Upgraded 15 g to 45 g - but losing BB!

[jenelle]

Day 1: I set up my new 45 bowfront, and transfered a sponge from the 15 g to the 45 g. Transferred some plants. Then I read that the BB would starve unless I gave it something to eat. I tried to find pure ammonia, but couldn't locate. So I put my 5 harlequin rasboros in.

Day 2: My heater on my older tank broke. Wouldn't go over 72 degrees. So I transferred the rest of my stock over... 1 platy, 2 endlers, 3 shrimp and 3 julii cories. And then I took the entire filter from the old tank and put it on my new tank. So now I have two filters running, both with cycled BB. Added rest of plants and wood. Tested parameters late in day. 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 10 Nitrate. Looking good.

Day 3: Today. Tank looks great. Fish very happy seeming. 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrite, but Nitrate is fading... barely pink... less than 5.

Not sure what to do - am afraid of losing all the BB. Should I put in more food to create waste so BB has more to eat?

 

[jenelle]

Here's the new tank.

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[Masha]

I don't think you need to worry. I don't believe that the BB will die off from starving. From what I've read, it goes dormant, and will revive as more food becomes available. As long as the ammonia and nitrites readings are good, you should have anything to worry about.

Just don't increase the number of fish too quickly, all should be fine

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[Masha]

Also... I think the lower Nitrate reading may just be the same amount of nitrates as you had in the smaller tank but more dilute. The test doesn't specify the total amount of Nitrate in the tank, it shows the proportion of nitrates, ppm means the "parts per million" so it is perfectly normal that the same fish load would produce a lower proportion of Nitrate in a bigger tank.



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[jvann]

It does go dormant but it takes a while before it becomes productive again. You can feed it pure ammonia from the market.

Hope this helps!

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[jenelle]

Very good point! Thanks so much for the input.


Building 45 g community planted

 

[jenelle]

Couldn't find pure ammonia. It was all lemon scented!


Building 45 g community planted

 

[jvann]

You can also just use fish food or raw shrimp.

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[Masha]

No need to feed it. Especially not pure ammonia, you have fish in the tank, don't you?

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[jvann]

Yes, don't add pure ammonia if you have fish in the tank. Left that part out. Sorry

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[HooKooDooKu]

For future reference: It used to be reported that the Piggly Wiggly and Ace Hardware store brands were pure ammonia.

 

[jenelle]

Will try to track down pure ammonia next time (actually I hope to keep this tank cycled for so long I won't ever need ammonia!)

I am wondering if I should get a couple more fish to provide enough waste for the much larger tank (to support BB?). For example, should I increase the harlequins from 5 to 8?
Or put in another platy or add a gourami? Or do I wait?

Parameters similar to yesterday.


Building 45 g community planted

 

[jvann]

Wait until the cycled is established. Putting too much at once can shock the bio filter

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[RadMax8]

If your fish load is the same in the new tank as the old, and you're using all the filter material from the old tank, you should be fully cycled. You're not going to kill the bacteria because you still have the same amount of fish poop, just a bigger space for it.

If you want, wait a couple days and if your parameters stay steady, grab a few more rasbora. They like to be in larger groups, anyway!


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[jenelle]

Excellent. I was planning on up-ing the number of rasboros to 8 - 10. And maybe another school of rummy nose tetras.


Building 45 g community planted

 

[jenelle]

Not all at once, though. Slowly!


Building 45 g community planted

 

[jenelle]

Latest readings: 0 Ammonia, Trace of Nitrite, Nitrate 5 and rising...

So it appears that I haven't lost my BB after all (yay!), just a bit concerned about the Nitrite detection. I added a dose of Prime and am thinking a water change in short order?

 

[RadMax8]

Good thinking! So you're ammonia-eating bacteria are doing their job but the nitrite-eating bacteria are slacking a little bit. Just keep an eye on your parameters.


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