Background and some questions about my tank setup

[psychoboy_24]

First and foremost thank you everyone who reads this and helps me out. I have been reading posts on this site to see if my question was answered else where and you all seem very helpful. I was in a sense forced into aquarium ownership. I had wanted one for years, but the choice to get one was forced. My back pond is 2000 gallons. We inherited it with the house my wife and I bought. It went south and we had to pull the fish to save them. I bought the largest tank I could find fast. It was a 55 gal from wal-mart. I knew exactly nothing about tank setup and thought this kit would be all inclusive and good to go. It was way over stocked and under filtered. I lost a couple of fish and turned our big guy lose at a local lake. I had started to do some research at that point and decided that our set up was sub standard and we went to petsmart and started all over. The only thing I kept from the old setup was the tank itself. I now have two penguin biofilters each rated for 30 gal. Two large airator stones. New small gravel substrate. An all glass heater and some decorations. We have had this setup now for close to a month and I have had some problems cycling the tank. For quite a while my nitrites were through the roof. I treated for them and nothing would happen. I then tested for ammonia and it was high. I treated for the ammonia and both of them dropped through the floor. As it stands Im trying to get a plant to take root and to keep my ammonia and nitrite levels down. We slowed our feeding down because we were out of control feeding three to four times a day. We are now feeding every other day. My tank is currently stocked with 5 adult gold fish, 7 baby gold fish that are at or less than an inch and 4 young koi that are around 3 inches. I moved some of the fish that were in it before into my front pond. Thats the back ground. Sorry for it being so very long. My water is coming out of the faucet with alkalinity. My ph is high. I seem to have the nitrite and ammonia problem at hand now that im testing for both of them regularly. We perform weekly vvacuum water change of 10 to no more than 25 percent. We usually only go 25 if we are having a nitrite or ammonia prob and need to treat the tank. What are some good products to use to get the alk down and the ph closer to 7? Could you please give me any feed back or perhaps some advice on how to hold her down. This is our first tank. Thanks so much for getting through this post. Hope everyone has a great day.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

Hi there.

Ok, first and foremost, never release fish into the wild. Often, they propagate and take over the existing population. Not a good thing.

That aside, I would contact either a local fish store or an aquarium society and see if anyone can take some of the golds/koi off your hands. Unless you can get your pond in order, they won't be ok in the 55. Ask the member WaterPond here for some advice. He can certainly help you get your pond straightened out.

Until you can get your stock down considerably (no more than 5 golds in a 55) you will continue to have ammonia/nitrite problems.

As for the pH/alk, don't sweat it. Stable is more important than accurate.

 

[psychoboy_24]

Thanks for the advice. I only released the big guy because I refused to let him die. That night I had all my fish in buckets around the house. It was a hard choice to make. But I will agree it can be harmful. It was a last resort. We only have to make the tank work until we hit the spring. Then we can make the changes to the pond that we need to. We inherited it and got a really really bad setup. The water return went south and the pond pumped its self almost dry. Ill definitely be bugging him about my set up once I'm at that stage. I guess I worded my question wrong though. What are some good maintenance products I could use and how do you think my set up is? I just want it to be ok for them while they sit out the winter. I know it probably wont be perfect, but I want it to be as good as it can be. We have gotten it pretty stable in the area of nitrite and ammonia. We had a nitrite spike, but we did a 25% wc and treated it for the ammonia i found in it. Once again my levels dropped to zero. I would appreciate any advice. We have had them out of the pond for a total of two months now. Thanks a lot for any information you could send my way.

 

[fish 'n' fries]

What are you using to treat for ammonia? Your best bet to keep your ammonia and nitrite levels under 0.5 (this is assuming you're going to keep all those fish until spring since it sounds like you're set on that plan) is to do frequent water changes. You can easily do up to 50% at a time. That said, you have a touchy tank with it's being so overstocked. Decreasing the frequency of feeds sounds like a good plan to me as it will decrease the ammonia being produced. Hope this helps.

 

[psychoboy_24]

Thank you for the advice, I used a product from jungle. They were fizzy tabs that I dissolved in a cup and added to the tank as directed. Wal mart was the only thing open when we were in need. What would you suggest? Something else, for a long time my tank was cloudy. Like a whitish cloudiness. It was to the point that it was hard to see through the tank long ways. I havn't added any clarifiers and it just started clearing up. It has since gone completely clear. Is there any chance that if I keep their feeding down that the tank could cycle and start to get a grip on the situation? Thanks for the help so far. I really appreciate it. I'm also looking forward to getting them back in their home and getting some fish we will like inside the house.

 

[fish 'n' fries]

Often the white is your bacteria bloom (meaning the bacteria that you're trying to get to colonize your tank when you're cycling). You said the tanks been up 2 months? You're likely almost cycled as it's been with fish.

I'm not sure with any of the ammonia products...whether they actually get rid of the ammonia or just somehow hide it. I've heard others say they can just make your cycle last longer because they hide the ammonia so you don't get the bacteria you're trying to encourage. Ideally, a tank should reach the point where you don't need the ammonia reducers.

If it were me, I'd stop using them...watch your levels of ammonia and nitrite closely (daily maybe at first then less frequently as you can). My guess is you'll still have to do frequent water changes to get rid of nitrates once it's cycled because of the fish load... The cycle articles here on the forum are helpful if you don't yet understand the cycle concept.

Hope that helps and makes sense!

 

[tropicfishman]

the ammonia products convert ammonia into a harmless form of it, the two forms of ammonia are ionized and unionized forms, which is which I have trouble remembering lol I think your tank is going to be ok, sounds as if your still cycling, your tank takes a good time to develop the bacteria needed to break down ammonia and nitrite ( which is converted to a less lethal nitrate ) I've always been a big fan of using Stress Zyme when cycling or doing a water change just replisnish or jump start the bacteria growth. keep up withthe water changes and water parameter monitoring and you should be good, good luck!! let us know how things turn out

 

[locorosa]

Well hey there fellow Goldie owner! First off, good for you asking questions around here.

The ph is good on your tank. Gold's do better in a more alkaline water. They can handle water around a 7 but where you're at is perfectly fine.
You are probably going to have to do twice weekly water changes with all those fish in the tank. 25% at a time is perfectly acceptable and you can do more if your ammonia or nitrites are too high.
Get a good gravel vac and do some heavy sludge extracting. I'd actually recommend going bare bottom as this will help with waste management.
I would also recommend culling some more of the gang to get the numbers more manageable. You can alwyas add fish next summer after you get the hang of fish keeping.
Keep an eye out at garage sales and www.craigslist.com for another used tank setup. When you find one cheap enough, grab it! If you want to keep that many fish you are going to need another tank, at the very least! Then when they winter with you, there's more room.
I don't know anything about pond keeping but you will find plenty of help here. I will also pm you a couple of links to dedicated Goldfish boards.
Since you are cycling with fish, roll up your sleeves and get ready to work. The tank will eventually settle in. I would recommend a canister filter as well. With all those fish I am betting the hob's are working as hard as they can and it may not get much better.

Good Luck!

 

[psychoboy_24]

Thank you so much everyone for the help. I will pick up a canister filter as soon as possible. I will post updates as I have them.