Old timer new to the new way of Aquarium Sciences

[Barronda79]

Hi, My name is Dave, I just turned 50 and for my Bday gift I got myself a 36 Gl Aqueon bowfront tank. My wife thinks Iam crazy but my two kids love it and so do I. I had my first 10 gallon aquarium from G.C. Murphy Co. back in 1970 or so. I took it home set it up and all I ever added was de-chlorinator. Plopped five or so fish in it and none of them died for at least two years. I never tested anything, barley checked the thermometer and hob filter etc for two years and everything ran fine, crystal clear water.
I subsequently had two additional 10 gls and one 20 gls also the same process no issues and No cycling.
Fast forward 41 years to my Aqueon 36 gls bowfront with a Fluval 405,and a Aqueon 30 (soon to be replaced with a AC50). I cycled with plants for one week and was able to get the Am to 0.0 using API Master kit. My Nitrite levels haven't budged and have stayed at .50pm. I use Prime and have been doing DWC for the past week.I began to add fish I also have been adding Stability as well from Seachem for almost two weeks now. I do think I may have been overfeeding by doing it twice daily so Iam cutting back today in hopes that the Nitrites will come down. I began to add fish about a week ago and they all look healthy and have been eating fine. I have about 14 small fish in a community tank. I have a small algae eater, clown loach and albino shark to clean the bottom.
So my question is two fold with the water chemistry at theses levels:

Am 0.0ppm
Nitrtite .50ppm
Nitrates 20 ppm

14 fish in a heavily planted 36 gln tank,

How much more PWC can I expect to do? Its getting old an taking the fun out of it. I mean is this all really necessary, are we being overly cautious and loving our tanks a bit too much instead of waiting on nature to take its course and build the bacteria in the bio filtration that it needs to perform without all of this constant manual intervention and chemical additives?
If this had been required of me when i was ten I would have never had an aquarium. It just seem slike everyone has a different opinion and every company has its hand out to try to solve my problems.
One last thing, the tank is somewhat foggy as well, but its been that way since the start. I also read the water quality report from my local water company. They add chloromines to the water, but Prime seems to have taken care of that aspect. The reason I am switching to a Hagen AC 50 is that everyone reccos them and pans the Aqueon on here. I will of course swipe the filter floss mater cartridge form the Aqueon and use it in the new AC 50 when it comes in later this week. Lots of people swear that the AC clear their tanks. So, I am hoping that will do the trick.

Thanks
Dave

 

[AaronH]

Hi and welcome i am new to fw myself and IMO nitrate is not toxic at your readings and i dont think that nitrite is at your readings to normally you should be expected to do a 10 - 20 % pwc every week however i think you can do it monthly if u up the percent or pwc am not certain. as far as i can make out the whole reason to cycle a tank is so that your filtration system can build enough colonies of bactereia to deal with the fish waste. this is also why you have to add fish slowly to allow your system to adjust to the riseing fish waste and let the colonise of bactereia grow, this will stop the amonia and nitrite leves riseing to a very toxic level which can stress can kill your fish if not short term then will prob do some damage longterm anyways i think thats how it all works. i think that when you was little u must of had a verry hardy fish as there is was of cyleing a tank with and without fish in just depends if you still want them fish afterwards. however i am new to fw like yourself to dont expect me to be spot on this is just what have taken from what i have been told and have learned.

 

[Barronda79]

Thanks Aaron I appreciate the response. I appreciate the Nitrite advice as well. The fish business as well as the husbandry science has indeed come a long way in 40 plus years and there is a remedy and gadget for everything, its a bit overwhelming and I have a BS degree.
I am happy the fish are not dying on me so far. My wife is beginning to think I have become OCD with all the water changes, I mean it cant be good for the fish to keep adding in all this new water but I guess its better than the Nitrites being high. I am looking forward to actually enjoying it and the Science Fair of cycling portion calming down a bit.

 

[AaronH]

i think i will all calm down after a while the key is to take your time and put the work in to get the best reward lool that ho wi plan things oh btw happy birthday lol

 

[Barronda79]

Thanks Aaron, just realized that you are in the Uk, what part? I have been to Oxford and London, LOVED it!

 

[glassbird]

I too had a tank in the early 1970s, when I was about 10-12 years old. It was one of those old metal framed ones, with the stone (slate?) bottoms, and had a corner filter powered by an air pump. I had pleasant memories of the hardy fish we had back then (and we were mixing tropicals with goldfish, no heater). But recently I was talking to my mother about childhood pets, and I marveled at how well those fish survived despite the fact that I was doing pretty much everything wrong, by today's standards. She wasted no time filling in the blanks of my memory...fish died left and right, but were "replaced" periodically. Mom was also apparently doing almost ALL of the cleaning of the tank, something I never knew. She never mislead me about the deaths, I knew they were not surviving. But somehow, over the years, the truth of the situation was glossed over in my mind.

I am not saying that the original poster is not remembering his first tank clearly. But I am pointing out that other factors may have been in play that are not being considered. Fish may truly have been better bred and/or healthier back then, or maybe the water where he lived was better suited to whatever fish he had.

 

[Barronda79]

LoL
Same tank same circumstances save, the fish didn't die off, that would mean that money would have to be expensed to replace them. I would have remembered that as money was extremely tight in our house, we had a .50 cent allowance every two weeks and that actually went quite a ways back then. I just recalled those corner filters powered by air pumps. Wow how far things have come since then.

 

[AaronH]

i am from london the s.e to be specific lol wish i could say the same but am 21 the only childhood fisj stories i have are going carp fishing with the old man loool i feel young lol thanks hhaha

 

[TraceyB4602]

From your reading your in the middle of your cycle and it is going quite well. I would say your nearing the end. Once you see the nitrites start to drop they should continue to do so fairly quickly. As for how many more water changes I do not know. But I do know you should do a 50% PWC right now to get those nitrites to .25. Anything above that can stress out your fish. When did you start reading nitrites? When my tank cycled I know it was about a week that I had to do huge PWC's to keep them in line and then they just went away pretty much over night.

As for your cloudy water it might be because your filter is to small for your tank and I see you already have that taken care of. It also might be a bacteria bloom from your nitrites and nitrates forming. If it's either of these it should clear up in time.

The water changes won't hurt your fishies, as long as your using a water conditioner.

Just keep up those water changes and it will be over soon. : )

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[Barronda79]

Hi Tracey
I have a Fluval 405 Canister and a Aqueon 30 that runs nonstop. I did a 50% change yesterday and a 25% this am. Iam about to test Nitrates again at 630pm to see if there is any change.
I hope I am almost done this is a workout! Cheers
Dave

 

[TraceyB4602]

Hi Tracey
I have a Fluval 405 Canister and a Aqueon 30 that runs nonstop. I did a 50% change yesterday and a 25% this am. Iam about to test Nitrates again at 630pm to see if there is any change.
I hope I am almost done this is a workout! Cheers
Dave

Yup fish in cycling is a pain in the rear. I've done it with my 10g and my 45g. But don't sweat it looks like it's almost over.

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[Barronda79]

Ok Just tested Nitrites and they were at .25pm so I just finished a 50% Water change and we will see what it looks like tomorrow. Here is the video I did of the tank this weekend. Enjoy.

http://www.vimeo.com/20412603

 

[TraceyB4602]

Tank looks awesome.

 

[Barronda79]

Just tested this am, after 50% water change last eve, Nitrites still at .25pm. Iam leaving it alone for a few days to see what happens now.