Need help with new tank.

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broyer

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 26, 2004
Messages
1
Location
New Jersey
I am just getting started with a new tank and am having some troubles.

It seems the water is cloudy most of the time. I have had a neighbor tell me it is a "bacteria bloom" and the the tank is still cycling.

I have read alot about the Nitrogen cycle, but I am not sure of how to determine where I am in the cycle. Unfortunatley I have had some fish die on me, and have had an Ick problem. I am fairly certain the biggest problem I have is water quality. Can anyone share some advice on how to clear up the water, and how to monitor and manage the cycling of the tank? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
:( [/b]
 
Easy enough.
Get thee to a fish store and buy a test kit. altenatively, your lfs may do testing on the premises. The presence of ammonia and nitrites will tell you how the cycle is going. The best thing, I think, will just be to sit pretty until it settles. Small water changes may help, but make sure that the water you are putting in is not overly chlorinated/chlorimined as Toronto water seems to be these days. Jeff
 
Are you sure you have Ich? If you do then your gonna want to get rid of that and still try and keep your cycle up. If you can I would try and quarantine the fish that might have the Ich since medicines may stall or make your cycle worse. Do you currently have fish? If you don't then do a fishless cycle. Get rid of all that water that has the Ich in it and start new. Depending how long you have had your tank set up I would just get rid of all the water because of the Ich. 1-2 weeks I would probly just start new, 3-4 weeks I would just leave it go as you may have some pretty good bacteria starting. If you change out all the water be sure to put a new filter in. Normally you would not do this because you want the established bacteria on you current filter but if you've got an Ich problem you don't want to recontaminate your new water with that old filter. If you don't want to change out your water completely than you'll probly want to medicate and i've never had to medicate in the 4 months i've been up and running and don't know how it will affect your cycle.
The BEST thing to do when you first set up is don't touch anything. Let everything sit and only do %25 water changes, no water changes if your fishless cycling. Do not overfeed. I fed only once a day sparingly till i was cycled. Do not vacuum unless you positively have to and even if you do don't dig into the gravel. Your filter may get some debris on it so just rinse it in old aquarium water when you do water changes. You'll want to use that same filter cartridge or whatever you use for at least the first month or two. Make sure you dechlorinate your water when you change it out. If you clean anything and i mean anything at all you must do it in old water that you've put into a bucket or whatever. Like I said just kinda forget about it except for testing and water changes. The way it works is: Ammonia spike(could be very high for awhile), Nitrite spike(this could get high too and is the most fatal to fish, ammonia will start falling back), Nitrate spike(not as lethal to fish, nitrites will fall off). When the nitrates drop they will never reach zero because nitrates will always be present. Real plants will use nitrate to grow but even then i'm not sure if you'll see zero. If you don't have real plants then you'll have to do like weekly water changes to lower the nitrates and that is all you'll have to worry about if you tank stays healthy. Dont add anymore fish till your cycled.
If you really want to get a boost put a biowheel in, a mini should work great for up to 20gal and you can run it with whatever other filter you have, that is what i do and i cycled in about 2 weeks but it took me about 8 weeks to figure out what i was doing wrong. I was playing way to much with the tank. I hope this helps you out.
 
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