Hello all-
I would like to give you a brief history of the tank that I am taking care of, and ask suggestions/opinions about my current tank situation.
I inherited a 55-gallon f/w tank when I took my new job here back in July. The girl that I replaced had previously taken care of it, and I knew *nothing* about fish, and didn't think taking care of an aquarium was all that involved. About a month after being here, the tank sprang a leak. I had to completely drain and re-seal the tank. (I put the fish temporarily in a large tupperware storage container with some of their tank water in the meantime.) When I re-filled the tank, this is when the problems began....
For informational purposes, I am not down to: 4 mollys, a rainbow shark, a red tail shark (I *think*, at least from what I saw in a book), a chinese algae eater, and 2 fish I am unable to identify (look like part shark, part catfish?). I have a Fluval 204 cannister filter, which I have come to find out is supposed to support only up to 40 gallons, but this is what I have to work with here.... I have a heater (I keep it between 72-76 degrees), two water pumps (lots of aeration, including air stones), a light layer of gravel (I originally had more, but removed some because I was afraid too much waste was getting caught in it).
Ok, so my problems began when I re-filled the tank. I knew NOTHING about the nitrogen cycle or about biological filtration. I was doing 10-20 percent water changes weekly (using a tap water conditioner), cleaning the gravel, and completely washing out the filter sponges, and replacing the loose carbon in the filter. I was losing fish (I originally had about 5 more or so in the tank, including a pleco who died recently ). I went to the pet store and brought a water sample, and they informed me that the ammonia was dangerously high. In order to combat this, I started adding Ammo-Lock to the tank. This didn't help. I continued to do the water changes, and two times I have walked in to find my chinese algae eater near death on the tank floor, and my rainbow shark near the surface trying to get air, with what looked like Ich on him. I treated the tank with Super Ich Cure and did partial water changes both times, and both fish came back to life, but it was obvious that I was being told by this pet store was not correct, so I started researching on my own, and finally learned about the Nitrogen cycle. I also invested in a water testing kit, and I would like to outline what I have done since becoming informed, and the results of that, and find out if I am finally on the right track, or what I should do in addition to lower these levels (or if patience is all I need right now). It was Nov. 29th when I learned all of this, so consider Nov. 29th the "starting point" for what I am trying to do, which is successfully cycle the tank.
11/29: Added the following to the cannister filter: Carbon in the bottom canister, ammonia remover in the middle one, and Bio-Max in the top one (there are also the 2 sponges in this filter). Added a heavy dose of Cycle (according to the bottle for "new tank setup"), did a 10% water change, cleaned gravel.
12/8: Water test results: Ph: 6.6, Ammonia: 8 (highest level on card), Nitrite: 5 (highest level on card), Nitrate: 20. Did another 10% water change (tap water treated with Prime), added another double dose of Cycle, did not even touch the filter at all.
12/15: Added another double dose of Cycle. Did not do a water change this week, because of fear of losing any established biofilter by doing so..
12:16 (today): Water test results: Did not test Ph...Ammonia: 4 (a slight improvement), Nitrite: 5 (still highest level on card), Nitrate: 80 (second to highest level on card).
I am feeding sparsely......So my question is this: Am I on the right track (I was hoping for more of an improvement from last week, but since I only added the Bio-Max on 11/29 to get the bio-filter going, I guess it needs more time?) Should I do a partial water change this week, or is it a good idea not to? I didn't plan on touching the filter until the end of December, and at that point I was going to squeeze out the sponges in a bucket of tank water instead of rinsing them with tap water, replace the Ammo-Rid, replace the Carbon, and not touch the Bio-Max. How long until I get these numbers under control, and is there anything else I could be doing that I'm not already doing to help that? Thank you for taking the time to read and for any suggestions you might have. I have posed this on another forum, and the reply I have received so far is a suggestion to do a 50% water change for 3 consecutive days until the ammonia and nitrites are under control. This seems counterintuitive to what I've read however, since everything I've read seems to suggest that anything over a 25% water change is too stressful for fish, and also that it could delay the creation of the biological filter. There HAS been a slight decline in ammonia since last week, so could it be that the process is working, and that the ammo will continue to decrease...then the nitrites? Ahhhh, help!
