Hello - New To Freshwater Aquariums - Intro & a Few Questions

[beginner13]

Hello!
I am happy to be here and hoping to get a few questions answered as well as gain some confidence in our aquarium knowlege and abilities

I have a 30(?) gallon hexagon tank (not toally sure of the exact size) that I took after my father passed away. It was a passion of his, so I'm excited to get this tank up and running. We have visited our local pet store so many times and they have been awesome answering all our questions, but I am quickly getting a bit overwhelmed and looking for another forum for some information!

We are using the AquaClear 50 filter, a Fluval heater and since our tank is deap, the pet store recommended a fan to help circulate the water that we've placed fairly low in the tank and pointed upwwards. We have landscaped it with some artificial decorations along with a rock and one live java fern.

Started with some liquid ammonia & bacteria per the instructions from our pet store friends, but didn't get the bacteria bloom we were expecting. Did it again and still nothing. We decided to introduce some fish to help get things going.

The day we put the fish in we had a PH of 7.6 and ammonia of 1.0. I hadn't tested for Nitrite or Nitrate that day. We also added our tank salt on this day as well a dose of Neutral Regulator powder as recommended by our pet store

We added 2x Neon Blue Dwarf Rainbows, 1x Black Skirt Tetra and 1x Rosy Barb

We have been testing our water daily for about a week and the levels are consistently Ph 7.6, Ammonia 1.0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5.0. I added a second dose of the Neutral Regulator 3 days after the first, and

Not sure if this was the best idea, but we added a Fruit Salad Tetra and 2x Molly.

Today we lost one of the dwarf rainbow fish

I'm wondering if we just need to wait and be patient for the tank to regulate or if there is something we need to be doing? I just want to make sure we're not serial fish killers!

If you got all the way to the bottom, thank you for reading!!

 

[pauldadams1984]

One of the admins will clarify this but I think you're supposed to use that pH regulator before you add fish.

As each time you add a dose, you're causing it to change, if there's no fish, no issue but if there is, you'll be unsettling the fish that got acclimatised to the ph when added to the tank.

 

[pauldadams1984]

One of the admins will clarify this but I think you're supposed to use that pH regulator before you add fish.

As each time you add a dose, you're causing it to change, if there's no fish, no issue but if there is, you'll be unsettling the fish that got acclimatised to the ph when added to the tank.

"Green: This product is safe for these tank inhabitants. Take care to avoid sudden large shifts in water parameters within the tank, and review the dosing instructions carefully to avoid improper dosing."

That's what seachem states, so for when they respond, it might be worth mentioning what percentage water changes you've done and how much you dosed each time.

Out of interest, what the reason you wanted to change the pH? Was it because they told you ammonia is much safer at pH 7 and below.

Is it due to certain livestock?

At 7.6 it's higher than preferred but a stable yet slightly higher pH is better than changing it I would have thought.

 

[beginner13]

Thank you so much for your reply!

The store said the Ph was on the high side and recommended the Seachem Neutral Regulator. I have been doing research on this board and other places and see that this might be on the high-side of the "OK" range. I'm more concerned about the Ammonia level.

I have not done any water changes so far.

 

[pauldadams1984]

Ok. Best thing to do right now is do a water change, 50% or even 75%. Then create a time frame and state everything you have done so far, including the amounts dosed etc.

If you haven't done any water changes, I'm presuming it's very new in its cycle.

When you say you added ammonia and bacteria. State amounts. Also, when you say you added bacteria. What did you actually add.

Many things state it has beneficial bacteria that helps a filter etc but they might not be alive. Generally, unless you have filter media from another tank, you won't escape the nitrogen cycle.


Did the shop explain the nitrogen cycle much or just say to throw this and that in there?

 

[beginner13]

Before we added any fish, we did 1.5 tsp of Fritz Zyme Fishless fuel. Waited two days and then added a whole bottle of Fritz Zyme 7 Freshwater Nitrifying Bacteria. They said we would get a milky looking tank after a while and that was to be expected, but that never happened.

Since our ammonia levels were still at 1.0, we did another bottle of the Fritz Zyme 7. We never had a bacteria bloom. So we have introduced some fish to try and help this process along.

I just have a feeling we are doing all the wrong things, but hopefully we can get on the right track.

