Magicmarymac
Aquarium Advice Freak
I am very sad and a bit frustrated.
My Marineland Eclipse 12 (13 watt, 5000k) has gone from 28 fish with old tank syndrome in October 2012 to getting cleaned up, planted, pretty, and the bioload pretty much under control.
1 male betta
6 ottos
3 ghost shrimp
3 cherry shrimp
dozens of tiny snails (Mystery Snails mostly)
3 Assassin snails
In fact, even back then when I had way too many fish in this tank the ammonia never read more than .1... until today. The only thing that has changed is that on 1/31 I did a 50% PWC, added plant tabs to the substrate (gravel), and added two more assassin snails (making it 3).
This is the first time I have added plant tabs and I followed the instructions and added five. I have been adding Flourish excel and Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium for a couple of weeks now.
Yesterday I woke up to cloudiness, so I (yes, no doubt stupidly), replaced the filter pad and added charcoal in a bag. Today I checked the water, with my API test kit, and the numbers shocked me!
Ammonia .5 (it has never even once approached GREEN, just yellow with a very slight tinge of green)
Nitrates 30 (always guessing at this number, call it 20-60)
Nitrates .1 (I have not seen anything but pure blue until today)
I did a 30% PWC immediately and added extra Prime. I also pulled out a couple dozen more tiny Mystery Snail babies to take to the LFS for their Puffers.
I will do another PWC when I get back.
Any suggestions would be sincerely appreciated.
Thank you,
Mary
My Marineland Eclipse 12 (13 watt, 5000k) has gone from 28 fish with old tank syndrome in October 2012 to getting cleaned up, planted, pretty, and the bioload pretty much under control.
1 male betta
6 ottos
3 ghost shrimp
3 cherry shrimp
dozens of tiny snails (Mystery Snails mostly)
3 Assassin snails
In fact, even back then when I had way too many fish in this tank the ammonia never read more than .1... until today. The only thing that has changed is that on 1/31 I did a 50% PWC, added plant tabs to the substrate (gravel), and added two more assassin snails (making it 3).
This is the first time I have added plant tabs and I followed the instructions and added five. I have been adding Flourish excel and Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium for a couple of weeks now.
Yesterday I woke up to cloudiness, so I (yes, no doubt stupidly), replaced the filter pad and added charcoal in a bag. Today I checked the water, with my API test kit, and the numbers shocked me!
Ammonia .5 (it has never even once approached GREEN, just yellow with a very slight tinge of green)
Nitrates 30 (always guessing at this number, call it 20-60)
Nitrates .1 (I have not seen anything but pure blue until today)
I did a 30% PWC immediately and added extra Prime. I also pulled out a couple dozen more tiny Mystery Snail babies to take to the LFS for their Puffers.
I will do another PWC when I get back.
Any suggestions would be sincerely appreciated.
Thank you,
Mary
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