any problems. When I add water from evaporation loss I just put a few drops in a cup and dump it in the tank. Your fish will be perfectly fine no mater which method you choose. Ive done both no problems. Do you have pics of your setup? Id love to see.
Im also responding to some of the first post. You water changes are fine. There will always be ammonia in your tank (fish poo) and doing every other day to 2 days is great. I stick to 1 time a week cause im lazy. The biggest thing is doing a gravel vac. Make sure you do a gravel vac atleast 1 time every other week. This will help keep nitrates down when they get there and for now itll reduce ammonia to a sustainable level. Keep up your great work btw!
Very nice! I like it. Someone told me the other day on here to get posterboard and tape it with double sided tape to the tank. I did and it looks great. You should try it
Thanks for your tips, they are appreciated
I vacuum the gravel with a siphon every other time I change the water (which equals out to be every other day right now since I am doing daily PWC's to keep the ammonia down)
Here is a pic from a few days ago (when I still had my girls)
Note: I really need to get a background because I hate how the yellow wall looks behind the tank, lol
Umm if she is having huge ammo spikes then she MUST do frequent water changes. Or all fish can die.Persephone
It is far from normal to have to do daily WC's due to such huge ammonia spikes. A tank should be relatively maintenance free with a weekly vac siphon. If I can do this in a discus tank which normally needs frequent WC's it should be easy on this tank we are discussing. You also don't know her pH and kH out the tap so it's always a good idea to treat the water for at least a few hours before adding to the tank. This is by far the safest route to keeping her tank maintenance to a minimum. Prime is great but it's not a miracle fluid.
Well all I can do is offer my advice from years of experience with both a previous marine tank and now a few freshwater.
M
Umm if she is having huge ammo spikes then she MUST do frequent water changes. Or all fish can die.
Yes I know this but Im trying to help her NOT have these spikes by managing / changing:
Feeding
Filtration
WC's
There's a root problem that needs to be addressed. Treating it won't make it go away. It's a temporary fix. Lets look at WHY the ammonia is spiking. If she changes her feeding regimen, together with better filtration and good treated WC's she should be on the road to an enjoyable tank experience and not a tank that's giving her sleepless nights.
The only problem there is, is that she is cycling at this moment she sounds like she is doing everything right, keep up the water changes and keep the ammonia down and "the Boys " be fine you doing great