 

[beginner13]

Just to clarify - "whole bottle" is 8oz

 

[pauldadams1984]

Before we added any fish, we did 1.5 tsp of Fritz Zyme Fishless fuel. Waited two days and then added a whole bottle of Fritz Zyme 7 Freshwater Nitrifying Bacteria. They said we would get a milky looking tank after a while and that was to be expected, but that never happened.

Since our ammonia levels were still at 1.0, we did another bottle of the Fritz Zyme 7. We never had a bacteria bloom. So we have introduced some fish to try and help this process along.

I just have a feeling we are doing all the wrong things, but hopefully we can get on the right track.

Did you use a conditioner before adding the bacteria?

 

[pauldadams1984]

The pH regulator also acts as a conditioner I think but did you add that before or after adding the zyme. If you didn't. It's possible that the chlorine in the water killed the bacteria

 

[beginner13]

We added the pH regulator after that whole process above. The first dose was just before we added the fish and the second dose was about 3 days later.

So just to recap, the current state of our tank is 6 fish in our ~30 gallon tank. our levels are 7.6 pH, 1.0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 5.0 Nitrate. The first group of 4 fish are going on about a week (one died) and the second group of 3 fish were added yesterday.

Just wondering what the next few days/weeks should be. Just wait it out and keep an eye on the levels? Or, Partial water change -- and if so, I need to research the steps for that.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Lets take a step back.

First off, trying to chemically adjust pH usually causes more issues than it solves. Its also much easier to raise pH than lower it. A high pH usually comes with high carbonate hardness (KH) which will absorb anything you add into the water to acidify. The only real way of lowering pH is to mix your tapwater with water of a lower pH/ KH than what comes out of your tap. So that would be distilled water filtered RO water or rainwater.

If buying or collecting more acidic water isnt for you, its better to match fish to the water rather than try and force water to parameters it doesnt want to be at. pH of 7.6 isnt all that far out there though.

Your ammonia is too high. You need to get it lower. You arent cycled and the only surefire way to lower ammonia when you arent cycled is change toxic water for clean water. Assuming your tapwater is free of ammonia a 50% water change will bring 1ppm of ammonia down to 0.5ppm which is a much safer level.

Test daily, if ammonia is above 0.5ppm change enough water to get it to no higher than 0.5ppm.

Seachem neutral regulator will also remove chlorine, but as said it will do practically nothing to lower pH. You would be better using Seachem Prime as your water conditioner when you do a water change.

The fishless fuel is a really dangerous product to add into a tank with fish. Its a source of ammonia, and is used to do a fishless cycle. This is where your high ammonia is coming from, whatever else you do stop adding that. A fishless cycle typically takes a couple of months to complete, not a couple of days.

The Fritz zyme is a product that contains the microbes you need to cycle a tank. If it works it speeds up the cycling process from several months to several weeks. These products often dont do anything useful, but the one you have used does have a good reputation. You have added enough though, it will either work or not. I wouldnt keep buying more and more of it. You just need patience, change water whenever you get above 0.5ppm ammonia or nitrite, and in time your tank will cycle. You could easily be doing daily water changes for a couple weeks, and a couple of months before you are cycled. Feed sparingly, either daily as much as is eaten in 1 to 2 minutes, or every 2 days as much as is eaten in 3 minutes. Do not add more fish until you are cycled sufficiently for the ones you currently have.

 

[pauldadams1984]

The nitrate reading sounds like it might all be working and it's possible that the pH regulator or general stress may have been the cause.

I would suggest to start doing water changes either way.

Make sure you have a conditioner to do it. Maybe even adding extra bacteria as it won't harm (make sure you use the conditioner to remove chlorine before adding).

Although, be aware, I am just here trying to improve my own all round knowledge, so any admin advice should be taken way above mine

 

[beginner13]

THANK YOU both so much. So just to say this back to you to be sure I understand:

1. Stop using the Fishless Fuel and Nitrifying Bacteria. Got it. We haven't use either of those since adding fish, and will not add any more.

2. Do a water change of about half our tank. I did test our tap water this morning and it was 7.2 pH, 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 0-5 Nitrate (colors were so close). When I do this, I should add a water conditioner and should get some Seachem Prime for this.

