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Your drift wood may also be causing some issues for a bit. So that could set it off as well... But don't need to listen to me lol in still a newbie I guess tho I have three wonderful tanks doing great right now.. Anyway... Your levels one down incredibly well on the day so keep it up. :) good luck
 
winstonsmith84 said:
Ok just did 50-60% wc. Gonna test ammonia in an hour and see where it's at. If still over 1 I'll do another wc. Everyone seems to doing ok ATM. View attachment 218781

Any other advice is definitely welcome.

Jc
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From looks of this tank you have the good bacteria building up on the walls so that could be your cause as well. Just saw this picture. That could be where it's coming from. Don't scrub the white stuff off and wait a day for a change and have extreme circulation!!
 
No Cheryl, I learned that one before I made the mistake of washing the filter. I did make the mistake of throwing out a good "dirty" filter before cutting some of it up. But do clean the filter once a day in the tank water with a wc. But thanks for bringing that up.

Since I started this I've learned ALOT! This forum especially helped me out. So thanks to it, and everyone who's given some advice. I plan on getting a bigger tank for all fish already purchased so they have enough room to flourish. This was definitely a learning adventure for both me and my daughter. Who btw has been helping me test and change water. Good for her to learn early at 8.5.
 
winstonsmith84 said:
No Cheryl, I learned that one before I made the mistake of washing the filter. I did make the mistake of throwing out a good "dirty" filter before cutting some of it up. But do clean the filter once a day in the tank water with a wc. But thanks for bringing that up.

Since I started this I've learned ALOT! This forum especially helped me out. So thanks to it, and everyone who's given some advice. I plan on getting a bigger tank for all fish already purchased so they have enough room to flourish. This was definitely a learning adventure for both me and my daughter. Who btw has been helping me test and change water. Good for her to learn early at 8.5.
Click to expand...


Don't clean the filter once a day. Once a week will be better. When you clean it in tank water you lose some of the bacteria and it goes down the sink. What you should do is have 2 or 3 media pads and alternate cleaning every week.
 
Caliban07 said:
Don't clean the filter once a day. Once a week will be better. When you clean it in tank water you lose some of the bacteria and it goes down the sink. What you should do is have 2 or 3 media pads and alternate cleaning every week.
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So cut up the old pad and place in when I change out for a new one? The filter can't fit that many at once so just looking for clarification. Thanks.
 
Similar Boat

To the OP,

I ended up having to do a fish-in cycle myself.

What worked best for me was turning the tank temp up to around 80, doing a 7 day regiment of Prime Stability (this apparently helps the BB get established easier).

To get my ammonia under control, I dosed Prime (awesome product, don't mess around with anything else) everyday and did a 25%-50% WC every other day.

(You add Prime during a WC obviously)

My tank was fully stocked but at least over filtrated. I was done in 22-23 days.


I wouldn't clean your filter at ALL until you are done in ANY water.

A 50% WC cuts your toxins in half. If you need to lower them further, wait a couple of hours and do another WC depending on where you want your numbers to be.

BUT, I'm telling you, Prime detoxifies the ammonia and nitrites for 24-48 hours and as long as you are around 1ppm or less, that will buy you another day before a WC and this should help the BB grow while not harming the fish.
 
fltcrew21 said:
To the OP,

I ended up having to do a fish-in cycle myself.

What worked best for me was turning the tank temp up to around 80, doing a 7 day regiment of Prime Stability (this apparently helps the BB get established easier).

To get my ammonia under control, I dosed Prime (awesome product, don't mess around with anything else) everyday and did a 25%-50% WC every other day.

(You add Prime during a WC obviously)

My tank was fully stocked but at least over filtrated. I was done in 22-23 days.


I wouldn't clean your filter at ALL until you are done in ANY water.

A 50% WC cuts your toxins in half. If you need to lower them further, wait a couple of hours and do another WC depending on where you want your numbers to be.

BUT, I'm telling you, Prime detoxifies the ammonia and nitrites for 24-48 hours and as long as you are around 1ppm or less, that will buy you another day before a WC and this should help the BB grow while not harming the fish.
Click to expand...


