Twoapennything
Aquarium Advice Freak
Ugh, I think I have a chemical mess on my hands. Yesterday I had to remove a large piece of decor from the tank due to an accident with one of my fish (I posted about this separately; some of you may have read that thread). I know that the good bacteria grows on the decor, the plants, the substrate, etc, of the tank. I already have the large piece of decor out of the tank, which I'm sure disturbed the cycling process. I believe it was jsoong who mentioned that pebbles/gravel isn't the best choice when there's a goldfish in the tank, because the fish like to mouth the gravel looking for food, and can sometimes get a pebble stuck in their throat. After my goldfish's accident yesterday, I'm now super paranoid, and Lady does mouth the gravel constantly. She sucks in a pebble and then spits it out.
So, I want to switch to sand substrate, but I'm afraid of disrupting the cycling process if it's not already damaged to the point of the cycle essential being back to square one.
Should I switch the substrate now, since I already removed the large piece of decor and have messed with the cycle? Or should I put safety on hold and wait for the cycle process to complete, which could be a very long time? My tank is almost a month old and it's still not past the ammonia stage - not even close.
This morning's readings were Ammonia 1.0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 0, High pH 7.8. Despite doing 50-75% PWCs daily or every other day, I cannot get the ammonia to fall below 0.50. I changed the water yesterday and the ammonia level was exactly the same as before I spent an hour and a half doing the PWC, at 1.0.
Thanks in advance for any replies and/or suggestions/advice.
So, I want to switch to sand substrate, but I'm afraid of disrupting the cycling process if it's not already damaged to the point of the cycle essential being back to square one.
Should I switch the substrate now, since I already removed the large piece of decor and have messed with the cycle? Or should I put safety on hold and wait for the cycle process to complete, which could be a very long time? My tank is almost a month old and it's still not past the ammonia stage - not even close.
This morning's readings were Ammonia 1.0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 0, High pH 7.8. Despite doing 50-75% PWCs daily or every other day, I cannot get the ammonia to fall below 0.50. I changed the water yesterday and the ammonia level was exactly the same as before I spent an hour and a half doing the PWC, at 1.0.
Thanks in advance for any replies and/or suggestions/advice.