20 Gallon High Journal/Questions

[Fishperson]

I have set up a lot of threads, including:
Am I fishless cycling right?
When to add fish?
and a few more.
All are about my 20 gallon high tank that I finished fishless cycling several days ago. I have 5 bloodfin tetras in there now, that are, at the moment, unidentified gender-wise (they won't tell me, when I asked them I think they got insulted ). My final stock will probably be:
7 Bloodfin Tetras
7 Rummynose Tetras
1 Bolivian, German Blue, or Golden Ram
and maybe an otocinclus if algae becomes a problem, but probably not.
My most recent test (this afternoon) resulted in:
7.4 ph
0-.25 ammonia
0 nitrite
40-80 nitrates!
I did a 5 gallon water change today, and will do another 5 gallons tomorrow. The nitrate test was very hard to read, and I can tell the color was between 2 of the colors, because it was a bright, intense red. I have been having a few problems:
1. My heater is very weak, possible too weak for my tank. Or so I thought. I have a thermometer that is on the opposite side of my 50W heater, and the temperature was hovering around 82 for a while, so 2 days before adding fish I turned it down from "high" to "low". It was still at 82 when I added the 5 fish, and it wouldn't get lower that, so I unplugged the heater overnight. I woke up with it at 74, plugged it back in, and went to school. When I got home, 10 hours later, it was back at 82. That was yesterday. What is wrong? My optimum temp is less than 78, and even on low it is at 82. Right now it is at 81. What should I do?
2. My second problem is not as big of a deal. One of the fish is behaving kind of strangely. It has a tear on its top fin, and it sometimes doesn't eat. Although, one of them is always "on watch" and away from the rest of the group, so maybe he is one of the "watchers". What I am really worried about is whether or not it has ich. Does it look like ich?

If you want to see some videos or learn more about the story of my tank, go to my thread "Am I Fishless Cycling Right?". It has videos, pictures, test results, and more. I will post my test results, videos, pictures, and just general updates on this thread from now on, because I have a bunch of different threads going now, so this will be the only one from now on.

in advance!

 

[librarygirl]

What heater are you using? Is it adjustable or is it set at a predetermined temp? It may be a defective heater. What thermometer are you using? If it's the stick-on ones they can be hard to read and not very accurate; you might want to get an in-tank mercury thermometer instead and see what that reads first.

I didn't see a pic of the fish.....fin tears aren't a sign of ich. Does it have white spots on it that look like grains of salt? Usually damage to fins can heal on their own with clean water. Your nitrates are pretty high; have you tested your tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? If not you might want to start there as it'll tell you what you're putting back into the tank during water changes.

 

[Fishperson]

Thank you. If you want to see pics or video go to my other thread, "Am I Fishless Cycling Right" on the last page i posted some videos. The heater has an adjustable/turnable knob on it to change from "low" to "high", with "med" in between. It is a topfin 50w heater. I will test my tap water soon, and test it again after it gasses off in 2 days. there is no white dots on the fish. When can i add 2 more bloodfins?

 

[Fishperson]

I just tested and got this for my tap water:
0.1 ammonia
0 nitrite
7.4 ph
0ish nitrates

I think I will get 2 more bloodfin tetras soon.

 

[Fishperson]

I actually am going to get more fish next weekend and I will get a new heater soon. Any recommendations?

 

[Soupy97]

I would reccomend an eheim jager heater. They are good quality.

As for the fish with a tear in it, it could be from agression in the tank but you really dont have any aggressive fish so I dont know who could be causing it. I would not be too worried about ich, especially since the temperature in your tank has been a little high.

 

[Fishperson]

Thanks soupy97, I have heard a lot of good things about the Eheim jagers. It didn't happen in my tank, because they never nip eachother, just chase, and I saw it when I was walking out of the pet store. The label said that they were in with glowlight tetras and I think some ottos. The person at the store told me that they just got them the day before I bought them, so I don't know what happened. I bought about 70% of the bloodfins in there, and there weren't any glowlights when I was there.

 

[Fishperson]

Ok, I am going to the pet store in about an hour or two. I decided on an Aqueon Submersible Aquarium Heater. On petsmart it has a bunch of great reviews, all 5 star, whereas eheim jager only has 2 reviews (still 5 star), and they both said it was just pretty good. Does anyone have any experience with this heater?

 

[Fishperson]

I bought the Aqueon heater, but I haven't put it in yet. I am going to put that heater in and do a 7 gallon water change after dinner.

 

[Soupy97]

I have also had an aqueon submersible heater, I prefer the eheim jager based on looks but the aqueon functions just as well. As far as the fish with the fin problem goes, I would just keep an eye on him and you should be fine.

 

[Fishperson]

The heater works great. I have it set on 77 and it has been between 78 and 76 the whole time. I am super happy. I am in some hot water with my parents and can't get any more fish until friday or saturday ("depending on your behavior" says my dad). I am doing a 10ish gallon water change soon.

 

[Fishperson]

By the way, this is what my final stock will look like. Is this okay?
7 Bloodfin Tetras
7 Rummynose Tetras
1 Bolivian Ram

My profile picture isn't updating for me, it should be this sign about the red sox, but it is still my previous one.

 

[Fishperson]

I just did a 10ish gallon water change. Before the change my levels were
0-.25 ammonia
0 nitrite
30 nitrate
8 ph

 

[Soupy97]

That stocking is perfectly fine. By the way, Go Red Sox! haha

 

[Fishperson]

Oh....
you can see it?
I can only see the cat.
Is it understocked at all? Could I add maybe a few more rummynose? I have heard of this kind of stock:
5 neon tetras
5 skirt tetras
4 corys
1 dwarf gourami
1 gbr ram
and they say it will work. could I add at least 1 more rummynose?

 

[Fishperson]

When I click on my picture it goes to the correct one, but next to my post it doesn't


<--- (right there it shows a cat)

 

[Fishperson]

HELP!
I have 2 new questions:
1. When should I change my filter pad?
2. I plan on getting more fish on friday. Is it too soon to add rummynose tetras? I was thinking about getting 3 rummynose and 2 bloodfin.

 

[Kvnr14]

What kind of filter do you have? And what do you mean by filter pads?

If your talking about the sponges, I have had the same sponges in my fluvel 304 for 6 years.

Carbon pads need to be changed every month or so because they lose there effectiveness after this time. You really don't need to use carbon (IMO it's just a way to get more money out of you) unless to remove medication.

Also if you have some sort of filter media (biomax, ceramic rings, etc.), you really shouldn't replace these because alot of your BB is stored here.

For the adding fish thing, if you have done a fishless cycle, in theory you could add your full stock right away.

 

[Fishperson]

I have a tetra whisper 30 filter. by pads i mean the stuff that is in the filter that you are supposed to change every month. when and how do i do that?
should I leave it in the tank (like dangling in the tank or something?)

 

[Fishperson]

I think I will be getting 2 bloodfins and 3 rummynose today, and then 4 more rummynose on sunday or monday.