Thanks. Appreciate the feedback. With regards to prime dosing, when I do wc I'm adding about 1-2ml depending on how much I change. It says 5ml for a 50g. I don't want to overuse it either.

I put it in the water and swoosh it around before adding water back.
 
So here are my recent levels after morning wc. I fed the kids right before the change as I had not in almost a day and a half.

Looks like my am level has come down to approx .25-.5 levels. Will do another change later today try and get it under .25.

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1390753951.019156.jpg

Appreciate everyone's input. Also my ph is around 7.4 (also attached). ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1390754021.301821.jpg
 
Hold On

I would not do a WC for that ammonia level. Aren't you using Prime or another Ammonia Lock product?


The BB have to eat something. I say anything under 1.0 AND USING PRIME TO DETOXIFY is fine.

Once it cycles, it will obviously go to zero on it's own.

You will still get an ammonia reading using Prime but dose it everyday while keeping your ammonia at 1ppm or less with WC's.


You will be cycling in 6 months if you keep taking the ammonia out. keep it low and keep it non-toxic.
 
fltcrew21 said:
I would not do a WC for that ammonia level. Aren't you using Prime or another Ammonia Lock product?


The BB have to eat something. I say anything under 1.0 AND USING PRIME TO DETOXIFY is fine.

Once it cycles, it will obviously go to zero on it's own.

You will still get an ammonia reading using Prime but dose it everyday while keeping your ammonia at 1ppm or less with WC's.


You will be cycling in 6 months if you keep taking the ammonia out. keep it low and keep it non-toxic.
Click to expand...


That is incorrect. I'm sorry, but as a mod, I have to call foul when someone is giving bad advice.

Actually, he should be doing water changes if his ammonia gets above .25 which is the toxic level. If he doesn't, he can burn the gills of his fish and cause other damage. it will not take 6 months if he does water changes to keep his ammonia under .25. Using something like Ammo-lock only stalls the cycle.

Also, don't worry about changing your filter pads until they start falling apart, seriously. As for cleaning them, swish them in a bucket of tank water, that's all you need to do.

Here is a link about cycling with fish. Please read it and use it to help you cycle.

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
 
Foul?

How is using Prime to detoxify between water changes bad advice?

You didn't mention that part of my advice so I wonder if you read it.


I'm no expert but I just did a fish in cycle using Prime and doing the WC's like I said and it was like 21 days.

I don't know about Ammo lock but Prime does absolutely NOT stall your cycle.

Thank you
 
fltcrew21 said:
How is using Prime to detoxify between water changes bad advice?

You didn't mention that part of my advice so I wonder if you read it.


I'm no expert but I just did a fish in cycle using Prime and doing the WC's like I said and it was like 21 days.

I don't know about Ammo lock but Prime does absolutely NOT stall your cycle.

Thank you
Click to expand...

I purposely ignored it.

He should be doing water changes period, not just using chemicals to detoxify the water. The chemicals only work for so long, steady water changes will do more and be safer in the long run.
 
Last edited:
I Agree

I totally agree that he should be doing WC's. I did not tell him to stop doing water changes.

I meant to post that Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrites for 24-48 hours.

I don't think he should allow the ammonia reading to get above 1ppm even WITH Prime but if he just did a WC (and he did) and the Ammonia is .25-.50 (which is is) and the water has been treated with Prime (that we don't know), he does not (and in my option should not) do another WC today.

I dosed with Prime and Stability everyday and did a water change ever other day UNLESS the ammonia was above 1 ppm.

In that case (with am ammonia spike) I would bring it down to less than 1ppm regardless of what additive I had been using.

But I firmly believe that Prime treated water that has less than 1ppm ammonia is totally safe for 24-48 hours. This relieves a water change and is what I meant to convey.


I think this is commonly agreed upon. Isn't it? I mean am I making this up?
 
fltcrew21 said:
I totally agree that he should be doing WC's. I did not tell him to stop doing water changes.

