Did I cover everything?

[jgpcexpert]

Ok, I just got my first aquarium ever and was wondering if anyone can think of anything I'm missing. I have learned a lot in a short time, but I know there is much more to know.

I'm not having any problems yet. Things just seem too good to be true. Here is my setup:

55g freshwater tank
undergravel filter
penguin pump
300g per hour power pump
air pump powering 2 decorations with air stones and 2 tubes hooked to

undergravel filter with air stones​

heater

I filled the tank with half purified water and half tap water and had an extremely high pH. I got everything setup and turned it all on to start cycling. I added a doose of CYCLE, a dose of echnicea/vitamins, and a dose of something to eliminate chlorine, chloramines, nitrates, and nitrites. I let this run for a few weeks without fish. I got my pH down to 7 and my nitrites have never been over 0 yet (even since I've had fish in it). My temp stays between 75 and 76 always and my light is on 10 hours a day. I've got 2 bamboo plants and a water lilly and just planted several bulbs for water lillies, onions, and some sort of grass.

I've slowly added 3 fish every couple of days. I currently have:
2 cremecicle mollies
2 dalmation mollies
1 opaline gourami (male)
1 flame gourami (female)
1 golden dojo loach
1 red platy
1 sunburst platy
1 shubunkin

I just got rid of a male gold gourami because he was going after my opaline gourami nonstop. I have also discovered that the shubunkin is a goldfish and shouldn't be in the tank with the rest but he is doing well. I've only been testing my pH and my nitrites and they have been holding steady. I feed them 2-3 times a day and only add enough so that it is all eaten within about 2 minutes.

I guess everything just seems too good to be true. My fish are very peaceful since I got rid of the gold gourami. My pH and nitrates are holding. I thought this was supposed to be more challenging. I feel like I've been super lucky and I'm kind of waiting for that to run out. I'm definitely not complaining, I just want to know if I'm missing something here. What other levels should I be testing? I've had fish now for about 11 days. I want to add a few more, but I also want to make sure everything is how it should be before I spend any more money on fish. Any comments would be appreciated.

Also, aside from the technical question, what other types of fish my compliment my tank?

 

[sweetpickles7]

I would def get rid of the goldfish. They are messy fish, and can pretty big. I would maybe through in a schooling fish to your tank. And a fish that will eat all the fry that your mollies and maybe platies will produce. Besides that i cant think of anything.

 

[TMony]

I didn't see where you have tested for ammonia. Ammonia is the first part thing to show up when cycling your tank. Read through the beginner stickies in this forum. I think you will find them very informative.

Also, you should take the Shubunkin back or put it in another tank. Goldfish are a cold water fish and do not do well with tropical fish. They should only be kept with other similar goldfish. They can adapt to the temperature difference, but it is the wrong environment for goldfish and can cause problems.

 

[brian1973]

Welcome to the tank..bear with me as I may bounce around abit, Undergravel filter is a matter of preference but you will find most of us here dont use them, IME they just suck all the bad stuff under the grids and it lays there and rots. Dont muck with the PH you will cause the fish more issues by trying to change it, they will adapt to the tap water PH. I would recommend Prime to neutralize chlorine, chloramine, ammonia. Add Prime with each water change which should be done weekly. Cycle doesnt do much if anything, the fact is I would be checking my ammonia daily, my guess is your tank isnt cycled at all, read the beginner stickies and definately follow the cycling links, Basically you should see ammonia, then ammonia and nitrItes, then nitrAtes should start showing up, Nitrates are normal in low levels after the cycle has finished.

What are you testing with also? my recommendation is an API master freshwater test kit.

 

[jgpcexpert]

Thanx for the suggestions.

I'm using API products to test for pH and nitrites.

I got the pH to 7 before I even put the fish in and it hasn't changed. I let my aquarium run for a good few weeks before adding fish. You still think it hasn't cycled?

Also, I'm going to get some Prime and an ammonia test kit tomorrow. I've also thought about adding carbon to my power filter. Would that be something good to do, or a waste of money and time?