I would like to give you a brief history of the tank that I am taking care of, and ask suggestions/opinions about my current tank situation.
I inherited a 55-gallon f/w tank when I took my new job here back in July. The girl that I replaced had previously taken care of it, and I knew *nothing* about fish, and didn't think taking care of an aquarium was all that involved. About a month after being here, the tank sprang a leak. I had to completely drain and re-seal the tank. (I put the fish temporarily in a large tupperware storage container with some of their tank water in the meantime.) When I re-filled the tank, this is when the problems began....
For informational purposes, I am not down to: 4 mollys, a rainbow shark, a red tail shark (I *think*, at least from what I saw in a book), a chinese algae eater, and 2 fish I am unable to identify (look like part shark, part catfish?). I have a Fluval 204 cannister filter, which I have come to find out is supposed to support only up to 40 gallons, but this is what I have to work with here.... I have a heater (I keep it between 72-76 degrees), two water pumps (lots of aeration, including air stones), a light layer of gravel (I originally had more, but removed some because I was afraid too much waste was getting caught in it).
Ok, so my problems began when I re-filled the tank. I knew NOTHING about the nitrogen cycle or about biological filtration. I was doing 10-20 percent water changes weekly (using a tap water conditioner), cleaning the gravel, and completely washing out the filter sponges, and replacing the loose carbon in the filter. I was losing fish (I originally had about 5 more or so in the tank, including a pleco who died recently ). I went to the pet store and brought a water sample, and they informed me that the ammonia was dangerously high. In order to combat this, I started adding Ammo-Lock to the tank. This didn't help. I continued to do the water changes, and two times I have walked in to find my chinese algae eater near death on the tank floor, and my rainbow shark near the surface trying to get air, with what looked like Ich on him. I treated the tank with Super Ich Cure and did partial water changes both times, and both fish came back to life, but it was obvious that I was being told by this pet store was not correct, so I started researching on my own, and finally learned about the Nitrogen cycle. I also invested in a water testing kit, and I would like to outline what I have done since becoming informed, and the results of that, and find out if I am finally on the right track, or what I should do in addition to lower these levels (or if patience is all I need right now). It was Nov. 29th when I learned all of this, so consider Nov. 29th the "starting point" for what I am trying to do, which is successfully cycle the tank.
11/29: Added the following to the cannister filter: Carbon in the bottom canister, ammonia remover in the middle one, and Bio-Max in the top one (there are also the 2 sponges in this filter). Added a heavy dose of Cycle (according to the bottle for "new tank setup"), did a 10% water change, cleaned gravel.
12/8: Water test results: Ph: 6.6, Ammonia: 8 (highest level on card), Nitrite: 5 (highest level on card), Nitrate: 20. Did another 10% water change (tap water treated with Prime), added another double dose of Cycle, did not even touch the filter at all.
12/15: Added another double dose of Cycle. Did not do a water change this week, because of fear of losing any established biofilter by doing so..
12:16 (today): Water test results: Did not test Ph...Ammonia: 4 (a slight improvement), Nitrite: 5 (still highest level on card), Nitrate: 80 (second to highest level on card).
I am feeding sparsely......So my question is this: Am I on the right track (I was hoping for more of an improvement from last week, but since I only added the Bio-Max on 11/29 to get the bio-filter going, I guess it needs more time?) Should I do a partial water change this week, or is it a good idea not to? I didn't plan on touching the filter until the end of December, and at that point I was going to squeeze out the sponges in a bucket of tank water instead of rinsing them with tap water, replace the Ammo-Rid, replace the Carbon, and not touch the Bio-Max. How long until I get these numbers under control, and is there anything else I could be doing that I'm not already doing to help that? Thank you for taking the time to read and for any suggestions you might have. I have posed this on another forum, and the reply I have received so far is a suggestion to do a 50% water change for 3 consecutive days until the ammonia and nitrites are under control. This seems counterintuitive to what I've read however, since everything I've read seems to suggest that anything over a 25% water change is too stressful for fish, and also that it could delay the creation of the biological filter. There HAS been a slight decline in ammonia since last week, so could it be that the process is working, and that the ammo will continue to decrease...then the nitrites? Ahhhh, help!