Hello, New Member Here!

[kr8zykelley]

so I just got to read through the last day or so posts-- Yes mum I agree any amount of amon is a bad thing but some perimaters stay at a certain level. I have looked in all kinds of forums and specialist ( not the LPS) and they are started to agreee based on where and what type of water prior to the dechlor is added not all water will be completely free-- It might read 0 for a certain point but WC and other food and the like can change those readings all the time. I watch my tank everyday to make sure everyone is alive and happy I make sure my fish are eating, playing, searching there environment which shows they are curious and enjoying there home. NO one has been stressed ( except the guppies when I introduced the BN but bc they were the only ones there now everyone is good) my one female who was preggo and had been holding her fry is so comfortable she delvd yesterday morn!! of course she ate a few before I could get them but that is nature lol.... I think each person has to monitor there own tank and see what works best for the specific fish and how they are responded to said environ I am not saying that advice is a bad thing but we should all realize we all have diff fish we diff needs and if one tank might say .5 ppm and .0ppm but the fish are healthy and no suffering is apparent or evident then something must be working correctly. I upgraded my filter to a AC 50 about week ago and have always had plants and a bubbler volc for the water agit and added oxy in the tank. I think what I was trying to explain to scott which prob didnt translate well was to make sure his amn was ver low not u know 4.00ppm ike I have seen some readings and people want to put fish in YIKES ( not u scott) thats what I was getting at

 

[scottb]

Kelley - thank you for the post, it truly amazes me how nice and helpful everyone is on this forum! I completely agree when you say that everyone is going to have different water parameters, and the most important thing is to watch my fish everyday and test my water to ensure their well-being. I plan to test my water in a few hours, so I will update with my results.

 

[kr8zykelley]

yeah thats all I watch mine all the time everyone is doing good and no one has a prob I just did a WC when gravel clean so now Ill wait about 2 hrs and check parameters everyone is very nice!

 

[kr8zykelley]

hey on that cloralife t5 where did u get it? I think ours is 24" the houseing is 30" so u know.....

 

[scottb]

UPDATE: Just checked my water parameters and I'm reading 0.5ppm of Ammonia in my tank. I checked my tap water and it seems to show 0.25ppm of Ammonia. The colors for testing Ammonia, using the API kit, are really similar though from my tap and my tank. Any suggestions on where I should go from here? I think I'm going to do a 60-70% WC and test it again in a few hours. Any advice/help is more than welcome!

 

[scottb]

hey on that cloralife t5 where did u get it? I think ours is 24" the houseing is 30" so u know.....

Kelley - I actaully haven't invested in a T5 light fixture yet. I was gonna get one this weekend, but I accidentally cracked my hood doing WC's haha. So I'm looking into getting a versa all glass top, actually pretty cheap through Amazon. I did see some T5 light fixtures on petsolutions.com, you can check them out, but I advise you to research for the best possible price. Hope this helps and keep me updated on what light fixture you choose!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

so I just got to read through the last day or so posts-- Yes mum I agree any amount of amon is a bad thing but some perimaters stay at a certain level. I have looked in all kinds of forums and specialist ( not the LPS) and they are started to agreee based on where and what type of water prior to the dechlor is added not all water will be completely free-- It might read 0 for a certain point but WC and other food and the like can change those readings all the time. I watch my tank everyday to make sure everyone is alive and happy I make sure my fish are eating, playing, searching there environment which shows they are curious and enjoying there home. NO one has been stressed ( except the guppies when I introduced the BN but bc they were the only ones there now everyone is good) my one female who was preggo and had been holding her fry is so comfortable she delvd yesterday morn!! of course she ate a few before I could get them but that is nature lol.... I think each person has to monitor there own tank and see what works best for the specific fish and how they are responded to said environ I am not saying that advice is a bad thing but we should all realize we all have diff fish we diff needs and if one tank might say .5 ppm and .0ppm but the fish are healthy and no suffering is apparent or evident then something must be working correctly. I upgraded my filter to a AC 50 about week ago and have always had plants and a bubbler volc for the water agit and added oxy in the tank. I think what I was trying to explain to scott which prob didnt translate well was to make sure his amn was ver low not u know 4.00ppm ike I have seen some readings and people want to put fish in YIKES ( not u scott) thats what I was getting at

ALL cycled tank should have 0 ammonia and nitrite no exceptions. If it does not there is something wrong (cycling/mini cycling/ over stocked). Even if there is ammonia is the source water it will be quickly consumed by the bacteria in the tank. That is why dechlorinators like Prime are needed. They temporarily convert the ammonia in the tap water to a less toxic form but still leave it available to be consumed by the bacteria.

