Some Newbie ?'s

[jtm1631]

We just purchased our first tank about 7 weeks ago. We got a 26 gallon bowed front tank. I am using an under gravel filter and an aqua clear 50. After running the tank for three or four days and stabalizing the temp. at about 78 - 79 Farenheit, we added three danios.

After about three weeks with the danios we then added three zebra danios, 6 neons, three silver dollar's and three fancy mail guppies. I know, too many fish, too soon.

Fast forward three weeks later. I did my first cleaning last week. I siphoned out about 1/3 of the tank water, replaced the carbon in the aqua clear and cleaned out the sponge.
I cleaned out the sponge filter in tap water (don't worry, it will never happen again).

My questions are...

After the cleaning my tank water is white and cloudy. I had the LPS test my water and the only thing they commented to me was that the amonia level was at about .25. They told me this was probably because when I siphoned the tank it kicked up the bacteria in the bottom. Is this correct? Should I be concerned about the amonia level and cloudiness or is this just a bacterial bloom that will go away in a matter of time and is not harmful to my fish?

Also, I have brown algae. It grows on the rocks I have in the tank and the plastic aeration device I have. Is this a problem? The tank has the light on from about 7:00AM until about 9 or 10PM. There is some direct sunlight the tank gets (no other option). Other than cleaning the rocks, et. al. when necessary is there any other concern?

I do not have any live plants in the tank, only plastic.

Thanks for any help and / or reassurances.

JT

 

[morgan]

Can't comment on some of your questions, being fairly new as well. The light only needs to be on for 8-10 hours per day. I read this on a treatment for algae (which I did not use). I used to have the light on the same as you until I read that. I put the light on two hours morning and six hours evening. I have real and fake plants and the real ones are ok with that amount of light. Hope you enjoy the hobby.

 

[rdd1952]

My questions are...

After the cleaning my tank water is white and cloudy. I had the LPS test my water and the only thing they commented to me was that the amonia level was at about .25. They told me this was probably because when I siphoned the tank it kicked up the bacteria in the bottom. Is this correct? Should I be concerned about the amonia level and cloudiness or is this just a bacterial bloom that will go away in a matter of time and is not harmful to my fish?

Also, I have brown algae. It grows on the rocks I have in the tank and the plastic aeration device I have. Is this a problem? The tank has the light on from about 7:00AM until about 9 or 10PM. There is some direct sunlight the tank gets (no other option). Other than cleaning the rocks, et. al. when necessary is there any other concern?

I do not have any live plants in the tank, only plastic.JT

I would think that you probably still have some ammonia showing because the tank is still cycling. Also, when you cleaned the filter with tap water, you killed off some of your bacteria colony as I assume you had already figured out. An ammonia reading of .25 isn't lethal to most fish although neons are pretty fragile but you really want ammonia and nitrite to always be at zero. It is ok to have a nitrate reading but you want it to stay under 40 ppm and preferably under 20 ppm. I would say that the cloudyness probably is a bacterial bloom.

Since you are receiving direct sunlight and don't have live plants, algae will probably be a constant battle. Keeping the nitrate level down will be dificult too. Sunlight is one of the main causes of algae. The best way to combat algae is to add fast growing plants to out-compete the algae for the nutrients (nitrates) in the water or to cut down on the amount of time the lights are on. Since you don't have live plants, you should only turn the lights on when you are there and want to watch the fish. The lights are mainly for viewing the fish nad growing plants. Since the tank is already in the sunlight, the fish will get plenty of light during the day without the tank lights.

As for the algae and how to get rid of it. The best way is to vacuum it out when you do a water change. Use something to scrape the inside walls of the tank to get teh algae loose and a gravel vacuum to suck up what is on the gravel, rocks and fake plants you have. Try to get as much as you can but I know that is difficult.

One more piece of advice I will offer is to get your own test kits. For a new tank, you really need to test your water daily, especially the ammonia and nitrite. You can get a master test kit (I use the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals brand) for about $25 at Petsmart. Those generally test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. It is well worth the investment if you are serious about keeping your fish happy and healthy.

 

[ncjharris]

Hi Jtm

Well, I'm no expert, but my take on your post;

Firstly its good to see that you acknowledge you added too many fish too quickly. You don't mention any casulties, so I assume everyone is accounted for, but in the first months you should add fish on a staggered basis so not to overload the 'friendly' bactieria.

On the side of stocking, you look ok, although I'm not too sure how big dollars get, that could be a prob if they do.

Save for the rinsing the filter in tap water your maintenance regime seems ok. 30% of the water is prob the max you can change in any one hit though, anymore and you may start to upset the balance.

As rdd said for the algea - plants really are the best way to reduce it.

Finally, the cloudyness in the water could be a bacterial bloom - in which case you may just have to sit it out and wait, or given your tank is pretty new it could be dust from your substrate, if it wasn't 100% rinsed before being put in. In which case, it will settle.

Finally, as rdd mentioned, a test kit really is a worthwhile investment.

Hope that you enjoy the hobby!

 

[rdd1952]

On the side of stocking, you look ok, although I'm not too sure how big dollars get, that could be a prob if they do.

I didn't really pay any attention to the stocking but yes silver dollars get to about 8" so they really aren't suited for your tank. They really need to be in a 48" tank (40 gallon or larger) to give them plenty of swimming and turning room. I would suggest taking them back and maybe increase the size of your neon school or add more danios. Maybe a school of corys.