Advice For Newbie In A Mess

[Whitey_144]

I think my plan now is to wait it out two weeks and see what happens. If my tests produce the same results consistently ill add a 3 or 4 more fish. Gives it some time whereby if anything is going to go wrong it will in next 14 days id imagine.

Great plan. Keep the thread updated please?

good luck, sounds like you have a good plan

~~AW~~

 

[loraxchick]

CHUCK the floss..add more sponges. The carbon is useless by now as far as what it is used for but supplying surface for good bacs. If you ever need to run meds you wouldnt have to remove that carbon (but would need to add fresh sometime to get rid of the meds...but jumping ahead of the game here...hope you dont need meds anytime soon...but keep the carbon as bio-filtration)
all that floss was doing was removing particulates. It does go gross really quickly so thats why i suggest replacing with sponge. Can easily rinse it in old tnk water to rid of crud that builds up and lasts for ages! GREAT material for seeding a new filter too (if you are even thinking of another tank..if not now im sure soon you will be
Give good algae scrub to the glass (even just with a white paper towel) before your weekly waterchange. In no time, you will see this tank turn around The most important thing is the filter which seems to be very well established in the way of bacs.
cheers!!

 

[socmwils23]

Just done another set of readings and the ammonia one now reads 0.25 i think, it certainly isnt 0 like it was 2 days ago. Likewise the nitrate reading has gone down to 0 whilst nitrite has stayed the same at 0. Little confused now as from what has been said it should be a mature filter but im guessing these readings suggest otherwise.

Actually looking again the ammonia is a yellowy green which probably isnt as green as 0.25 but isnt as yellow as 0 if that makes sense. Why doesnt someone invent a digital reading instead of having to interpret these colours

What i may do is save the ammonia tube so i can test again in two days and compare colour. Dont know if that will work but if it did id be able to see if its greener.

 

[Whitey_144]

Just done another set of readings and the ammonia one now reads 0.25 i think, it certainly isnt 0 like it was 2 days ago. Likewise the nitrate reading has gone down to 0 whilst nitrite has stayed the same at 0. Little confused now as from what has been said it should be a mature filter but im guessing these readings suggest otherwise.

Actually looking again the ammonia is a yellowy green which probably isnt as green as 0.25 but isnt as yellow as 0 if that makes sense. Why doesnt someone invent a digital reading instead of having to interpret these colours

What i may do is save the ammonia tube so i can test again in two days and compare colour. Dont know if that will work but if it did id be able to see if its greener.

i tend to find if i keep them in the tubes, the colours change and go a bit darker...

 

[-FighterFishh]

Just done another set of readings and the ammonia one now reads 0.25 i think, it certainly isnt 0 like it was 2 days ago. Likewise the nitrate reading has gone down to 0 whilst nitrite has stayed the same at 0. Little confused now as from what has been said it should be a mature filter but im guessing these readings suggest otherwise.

Actually looking again the ammonia is a yellowy green which probably isnt as green as 0.25 but isnt as yellow as 0 if that makes sense. Why doesnt someone invent a digital reading instead of having to interpret these colours

What i may do is save the ammonia tube so i can test again in two days and compare colour. Dont know if that will work but if it did id be able to see if its greener.

I think the colour changes over time.
Maybe take a picture of it in front of a white object or something, then when you test next take a picture of it in front of the same object with the same lighting and stuff and you should be able to compare that?
As said though, don't forget to add more corydoras and neons in your new stocking. It'll make them much happier if they're in larger groups
Good luck!

 

[socmwils23]

Latest set of readings and by looks of it everything is at 0 again.

So next week ill get a few more fish. People have said either corys or neons as i have 2 corys and one neon currently. Everything i have read suggests the neons are weak and prone to disease. Ideally id like to put an angelfish in there which doesnt mix well with neons but thta may be a bit too advanced for me yet i dont know. So i was thinking maybe a hardy fish that could withstand my learning attempts. I will add 2-4 more corys eventually i just dont know if now is the best time or to wait a bit longer till i know for sure the filter is ok.

So what fish and how many should i get? Should i stop thinking about angelfish?

My current fish are: 1 penguin tetra, 2 corydoras, 1 neon tetra and a gold algae eater.

 

[Warehouse]

The angelfish will get big and eat the tetras.

 

[socmwils23]

hence my dilemma of do i add more neons and forget the angelfish or wait it out and only put fish in that could deal with an angelfish at a later date?

 

[Essjay]

The Lido is 120 litres and a cube rather than rectangular. That's just over 30 US galls. So although the tank is tall enough for an angelfish, it's volume is a bit on the small side. I would leave the angelfish till you get a bigger tank.

 

[Tizer]

I would also avoid angel fish or any other fast swimming/active species.

Pickup a couple more corys, have a look at "dither" fish like Tetras (i have 5 bleeding heart tetras and they are quite nice to watch) and then consider a pair or feature fish (Rams and Gourami's are often popular).

With a tank like that, any more than 6 bottom feeders , 6 mid water and a pair of feature fish, would put you over your stocking limit (or very close to it).

Its a lot more interesting to watch several fish of the same species mix and swim together than a mixture of species that would tend to ignore one another, or even worse, fight

 

[socmwils23]

thanks for that it maybe not what i wanted to hear but it helps me get a plan together now. so if i was to add 2 more corys, 2 more penguin tetras and 3 other tetra fish and take the neons up to say 5. That would be a realistic number for my tank?

 

[Tizer]

Thats fine and im sure you could fit in some feature fish at some point too.

Watching fish is relaxing, but having a breeding pair of "something intelligent" in there will add a whole new dimension to the tank.

 

[socmwils23]

Thanks for the help. Any paticular order i should buy them? or does it not matter?