 

[scottb]

ALL cycled tank should have 0 ammonia and nitrite no exceptions. If it does not there is something wrong (cycling/mini cycling/ over stocked). Even if there is ammonia is the source water it will be quickly consumed by the bacteria in the tank. That is why dechlorinators like Prime are needed. They temporarily convert the ammonia in the tap water to a less toxic form but still leave it available to be consumed by the bacteria.

Just got through doing another close to 100% wc. I'll let it run for a couple hours and check the ammonia again. I was really looking forward to getting my new fish today! Oh well, guess I'll just have to pray for the best. One question I did have is that I know bacteria will kill ammonia, but since I don't have any fish in there, is there any bacteria present to do this?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Just got through doing another close to 100% wc. I'll let it run for a couple hours and check the ammonia again. I was really looking forward to getting my new fish today! Oh well, guess I'll just have to pray for the best. One question I did have is that I know bacteria will kill ammonia, but since I don't have any fish in there, is there any bacteria present to do this?

They will be starting to grow very slowly in very small numbers because you have had some ammonia in the tank. Did I read you have 0.25ppm of ammonia in your tap? That complicates thing just a tiny bit. You won't be able to get ammonia down past 0.25ppm during the cycle but once the tank is cycled the bacteria will be in high enough numbers to do the job. IMO if you can get ammonia down to that, keep up the prime every 24-48 hours to keep it converted and water changes as needed you can go ahead and get a few fish.

 

[scottb]

They will be starting to grow very slowly in very small numbers because you have had some ammonia in the tank. Did I read you have 0.25ppm of ammonia in your tap? That complicates thing just a tiny bit. You won't be able to get ammonia down past 0.25ppm during the cycle but once the tank is cycled the bacteria will be in high enough numbers to do the job. IMO if you can get ammonia down to that, keep up the prime every 24-48 hours to keep it converted and water changes as needed you can go ahead and get a few fish.

Mumma - Thanks for clearing that up for me. Can you imagine, me doing daily 100% water changes, for who knows how long, trying to get my ammonia down to 0ppm, when I would have never got there! Well, if all reads the same after a few hours, I plan to go get some fish today. Will be some species of Tetra.

QUESTION: How much Prime should I dose in a 48 hour period? To my best guess I have anywhere between 30-32gallons of water in my 36g tank. Does this sound right? And since my tap is at 0.25ppm Ammonia, should I be worried if it read 0.5ppm, or when it reads 1.0ppm? Thanks!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Mumma - Thanks for clearing that up for me. Can you imagine, me doing daily 100% water changes, for who knows how long, trying to get my ammonia down to 0ppm, when I would have never got there! Well, if all reads the same after a few hours, I plan to go get some fish today. Will be some species of Tetra.

QUESTION: How much Prime should I dose in a 48 hour period? To my best guess I have anywhere between 30-32gallons of water in my 36g tank. Does this sound right? And since my tap is at 0.25ppm Ammonia, should I be worried if it read 0.5ppm, or when it reads 1.0ppm? Thanks!

So the way I see it during the cycle .25ppm is '0', so .5ppm is .25ppm and so on. You want to still keep ammonia as low as possible (in your case .25ppm) with water changes like if your tap water doesn't have ammonia. Dosing the whole tank with prime every water change should be enough (unless it's more than 2 days between water changes which I doubt). You don't have to be exact with the prime. Dosing the tank like it has 40g of water will be fine. I have a 150L I dose like its 200L just because one cap is for 200L and I'm too lazy to measure out the exact amount. Prime can be safely dosed at 5x the normal amount.
I hope that makes sense!!

