Hi there, doing a fish in cycle, do I change my water now?

[Jess1ca]

Hello! Got a few questions for all you guys who know what your doing You can find my story here at this link http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-setup-overstocked-and-not-cycled-194563.html The thread was closed and now Im lost! Anywho, if you read that very first post you pretty much know what Im going through. 2 of my fish have been in for 3 days (this day being the 3rd) 5 have been in for 2, and the lobster is on his second also. I did not have my test kit until yesterday. Yesterday my reading were as follows

temp 78
ph 7.8
amm .25
trite 0
trate 0

A fellow aquarium advice member told me I didnt have to do a water change, so I didnt Today my parameters are more like this

temp 78
ph 8.0
amm .50
trite 0
trate 0

Although I am second guessing myself as the results were somewhat a little harder to read today... enclosed is a picture. I am preparing for a water change today. I would like some info on how much I should do? As well as any advice anyone would have for me during a fish in cycle.

 

[BHead707]

imo you should change the water, when i did my fish in cycle i changed anytime the amm was at .25ppm or higher

 

[Jess1ca]

Thank you for responding! I will do a change here shortly, about 50%?

 

[BHead707]

ya that will work, pretty simple math goes with it.

if your at .50ppm ammonia then a 50% change will lower it to .25ppm

then another 50% change will lower it to .125 ppm.

try to keep it as low as possible at least below .25ppm in my opinion

you have quite a few fish in there so you may be doing water changes everyday

 

[Jess1ca]

Ok, so maybe 2 changes today?

 

[Jess1ca]

Btw, my water is very cloudy! Anything to worry about? Also I ordered an active filter that will be in tomorrow, I will still do regular changes even with that, correct?

 

[HeatherW]

you probably will do fine with one change today. and yes when you get your active filter nothing changes - keep checking and doing PWCs as needed. I can't remember from your earlier post if you had checked your tap water or not. if not, please check your tap to see what you are starting with. check for everything and post your results.

 

[Jess1ca]

Wow my spirits are really down, I got the water out and I filled a 10 gallon tote with water and used dechlorinator and I can't get it to syphon back into the tank. So im scooping it with a cup it just isn't going to work. My temp in the tank is dropping with as long as this is taking me. I have already flooded both my living room and kitchen, TWICE.

 

[Jess1ca]

I'm also worried with the amount I'm dripping on my stand will probably warp it... HELP!

 

[Jess1ca]

you probably will do fine with one change today. and yes when you get your active filter nothing changes - keep checking and doing PWCs as needed. I can't remember from your earlier post if you had checked your tap water or not. if not, please check your tap to see what you are starting with. check for everything and post your results.

If I make it thru this water change I will def. Check my tap water.

 

[HeatherW]

Wow my spirits are really down, I got the water out and I filled a 10 gallon tote with water and used dechlorinator and I can't get it to syphon back into the tank. So im scooping it with a cup it just isn't going to work. My temp in the tank is dropping with as long as this is taking me. I have already flooded both my living room and kitchen, TWICE.

OK, I know how this is!! been there, done that! remember gravity is your friend! get the bucket higher than the tank and your siphon will work. i put mine on a big wooden ladder. or maybe just a couple of big phone books if your tank is on the counter...

good luck!

 

[Jess1ca]

Well, I have definitely learned my lesson! That is NOT a job I can take on by myself while my husband is at work and my 1 year old son home :/ There has got to be a better way than that! I will be ebaying for a special tool or something! Seriously would be better if I could just do like a 97% water change and just take the fish out and fill it back up a hose connected to my tap like I did the first time... can I do that? I have swallowed soooo much dechlorinated water today lol. Thankfully I have laminate floors, they are pretty much sparkling after that fiasco! This will be a tough cycle for me!

 

[HeatherW]

do you not have a ladder or something you can put your bucket up on? is your tank on a stand or on the counter or something? like I said - i use a wooden ladder and that got it high enough for my 5 gallon and 20 gallon. I did also break down and buy the python thing - I got the Lees gravel vac. not sure which is the best one, but I like it. I use it to fill from the faucet (you want to temperature match your water in answer to your hose question - if the temps don't match the fish and the BB don't like it), but when I use it to empty the tank I just use gravity. I couldn't see wasting all that water. I put one end in the tank and the other goes out the front door! (I have a smaller one that I put out the window too) this method works very well - I do have to lock up the dog and cats though - they keep wanting to run out the door and chase the birds and squirrels!

hope this helps! Oh, and the positive side of all these water changes - I am a pro at them now. they were alot harder at the beginning but then you start to get the hang of it and learn little tricks - like ALWAYS have a bucket by the tank. learned that one the hard way.

