Kungpaoshizi
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2010
- Messages
- 66
So long story short...
Using tap, Aqueon water conditioner, amquel+, purigen, 2/3CC leftside, 1/3 aragonite.
2 weeks in I had the tank cycled, combo of biozyme and nite out ii.
stringy white poo, figured the quarantine and previous medication (jungle parasite tabs since they snuffed pellets) was transferred with my secondary filter... added another dose of jungle to the main tank, caused mini cycle.
tried cycle, stuck on nitrites, then decided last Friday to give the spira a shot.. put it in Fri night, Sunday I realize the stupid hornwort is definately NOT brackish despite what websites say, pulled it out, cleaned excess debris from both filters, TONS of hornwort needles ends up...
Later sunday retest, .5, .5, ~5-10trates. also finally got some alk test kits, low buffer, added some baking soda, ph finally holding around upper 7-8. (since evidently amquel+ works great, but without sufficient buffer takes ph down .5 or so with little larger than standard dose)
3 gsp's(bout 1.5-2" atm), 55g, 1.009.
Anyways, come to find out after more reading using "ammonia/nitrite control" products messes with spira?
But at the same time, Amquel+ states 'does not interfere with biological cycle'....
Anyways, still only getting trace amounts of ammonia, nitrite holding 2-5, trates no more than 10-15. Since sunday trates increased from 5-15..
Got some of the Fluval Clearmax nitrite/nitrate resin mix filter packs and stuffed that in a filter to help, but it seems minimal probably because water flow isn't enough across it?
:/
I really think I need to clean the substrate and do a WC, but everywhere I've seen "DON'T DO A WC WITH SPIRA!"....
But at the same time, Spira says on the back "sg between like 1.02+" so maybe it doesn't work well with brackish?
So ya, I'm at my ropes end, and the spira was freakin 30$ a pop...
But yes, nice to meet everyone
I wish it was under better circumstances.. I'm one of those "bought them at walmart folks", come to find out it's a completely different story than my buddies little goldfish setup...
I've also seen mixed requirements for tank size per green spotted puffer, some sites say 30, some say 15-20... But like my buddy said 'it's not like you can ask the fish if they have enough room.." I would like to get a bigger tank, but I can't see for how small they are right now being an issue. They're like freakin minnows in a bathtub atm..
Thanks very much for any advice/suggestions!
After re-reading, ok maybe long story long heh.
Using tap, Aqueon water conditioner, amquel+, purigen, 2/3CC leftside, 1/3 aragonite.
2 weeks in I had the tank cycled, combo of biozyme and nite out ii.
stringy white poo, figured the quarantine and previous medication (jungle parasite tabs since they snuffed pellets) was transferred with my secondary filter... added another dose of jungle to the main tank, caused mini cycle.
tried cycle, stuck on nitrites, then decided last Friday to give the spira a shot.. put it in Fri night, Sunday I realize the stupid hornwort is definately NOT brackish despite what websites say, pulled it out, cleaned excess debris from both filters, TONS of hornwort needles ends up...
Later sunday retest, .5, .5, ~5-10trates. also finally got some alk test kits, low buffer, added some baking soda, ph finally holding around upper 7-8. (since evidently amquel+ works great, but without sufficient buffer takes ph down .5 or so with little larger than standard dose)
3 gsp's(bout 1.5-2" atm), 55g, 1.009.
Anyways, come to find out after more reading using "ammonia/nitrite control" products messes with spira?
But at the same time, Amquel+ states 'does not interfere with biological cycle'....
Anyways, still only getting trace amounts of ammonia, nitrite holding 2-5, trates no more than 10-15. Since sunday trates increased from 5-15..
Got some of the Fluval Clearmax nitrite/nitrate resin mix filter packs and stuffed that in a filter to help, but it seems minimal probably because water flow isn't enough across it?
:/
I really think I need to clean the substrate and do a WC, but everywhere I've seen "DON'T DO A WC WITH SPIRA!"....
But at the same time, Spira says on the back "sg between like 1.02+" so maybe it doesn't work well with brackish?
So ya, I'm at my ropes end, and the spira was freakin 30$ a pop...
But yes, nice to meet everyone
I wish it was under better circumstances.. I'm one of those "bought them at walmart folks", come to find out it's a completely different story than my buddies little goldfish setup...
I've also seen mixed requirements for tank size per green spotted puffer, some sites say 30, some say 15-20... But like my buddy said 'it's not like you can ask the fish if they have enough room.." I would like to get a bigger tank, but I can't see for how small they are right now being an issue. They're like freakin minnows in a bathtub atm..
Thanks very much for any advice/suggestions!
After re-reading, ok maybe long story long heh.