Goldfish Zen . Wanting utopia for them.

[Maxkolbe]

Hey, just thought I'd throw a suggestion out there if you think your cycle is slow. I've read that phosphates are important during cycling and if you crumble up some flakes and put them in the tank you can raise the phosphates and help your tank cycle. I did this once or twice during my cycle and it seemed to help. Hope it works for you.

 

[My Fish Babies.]

Huh! Just when I thought I was moving forward ! Ok guess it's bucket time in the morning. Lol! I have no way to test my tap temp except by hand if I am a few degrees off will it hurt anything? My heater is keeping The temp at 84 now.

 

[jlk]

Yep, your hand is fine!

 

[My Fish Babies.]

Following I have a 115 gallon 6' tank with a gold fantail, calico fantail, Choclate fantail, lionhead, black moor, and 2 red cap orandas I love my fancies lol can't wait to see finished pictures

Omg! I would be in personal goldfish nirvana with a 115 gallon.

 

[barterking85]

Omg! I would be in personal goldfish nirvana with a 115 gallon.

Thought you may want a look here is the tank and a few of my prize winners

 

[My Fish Babies.]

Well luckily I am off on Wednesdays because that was quite a task! (Note to self buy a water changer ASAP)
I drained the entire tank this morning. Treated with prime and temp matched by hand. I waited two hours to test. Here is what I am showing.

PH High range at 8.2
Ammonia showing 0.25 ppm (this is what my tap usually tests at)
Nitrite (Tube turned blue first this time) Showing 5.0 ppm may be a bit higher.
Nitrate showing 160 ppm exactly.

I did not dose any ammonia as per advice.

SO! LOL with baited breath....What shall I be expecting to happen now? or next?

 

[jlk]

Thanks! Your numbers were really insanely high. Kinda expected this with the crazy nitrite reading you were getting. Well, now lets wait 2-3 days & see if the nitrites start dropping on their own with no additional ammonia. If they dont, then another big water change & low dose of ammonia. Hopefully, they will start dropping in a day or so & you can resume dosing ammonia but at a lower level until your nitrite>nitrate catch up. Once they catch up, you can gradually increase the ammonia. Lets see what happens!

ps> Beautiful big tank, Ryan!!! I wish I had the room for something that size!

 

[My Fish Babies.]

Ok .....24 hours later I tested nitrites and the drops turned purple again when they hit the water. I am not too surprised! I just went ahead and did another 99.9% water change no ammonia added temp and treated. Let's hope this helps. I think yesterday's water change may have just put a band aid on the situation. Will test again when I get home.

 

[My Fish Babies.]

Well, I think I may have made a difference.
High Ph holding still at 8.2
Ammonia at 0 ppm
Nitrates at 0.50 ppm
Nitrates fall between 5.0 and 10 ppm.
This is all nine hours after water change!
This morning when I took the nitrite test as I mentioned the drops turned purple as I put them in then it changed to a magenta color. I knew they must be still very high. I kinda went on intuition. I hope I didn't mess anything up doing another big WC. Doesn't look like right it now any way.
Todays question? Should I still wait another day before adding any ammonia? If not how much should I dose up to?

 

[jlk]

Nope, you did nothing wrong! Your nitrites are finally under control! Lets work on a gradual increase of ammonia to try & keep them from going nuts again. You can go ahead dose 1ppm ammonia & lets see how things look in 24hrs & we will go from there. Did I link the amm calculator for you? If not, let me know & Ill post it!

 

[My Fish Babies.]

I Know I not going crazy But.......(maybe just a little)..........I tested my water at 5 am this morning when I got up. I just checked ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
Ammonia dropped from 1.0 ppm to 0 overnight
Nitrite rose to 2.0 ppm
Nitrites were at 10 ppm
Did not dose any more ammonia at all was going to wait until tonight.

Home now 4 pm tested all three again
Ammonia still at 0
NITRITES NOW AT 0 ????? tested them twice........
NITRATES dropped to 5.0 ppm.
How the heck did all of this happen?
I am at a loss as what to do now? Do I dose ammonia back up? I can not be close to being cycled given my nitrites were off the reading scale just yesterday.
HELP!!!!!!LOL!!!!!!!!

 

[jlk]

Thats great!!!! Thats actually what I was hoping for- zero amm & nitrite! The nitrates are not of any concern right now. Ok- go ahead & increase your amm dose to exactly 2ppm & lets see how things look tommorrow!

 

[My Fish Babies.]

LOL Big virtual fish hugs to you! What a crazy adventure this is!

 

[My Fish Babies.]

7 am readings.
Ammonia to 0 ppm from 2.0 ppm
Nitrite jump to 5.0 ppm. (big Jump)
High PH 8.2
Should I wait to dose ammonia back up? 4 pm will be 24 hours.

 

[jlk]

Check your nitrites around 4 & see how they look. If they haven't zeroed, skip the amm today. You have a great set of amm>nitrite bacteria- we just need your nitrite>nitrate bacteria to catch up without them going crazy again. So, this is a more gradual approach. Also check your nitrates at 4 to see how they look. Let us know how things look later on!

 

[My Fish Babies.]

6 pm check

Nitrite at 1.0 ppm
Nitrate at 5.0 ppm
I will skip ammonia dose tonight. If I am at 0 Nitrite in the morning would it be wise to dose up to 1ppm ammonia?

 

[jlk]

Thats much better! Go ahead & add 2ppm amm right now. Skip the am testing so you are not torturing yourself anymore! Your amm will be zero again in the am & you will likely have high nitrites- resist & wait the 24hr to retest! lol

 

[My Fish Babies.]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[My Fish Babies.]

Three hours short of 24 hours (I couldn't resist)
Ammonia between 0 and 0.25 ppm not quite all yellow.
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate between 0 and 5.0 ppm
High Range ph between 8.2 and 8.4
Some of the colors are so close in shade it's hard to differentiate.
I did dose back up to 2.0 ppm ammonia.
Will probably check in 12 hours when I get up for work..

 

[jlk]

Sounds good! You should have all zeroes again tommorrow afternoon & we can increase the amm dose to 3ppm.