 

[scottb]

So the way I see it during the cycle .25ppm is '0', so .5ppm is .25ppm and so on. You want to still keep ammonia as low as possible (in your case .25ppm) with water changes like if your tap water doesn't have ammonia. Dosing the whole tank with prime every water change should be enough (unless it's more than 2 days between water changes which I doubt). You don't have to be exact with the prime. Dosing the tank like it has 40g of water will be fine. I have a 150L I dose like its 200L just because one cap is for 200L and I'm too lazy to measure out the exact amount. Prime can be safely dosed at 5x the normal amount.
I hope that makes sense!!

This makes total sense. Basically, if I read 1.0ppm, it's the same thing as reading 0.5ppm since my tap contains 0.25ppm of Ammonia. And yes, I will just guestimate on the Prime. Will update as soon as I test my water again. Should be in a few hours.

 

[kr8zykelley]

yeah I will check around for the T5 I thought maybe u had gotten one poor thing breakin ur other light caseing... that is what I was trying to get out with my other explanation!! lol my 0 act reads .5ppm thats how I know

did u end of picking up any fish or u are waiting?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

This makes total sense. Basically, if I read 1.0ppm, it's the same thing as reading 0.5ppm since my tap contains 0.25ppm of Ammonia. And yes, I will just guestimate on the Prime. Will update as soon as I test my water again. Should be in a few hours.

So if it's reading 1ppm, 0.75 came from the fish and 0.25ppm came from the tap. the tank still has 1ppm total of ammonia in it though so just be aware of that.
Keep us posted!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Also I should mention. If your tank has 1ppm of ammonia and you do a 50% water change you are only bringing it down to .75ppm because you are removing half/.5ppm but replacing .25ppm.

When your tank is fully cycled it would be a good idea to do two smaller water changes a week rather than one large one. This way a smaller amount of ammonia is being introduced to the tank and the bacteria will handle it better.

 

[scottb]

Also I should mention. If your tank has 1ppm of ammonia and you do a 50% water change you are only bringing it down to .75ppm because you are removing half/.5ppm but replacing .25ppm.

When your tank is fully cycled it would be a good idea to do two smaller water changes a week rather than one large one. This way a smaller amount of ammonia is being introduced to the tank and the bacteria will handle it better.

Got it, thanks. The way I see it, as long as I test my water frequently and make sure my ammonia levels don't spike beyond 1ppm, all my fish should be alive and happy!

QUESTION: when dosing with Prime during a water change, should I add the amount needed to treat the tap water, and then add more?

 

[scottb]

yeah I will check around for the T5 I thought maybe u had gotten one poor thing breakin ur other light caseing... that is what I was trying to get out with my other explanation!! lol my 0 act reads .5ppm thats how I know

did u end of picking up any fish or u are waiting?

kelley - I actually only replaced the stock bulb with a Coralife 50/50. It's still a 17w T8. I plan to upgrade in the future, once my tank is fully cycled and has been running successfully for awhile. And yea, sucks that I cracked my hood, but I bought a Versa Top all glass good that was under $35 including shipping! Should be getting it in a week or so.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Just add enough to treat the whole tank.
This is what I do with all my larger tanks.
Turn off filters and heater
Drain water
Add prime to dose whole volume of the tank
Add temperature matched water
Wait 5-10 minutes to make sure prime has worked
Turn on filters and heater

 

[scottb]

UPDATE: after testing my tank water, as well as my tap, I have decided I am good for fish. I was leaning towards Longfin Zebra Danios, but settled on 5 Harlequin Rasboras instead (hope this isn't too many). One thing I noticed is that 2 of them seem to have a lighter shade of the "triangle" towards their back fin. I wonder if this is just due to stress or of its an illness. Anyone have any similar experiences here?

 

[scottb]

just add enough to treat the whole tank.
This is what i do with all my larger tanks.
Turn off filters and heater
drain water
add prime to dose whole volume of the tank
add temperature matched water
wait 5-10 minutes to make sure prime has worked
turn on filters and heater

thank you!