I meant to post that Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrites for 24-48 hours.

I don't think he should allow the ammonia reading to get above 1ppm even WITH Prime but if he just did a WC (and he did) and the Ammonia is .25-.50 (which is is) and the water has been treated with Prime (that we don't know), he does not (and in my option should not) do another WC today.

I dosed with Prime and Stability everyday and did a water change ever other day UNLESS the ammonia was above 1 ppm.

In that case (with am ammonia spike) I would bring it down to less than 1ppm regardless of what additive I had been using.

But I firmly believe that Prime treated water that has less than 1ppm ammonia is totally safe for 24-48 hours. This relieves a water change and is what I meant to convey.


I think this is commonly agreed upon. Isn't it? I mean am I making this up?
Click to expand...

Here is your post from above. My comments in red, this is why I posted. Also, I would suggest if you'd like to continue arguing that you report me so that another mod or an admin can step in.

I would not do a WC for that ammonia level. Aren't you using Prime or another Ammonia Lock product?
He should be doing water changes regardless. Using a chemical to detoxify isn't the be all end all. The fish still need the fresh water.

The BB have to eat something. I say anything under 1.0 AND USING PRIME TO DETOXIFY is fine.

Yes, the BB do need to eat something, fish waste and the food he feeds the fish will suffice. We're trying to lower the ammonia to avoid burning the gills of the fish.
Once it cycles, it will obviously go to zero on it's own.
True, I didn't dispute this.
You will still get an ammonia reading using Prime but dose it everyday while keeping your ammonia at 1ppm or less with WC's.
True, I didn't dispute this either, other than 1ppm should really be .25


You will be cycling in 6 months if you keep taking the ammonia out. keep it low and keep it non-toxic.
False. It will not take 6 months if he does water changes to keep the ammonia at .25ppm.


 
DragonFish71 said:
That is incorrect. I'm sorry, but as a mod, I have to call foul when someone is giving bad advice.

Actually, he should be doing water changes if his ammonia gets above .25 which is the toxic level. If he doesn't, he can burn the gills of his fish and cause other damage. it will not take 6 months if he does water changes to keep his ammonia under .25. Using something like Ammo-lock only stalls the cycle.

Also, don't worry about changing your filter pads until they start falling apart, seriously. As for cleaning them, swish them in a bucket of tank water, that's all you need to do.

Here is a link about cycling with fish. Please read it and use it to help you cycle.

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
Click to expand...


Actually, according to jetajockeys ammonia toxicity chart, 1ppm ammonia at a ph of 7.4 is below the toxic threshold for ammonia. I would be more inclined to worry about nitrites. Water changing to keep nitrites down. Even then, nitrite toxicity is dependent upon fish size, species and amount of chloride in your tap water. The op hasn't said anything about his fish showing signs of stress or that he had lost a fish. His fish are fine for the time being. His bioload is quite hefty so these toxins are rising fast. If the op waters the levels closely (which he is) and they are not getting in to the 2-4ppm margin then dosing prime is fine. The toxins are detoxified and the BB can still go about there daily business. Unless there are signs of stress I would use prime myself. Of course it is only a temporary fix but he must be close to completing his cycle now. Nitrates are gonna be a pain to keep in check though with that bioload.
 
The assumption that a cycle will take 6 months is the only part of the conversation that I'm going to address. I've done every method of cycling imaginable and there is NO WAY that a tank will take more than a couple months fishless (if you make mistakes along the way). It really should complete in about one month. Fish in cycles are actually quicker because the colonies only have to grow to the size of the stock rather than 4ppm. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make after a fishless cycle is to stock TOO LITTLE of a load which leads to bacteria die off in some amount and there for added ammonia. Water changes will not stall or delay a cycle. We routinely start new tanks with seeded material and all it requires is a week or two of daily to every other day PWCs.

There are several articles on the various methods of cycling. I would suggest that the OP and anyone else that wants to actually learn more on the topic, do some actual reading rather than repeating.
 
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