 

[Jess1ca]

do you not have a ladder or something you can put your bucket up on? is your tank on a stand or on the counter or something? like I said - i use a wooden ladder and that got it high enough for my 5 gallon and 20 gallon. I did also break down and buy the python thing - I got the Lees gravel vac. not sure which is the best one, but I like it. I use it to fill from the faucet (you want to temperature match your water in answer to your hose question - if the temps don't match the fish and the BB don't like it), but when I use it to empty the tank I just use gravity. I couldn't see wasting all that water. I put one end in the tank and the other goes out the front door! (I have a smaller one that I put out the window too) this method works very well - I do have to lock up the dog and cats though - they keep wanting to run out the door and chase the birds and squirrels!

hope this helps! Oh, and the positive side of all these water changes - I am a pro at them now. they were alot harder at the beginning but then you start to get the hang of it and learn little tricks - like ALWAYS have a bucket by the tank. learned that one the hard way.

Well we have the tank on an old record player its kinda high, we wanted it out of the reach of the kiddos I will attach a pic I might have a ladder but I wouldnt have the slightest clue where my husband keeps it lol, and I was already half way done with the cup method that I didnt go look lol. I will def check for next time! Taking the water out was a piece of cake! The tank is by the window so I just syphoned out the window, watching carefully that I didnt suck any fish up lol. I have rigged a hose up to my faucet so I thought it would be way easy! But I thought I needed to dose the new water with dechlorinator before it went in the tank, hence the 10 gallon tote which is quite large! Im not sure if I could even lift it high enough onto the ladder :/ Im pretty proud of myself for accomplishing that by myself with a 1 year old pullin at my legs the whole time lol. I was getting a little impatient while doing it because my dogs kept drinking the water or I would see some hair floating in the bucket and would start over because I wasnt sure if that was ok for the lil fishies! I ruined my digital thermometer too that I was using to measure the temp during one of the floods too That was a great help in getting the exact temp! The pic was taken as soon as it was put up.

 

[Jess1ca]

I tried to set the tote on the large dog cage next to the aquarium but is was too heavy and not high enough.

 

[librarygirl]

Well we have the tank on an old record player its kinda high, we wanted it out of the reach of the kiddos I will attach a pic I might have a ladder but I wouldnt have the slightest clue where my husband keeps it lol, and I was already half way done with the cup method that I didnt go look lol. I will def check for next time! Taking the water out was a piece of cake! The tank is by the window so I just syphoned out the window, watching carefully that I didnt suck any fish up lol. I have rigged a hose up to my faucet so I thought it would be way easy! But I thought I needed to dose the new water with dechlorinator before it went in the tank, hence the 10 gallon tote which is quite large! Im not sure if I could even lift it high enough onto the ladder :/ Im pretty proud of myself for accomplishing that by myself with a 1 year old pullin at my legs the whole time lol. I was getting a little impatient while doing it because my dogs kept drinking the water or I would see some hair floating in the bucket and would start over because I wasnt sure if that was ok for the lil fishies! I ruined my digital thermometer too that I was using to measure the temp during one of the floods too That was a great help in getting the exact temp! The pic was taken as soon as it was put up.

You can certainly fill the aquarium straight from the hose attached to the faucet. Just dose the aquarium with dechlorinator before you refill and dose for the entire tank not just the water you are replacing, then you can just stick the hose in and refill.

 

[HeatherW]

yep that is what I was going to say too. when you say you have a hose that you hook up to your faucet - that is pretty much what a python does. i didn't realize at first it was to your inside faucet - i was thinking outside faucet haha. just dose the whole tank and then fill. let it sit for 10-20 min after you have filled and then turn the filters back on. you can do the bucket method, but this will be much easier!!

 

[Jess1ca]

Most definitely will be doing that from now on That makes my life sooo sooo soooo much easier! I worked EXTRA hard today lol, my house was soaked! My fish seem happy though and the water has cleared up alot

 

[Hobgob]

I know I am jumping in but you can fill it straight from the tap each time... You just have to treat the whole tank with dechlorinator before you fill it up. I'm sorry if you already figured it out though...

 

[Jess1ca]

I know I am jumping in but you can fill it straight from the tap each time... You just have to treat the whole tank with dechlorinator before you fill it up. I'm sorry if you already figured it out though...

Yes tomorrow I will be using the hose! I almost can't wait cuz its gonna be so easy, lol!