Hello
I heard this is a fish expert forum and one of the best forums around and that is what I need because I have found so much info on the internet and on other forums I'm confused on some things. I want to make sure I am doing everything right. So here go's my novel. I just recently bought myself a use 44 gallon pentagon aquarium and I had it set up for about a week before adding fish in that time I had everything stable and I also had a 170 penguin filter on the back with some of the filter media from another tank. Anyway I didn't like that filter but it came with the tank but I decided I wanted a bigger and better one so I bought a rena xp2 canister filter so I had to end up taking the little 170 off completely because I had no room for both because of the lid. I didn't want to cut the lid up. I have had the tank running for 11 days now with 4 zebra danios in the tank with rocks and plastic plants. I have been checking the ammonia since day one it is a .025, nitrate 0,nitrite no reading on the card but it is a slight pink color,ph 7.2, temp at 78 with a Ebo Jager heater. I'm trying to make my filter a biological filter what I have running in it now is bio-max the rings,pre-filter rings and bio-chem zorb which came with the filter. I have also been using the stability for the cycling only put it in there for the first 7 days not using it now. Now for the questions.....I would really like for someone to tell me if the bio-chem zorb is making my cycle take longer and should I take it out and replace it with something else? Should I add more fish now or wait? I also bought some chemi-pure the guy at the pet store said to replace the bio-chem zorb with this but I'm not sure if that is the right thing to do because I heard not to use carbons in your tank for a long period of time. Is this right or wrong? I would really appreciate someone's expert opinion on this because I have been driving myself crazy on what to do. Thanks everybody that took the time to read my novel and I hope to get to know all of you on the forum. Have a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. I also should include in my post that I'm not new to fish keeping just new to the forum. I have been keeping fish for 20 yrs and not any of my tanks has went through the cycle right. I was trying to find out why. But I have been doing everything right but nothing has worked. I should have included this earlier.

This post has been edited by littleT: Jan 8 2008, 04:13 PM

How many fish are in the tank and what kind?
Also did you add the filter media from the other tank when you added fish, or before?
When you switched filters did you move the media from the old filter to the new filter?

cheers and
mikaila31

Hi
I have 4 zebra danios in a 44 gallon they have been in the tank for 12 days now. I added the old media before the fish it ran for about 7 days. No I didn't move the old media to the new filter because it was a different kind. The old one I took off was a penguin 170 and the new filter I bought was a rena xp2 canister. I'm not even using the penguin right now. I do have some old carbon hanging in the tank but I don't think it is doing anything for the cycle. Thanks for the welcome. Thank you also for quick response to help me.

Alright, a new aquarist doing a traditional cycle with fish properly! I like seeing this, BTW, welcome to TFF!

The bio-chem zorb removes toxic substances, water changes using a water conditioner that neuteralizes heavy metals will do the same, at a cheaper price. It isn't hurting anything, it's paid for, I would leave it. Stability isn't going to do anything to jump start your bio filtration, live bacteria products designed to enhance or start bio filtration need to be refrigerated. The chemi-pure, if it does remove ammonia instead of converting it to ammonium, will prolong the cycling process, so save your money.

I would wait before adding more fish until you have zero ammonia & nitrites, and are seeing some nitrates. For a traditional cycle with fish the guideline is one inch of hardy slim bodied fish for every five gallons of water. You have about half that stocking, which is excellent, less fish will not prolong the cycle, it will spare the fish less damage due to lower ammonia & nitrite levels while cycling.

That ammonia level is just a trace, and to be expected during a cycle, while being low enough where it is more of an irritant to the fish than damaging. If it goes to .05, do a 20% water change, and keep an eye on the ammonia, as well as nitrite level. If you are getting just a slight tint to the nitrite test it is just a trace, nothing to be too worried with during a cycle.

Unless you are removing medications there is no real reason to run carbon. It removes chemical impurities, sees meds as being chemicals, so removes them.

Hello tolak
Thanks for welcoming me to the forum. I really appreciate your help a lot. I took out the carbon like you said and I'm going to take the chemi-pure back to the pet store I haven't even opened it yet I'm glad now that I waited. What would you put in the filter to replace the bio- chem zorb? Thanks so much for your help.

I suggest grabbing a bag of filter floss, most LPS carry it. It looks similar to pillow stuffing, that is what I use in my XP3.

i'm just seconding what tolak said. i also agree with mikaila about adding some floss. i think you might want/need some finer mechanical filtration

Hi littleT and welcome. Using mature media to do a fish-in cycle is absolutely the best way to do it, as you're most of the way there already. To fill the filter up, just buy some extra ceramic media or sponges - the more you can cram in the better. As Tolak says, just hold off buying more fish until the ammonia and nitrite readings are both 0. I'd personally add any further fish in groups of their own species (a basic minimum of 5/6 each group) always bearing in mind how large they'll be when FULLY GROWN. That's the most important thing to remember when researching fish. Don't overlook the regular water changes and you'll be absolutely fine. You'd be surprised how easy things can be when you start off in the right way; it saves a LOT of problems later on.

Thanks everybody for the advice.

Hi vinylman
This is how my rena xp2 is set up from bottom to top. Fluval pre-filter ceramic rings---20 foam---30 foam and in the second basket I have bio-max ceramic rings---bio-chem zorb that I'm going to take out and the microfiltration white pad.
Is that the right order? Could I put one of the black foam in the bio-chem zorbs place like the 30 foam. Or what sponges are you talking about?



Hello Mikaila31
I don't like the filter floss if it is what I think it is. Is it also called polyester filter fiber right? Or am I thinking of the wrong thing.

I can only go by my TetraTec Ex700. Ceramic rings plus black Bio sponge in the bottom basket; next one up is the plastic balls; next one up is two black Bio sponges; top basket another two black Bio sponges plus fine white pads. You could fill up any space with either sponges or more ceramic media. If you want to fill up, just buy a pack of decent sized internal filter sponges; they'll last longer than the fine white pads.

Thanks vinylman
I put bio max in it's place.

Hi Tolak
Just wanted to say that I'm not new to fish keeping just new to the forum I should have said that in my first post but I didn't and I'm sorry for that. I was really trying to find out why my tanks never cycle right and I think everybody thought I was new to fish keeping. My fault. I did learn some new things about cycling though and I really appreciate your help very much. There is always something to learn in fish keeping.