 

[brian1973]

Thanx for the suggestions.



I got the pH to 7 before I even put the fish in and it hasn't changed. I let my aquarium run for a good few weeks before adding fish. You still think it hasn't cycled?

Also, I'm going to get some Prime and an ammonia test kit tomorrow. I've also thought about adding carbon to my power filter. Would that be something good to do, or a waste of money and time?

I personally use the cartridges with prefilled carbon but I only change them out every other month or so when they are noticably clogged any other time I just rinse them.

What is the PH out of your tap water? The problem is if you PH in your tank is 7 and the PH out of your tap is 7.8 then this is going to shock the fish and can kill them in worst case.

Yes I doubt your tank is cycled because it takes ammonia to start the cycle process so without that your tank hasnt cycled. Even when adding a bacteria supplement you need ammonia for the bacteria to feed on or it dies. It will begin cycling with the fish you have added but seeing no NitrAtes means you are not cycled.

EDIT: Where did you get a female flame gourami?? These being a color phase of dwarf gouramis it is my understanding that the female flames are very dull, and therefore not usually sold just like any other female DG.

 

[jgpcexpert]

So any suggestion on how to cycle it with fish in there? I read the sticky and know this is not ideal, but it's too late for me.

Also, my tap is 7.8 but I had planned to do all of my water changes with purified water that sat in an open container for a day or 2.

 

[brian1973]

You dont really need to use purified water, but that is up to you. You need to make sure you dont have any PH swings.

You have a couple different options. But you can not make an informed decision until you get your ammonia nitrIte test kits. I havent cycled a tank the proper way, my first tanks where like you, I listened to a few websites that contradicted each other so I listen to the Petsmart guy who didnt know S---. All my other tanks I have cheated on by taking media from established tanks, I sometimes go thru a very short cycle when doing this method but it only lasts about 24hrs. Check this link it for different cycling options MissFishy's Guide to Fish

 

[jgpcexpert]

That link did give me an idea. I have a friend with several tanks and 3500g pond. Big time fish enthusiast. I guess I could just ask him for some established media? I figure I should probably do a waterchange first though to rid the tank of poo and nitrates?

 

[brian1973]

Try to get some media from him if you can, this will definately help you out. What are your nitrate readings?

a water change shouldnt hurt anything

 

[jgpcexpert]

haven't gotten a test for nitrAtes yet. I'm still learning here. I didn't know I needed to monitor nitrates until I did some reading today.

Now this does have me concerned; there is an unpleasant odor coming from my tank. I don't know if tanks are supposed to have a smell or that is something to worry about. The biggest suprise to me out of all of this is that my fish seem calm and healthy. They become super active during feeding then go back to casually swimming around and "hovering" a few minutes later. My loach even lets me touch him.

One other thing, I do have some sort of solid white matter in the water. There is quite a bit of it. You can't even notice it unless the light is on and the fish don't seem affected by it. I read something that said it is either bacteria or something that wasn't rinsed off of something I put in there. I know I rinsed everything very well. Any ideas?

 

[jgpcexpert]

I forgot something that I just realized might be important. When I started my aquarium, I had 2 gallons of water from an established.

 

[unwritten law]

The established water doesn't help much because the bacteria doesn't live in it...Since you have had fish for only 11 days and that is when ammonia was first present, that is when the cycle started. So read up on fish-in cycling... requires a lot more water changes and level checking.

The "white matter" if it looks just like really cloudy or even milky and it just started, not when you let the tank sit for a while then it is most likely a bacteria bloom. This is a good thing cause bacteria is growing... unfortunately this is only the beginning and you may have to go up to two months before it is completely cycled. I wouldn't add anymore fish right now cause you don't want a overload of ammonia or any of them to die.

I made the same beginner mistakes as you and so did a lot of us so it just kind of happens.... good luck with it though.

