exodus
Aquarium Advice Freak
This is my second tank, first one I had when I was 8 or 10 so that didn't count. Now I'm 18, and have forgotten the little I knew back then.
I bought a 10g tank kit from walmart. Came with the tank, power filter, heater, net, light, etc. and I'm having my doubts on the filter and heater since it came from walmart. Also, the heater, when set to say 75* will bump the water temp to well over 80* which doesnt seem right. Cheap heater, or can these things be calibrated?
Next, the filter seems a bit on the weak side, and I just dont really like anything about the way its designed. The filter is made by Aqua-Tech, and I forget the exact model number but its the smallest one they offer. Not only can I not find the filters anywhere, but it doesnt seem to do a great job of filtering stuff out. Would I benefit from trying a different filter?
I'll admit, I forgot about having to cycle your tank so the fish were in the tank about an hour after the tank got setup. The tank is about 3-4wks old and starting to have some problems. The original fish, 3 colored tetras have survived without a problem, and about a week after those were added I went out and bought an algae sucker, an albino tiger barb, regular tiger barb and a plectus (sp?) catfish. A few days ago it got 5 ghost shrimp too. Oops, huge load.
Last night I lost the catfish, it's coloring went very pale and I thought I was just seeing things, but the next day I woke up and it was sitting on the bottom of the tank looking almost translucent. Now all the fish have Ich and I've proceeded to turn up the temp in the tank to 86* to try and rid them of that. The algae sucker is looking like its losing its coloring now too.
So after that happened I went out and bought some test strips knowing that I screwed up by not cycling the tank. AFter I tested the water, I was surprised that my fish are even alive. The nitrites are over 10ppm, nitrates are over 200ppm, hardness was very hard (which I knew already), and the alkalinity and pH were both within acceptable ranges. Immediately I did a partial water change to try and help that out, and it didnt do much. I'm having trouble finding the filters too, so I bought some active carbon filters that looked like they'd fit and made them work at the cost of much lower flow rate. Not optimal at all, but much better than a caked filter which was in there before.
So basically what I'm asking is, what would be the best course of action here? I know I've got loads of problems here and I've given up trying to read up on all the problems for now and just decided to ask someone that knows.
So if you have any advice, comments, anything, please feel free..
I bought a 10g tank kit from walmart. Came with the tank, power filter, heater, net, light, etc. and I'm having my doubts on the filter and heater since it came from walmart. Also, the heater, when set to say 75* will bump the water temp to well over 80* which doesnt seem right. Cheap heater, or can these things be calibrated?
Next, the filter seems a bit on the weak side, and I just dont really like anything about the way its designed. The filter is made by Aqua-Tech, and I forget the exact model number but its the smallest one they offer. Not only can I not find the filters anywhere, but it doesnt seem to do a great job of filtering stuff out. Would I benefit from trying a different filter?
I'll admit, I forgot about having to cycle your tank so the fish were in the tank about an hour after the tank got setup. The tank is about 3-4wks old and starting to have some problems. The original fish, 3 colored tetras have survived without a problem, and about a week after those were added I went out and bought an algae sucker, an albino tiger barb, regular tiger barb and a plectus (sp?) catfish. A few days ago it got 5 ghost shrimp too. Oops, huge load.
Last night I lost the catfish, it's coloring went very pale and I thought I was just seeing things, but the next day I woke up and it was sitting on the bottom of the tank looking almost translucent. Now all the fish have Ich and I've proceeded to turn up the temp in the tank to 86* to try and rid them of that. The algae sucker is looking like its losing its coloring now too.
So after that happened I went out and bought some test strips knowing that I screwed up by not cycling the tank. AFter I tested the water, I was surprised that my fish are even alive. The nitrites are over 10ppm, nitrates are over 200ppm, hardness was very hard (which I knew already), and the alkalinity and pH were both within acceptable ranges. Immediately I did a partial water change to try and help that out, and it didnt do much. I'm having trouble finding the filters too, so I bought some active carbon filters that looked like they'd fit and made them work at the cost of much lower flow rate. Not optimal at all, but much better than a caked filter which was in there before.
So basically what I'm asking is, what would be the best course of action here? I know I've got loads of problems here and I've given up trying to read up on all the problems for now and just decided to ask someone that knows.
So if you have any advice, comments, anything, please feel free..