3. Continue to test daily and change water as needed to keep ammonia <= .5 ppm.

4. Feed sparingly - we have been doing 1/2 tablet every other day of the Sera O-nip treat tabs

5. No more fish until cycled and have patience!

 

[Aiken Drum]

1. Stop using the Fishless Fuel and Nitrifying Bacteria. Got it. We haven't use either of those since adding fish, and will not add any more

Adding more bottled bacteria wont hurt anything, but its expensive. If you have already bought some, may as well use it up. But it will either work or not work, and buying more probably isnt worth the expense. But its your money if you want to.

2. Do a water change of about half our tank. I did test our tap water this morning and it was 7.2 pH, 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 0-5 Nitrate (colors were so close). When I do this, I should add a water conditioner and should get some Seachem Prime for this

Always use a water conditioner whenever you change water. In lieu of a water conditioner use the neutral regulator stuff, but going forward just buy a water conditioner. Prime is a good, cost effective water conditioner.

3. Continue to test daily and change water as needed to keep ammonia <= .5 ppm

Actually, add your ammonia result to your nitrite result. If the combined total is more than 0.5ppm then change enough water to bring it below 0.5ppm combined.

 

[beginner13]

Got it! Thanks! Super excited for this aquarium journey! Thanks for you help!!

 

[pauldadams1984]

Just doing some research on the Fritz zyme 7.

You needed more than the 8 Oz bottle for your 30+ gal tank.

On the bottle it states that it treats 40gal, but reading the information, that's based on an already established tank just having a boost.

You would need 12+ ounces to start the tank from scratch.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Stop adding fish until the tank has finished cycling (in about 4-6 weeks).

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What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200ppm and a pH above 7.0. Mollies need a GH above 250ppm or they don't do well.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

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What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

Rosy barbs need space to swim, as do rainbowfish, but the dwarf rainbows (presumably Melanotaenia praecox) don't need as much space as rosy barbs, but they still need a bit of space to move about.

Barbs, tetras and rainbowfish all need to be kept in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10) or more.

Black skirt (aka black widow) tetras are renown fin nippers and not a community fish. I would return any of these you have.

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You need to keep the pH stable (as mentioned by others) and keep the ammonia levels as close to 0ppm as possible.

Reduce feeding to once every couple of days. Don't worry, the fish won't starve.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day the ammonia or nitrite level is above 0ppm.

When the filter has finished cycling, you can feed more often and a do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[Andy Sager]

Just to pile on a little , Since your source water contains nitrates, you will only know you have an active biological filter bed when the nitrates climb past that 5 ppm.
Fritzyme #7 is one of the few bacteria products that has a very long history of being a great product and is one I have used since it came on the market in the 1970s. You want to make sure that the bottle is not past it's expiration date ( usually stamped on the bottom of the bottle) since this is a live product, using it past the expiration date will probably mean you are adding dead microbes so it's useless. Be careful of exposing it to excessive heat. It's a little confusing that you are not getting a nitrate reading from the fish being in there with the #7 tho. I'm not 100% sure of your time line but you should have a reading in just a couple of weeks.
As for the fish you add, rainbowfish are active swimmers and a hexagon tank does not offer a lot of swimming space. This could explain why you lost one of them. To help those selling you fish, make sure you explain that you have a 30 gal HEX and not just a 30 gallon tank as the best fish for both of these tanks will be different.

As the others have explained, your best bet now is to wait, not add anymore fish and monitor the ammonia level. You should not need to daily test nitrites until your ammonia level starts to decline. Once that happens, your nitrites should start to rise then fall as your nitrate level begins to rise. All this should be expedited with the Fritzyme #7. You will know you've completed the nitrogen cycle when your ammonia and nitrite levels are 0 and your nitrate is over 5 PPM. Keep in mind that the biological filter bed is a living breathing thing that grows and shrinks to the level of ammonia producers ( the fish ) present so when you have completed the cycle, it means there are only enough microbes present to handle the fish load you have at that time. From there, you want to add fish slowly as you need to give the microbes time to reproduce to accommodate the increased ammonia production. The good news is that in a cycled aquarium, this happens quickly, usually within 24 hours in most cases. (You would need to be monitoring the water constantly to actually see the minute rise and fall of the ammonia and nitrites. )

Hopefully this better explains your situation and wasn't too confusing.