Just to say hello

[Vamosrafa18]

I have just joined the forum, am from England and am anxious to get my tank right. I just bought a 90L tank and started it up but it has bacterial bloom so I am learning about that.

The expert I spoke to said I've done nothing wrong and it will just go by itself. I set it up on Tuesday evening and he said it would be okay to put in a couple of gouramis that I already have in a 30L tank. He said they will be perfectly safe in the new tank as the BB is not harmful, just unsightly. Is this okay do you think?

He also said I could possibly change say 25% of the water every couple of days.

Look forward to any replies.

 

[dascrow]

Welcome to the forum @Vamosrafa18

 

[Vamosrafa18]

Welcome to the forum @Vamosrafa18

Thank you.

 

[Essjay]

If the expert you spoke to is a shop worker, he is not an expert! The first lesson of fish keeping is don't believe anything a shop says till you've researched it for yourself.

But he is correct that a bacterial bloom will clear up by itself, once they have consumed all the available food. Unfortunately they are not the bacteria we want to grow.

But he is not correct when he says that you can just move over the gouramis as the tank won't be cycled.


Does the 30 litre tank have just the gouramis in it? If it does, you could move the gouramis and at the same time move the filter media already in their tank into the new filter. This is assuming that the 30 litre has been running few months so that the media in there is cycled.
You would need to test for ammonia and nitrite daily and do a water change if either showed above zero. And the amount of water to change would depend on how high the readings were. 25% water changes will only remove a quarter of the ammonia or nitrite that may show up, and you would need to get them down to zero.

Using a fair number of live plants in the new tank will also help to keep ammonia and nitrite down as plants use ammonia as fertiliser. And gouramis appreciate floating plants.

 

[Vamosrafa18]

Welcome to the forum @Vamosrafa18

Thanks for the reply.

No, there are other 8 other fish and 4 snails in the 30L tank, it’s a Biorb30 and very very clear. The filter is in a circular cassette. Would it be any good to change that filter and use the old circular filter in any way?

I will get some live plants tomorrow night after work. What else can I do? I really want to get this right.

Gill

If the expert you spoke to is a shop worker, he is not an expert! The first lesson of fish keeping is don't believe anything a shop says till you've researched it for yourself.

But he is correct that a bacterial bloom will clear up by itself, once they have consumed all the available food. Unfortunately they are not the bacteria we want to grow.

But he is not correct when he says that you can just move over the gouramis as the tank won't be cycled.


Does the 30 litre tank have just the gouramis in it? If it does, you could move the gouramis and at the same time move the filter media already in their tank into the new filter. This is assuming that the 30 litre has been running few months so that the media in there is cycled.
You would need to test for ammonia and nitrite daily and do a water change if either showed above zero. And the amount of water to change would depend on how high the readings were. 25% water changes will only remove a quarter of the ammonia or nitrite that may show up, and you would need to get them down to zero.

Using a fair number of live plants in the new tank will also help to keep ammonia and nitrite down as plants use ammonia as fertiliser. And gouramis appreciate floating plants.

thsnks for

If the expert you spoke to is a shop worker, he is not an expert! The first lesson of fish keeping is don't believe anything a shop says till you've researched it for yourself.

But he is correct that a bacterial bloom will clear up by itself, once they have consumed all the available food. Unfortunately they are not the bacteria we want to grow.

But he is not correct when he says that you can just move over the gouramis as the tank won't be cycled.


Does the 30 litre tank have just the gouramis in it? If it does, you could move the gouramis and at the same time move the filter media already in their tank into the new filter. This is assuming that the 30 litre has been running few months so that the media in there is cycled.
You would need to test for ammonia and nitrite daily and do a water change if either showed above zero. And the amount of water to change would depend on how high the readings were. 25% water changes will only remove a quarter of the ammonia or nitrite that may show up, and you would need to get them down to zero.

Using a fair number of live plants in the new tank will also help to keep ammonia and nitrite down as plants use ammonia as fertiliser. And gouramis appreciate floating plants.

 

[Vamosrafa18]

I am still trying to sort out the bacterial bloom. I think I will follow what you said and get some floating plants tomorrow and put them in. There are no fish in there at the moment and I do think it is clearing itself. My Biorb 30L tank is so clear it is making me mad as I want the new tank to be the same, I don't care how long it takes.

When I do the Biorb water change all I do is set up the tap water with the two small sachets they provide with the filter, one says Water Conditoner and the other Biological Conditioner. They work perfectly, never any cloudiness. Why is it that with the 90L tank when I added 5ml of Aquasafe to each 10L that it is causing this problem? I desperately want to understand all of this.

I read that the bacteria will die when all the food has gone, what are they living on and how do I get rid of it?

Sorry if I sound stupid, this is all new but very interesting.

Thanks.