 

[jgpcexpert]

Thank you everyone. I guess water changes, established media, the right testers for my water, and maybe some Prime is going to be my solution. I know 1 thing, I'm not adding anymore fish til I feel comfortable with all of this. I'll post my ammonia and nitrate test results tomorrow after I buy the test kits.

 

[brian1973]

Good luck...remember do not add any other chemicals and only use prime when changing the water, the Prime supposedly makes ammonia "safe" as well, I believe it converts NO3 to NO4 which is not toxic to the fish, someone can correct me if I am wrong here, so you will still have an ammonia reading when you test the water. The NO4 still allows the bacteria to grow and is suppose to be harmless to the fish, but to be safe if your ammonia readings are at or above 1ppm then do a water change.

Also test all the water Params of your tap, I commonly have 1ppm of ammonia in my tap water I have to depend on Prime to neutralize it, I have been told this is a by product of the chloramine used by the water company.

 

[TMony]

Prime will definitely help you through cycling the tank with fish already in it. It will not get rid of the ammonia or nitrites, but it will bind them and make them safe for your fish until the beneficial bacteria has time to grow and develop. It is essential that you keep up on your water changes during the cycling period and add Prime to the new water each time. Test your water once a day and you should see a spike in ammonia in a few days. When the ammonia starts to decrease, you will see a spike in nitrites. Once the ammonia and nitrites reach 0, your tank is cycled. It will continue to produce nitrates, but these will be reduced to a safe level with weekly water changes.

As Brian said above, it is crucial that you don't have dramatic swings in your PH. This will cause more damage than a high PH. Your fish can adapt to the higher PH, but they will be damaged more by an abrupt swing or constant movement of the PH. Better to have a stable PH at 7.8 then a swing back and forth between 7.8 and 7.0.

 

[jgpcexpert]

Ok. I bought API ammonia tester and nitrate tester, some bloodworms, prime, Ammo-Carb, and tap water conditioner when I got off of work today. I have to tell ya, I was kind of stressed about this whole ordeal all day today so I came straight home on tested the tank. To my surprise, my ammonia was only somewhere between .5ppm and 1ppm and my nitrates were between 0 ppm and 5 ppm. I dropped a capful of Prime in there just to help with the ammonia level a bit. I went ahead and tested my nitrites and they read about .25 and my pH was right at 7.2. I'm not sure what to think. I am a little relieved that there is nothing horrible happening right now, but I don't know whether to think my tank already cycled or it is just beginning. It is a little hard to believe it is just beginning since it has been filled and running for weeks and has had fish for almost 2 weeks now. Any thoughts?

 

[unwritten law]

seems like you have just gotten over the first peak.... ammonia spike and are now converting nitrites. Next is the long wait for the nitrites to be broken down into nitrates... Just don't let it any of the levels get too high... I think over 1.0 ppm is pushing it.

 

[brian1973]

seems like you have just gotten over the first peak.... ammonia spike and are now converting nitrites. Next is the long wait for the nitrites to be broken down into nitrates... Just don't let it any of the levels get too high... I think over 1.0 ppm is pushing it.

I would say this is where your at as well. It doesnt matter how long it was set up without fish and unless you have large fish or a bunch of small ones the bioload has to build up before the cycle begins. It usually takes about 2 months for this process from start to finish with fish in the tank. I believe ammo carb is an additive made to remove the ammonia during filtration, I would NOT add this because if it does actually remove ammonia then your cycle may stop since the bacteria that feeds on ammonia will have nothing to eat.

 

[jgpcexpert]

Interesting. I didn't think about that but it makes sense. Basically I should do water changes, check levels like crazy, add prime when needed, and wait for my nitrates to spike. I can deal with the nitrites until they start to drop then deal with the nitrates. Once they begin to drop I can add ammo-carb to the filter to help keep ammonia under control and finally relax.

By the way, I decided to use tap water after all. I am just using the tap water conditioner and filling my jugs up the night before so the water has time to sit and do its thing. I know it doesn't have to when you use the tap conditioner, but I figured why not?