Couple Of Questions

[indir-emir]

Hi all. I bought my girlfriend a tank. You can have a look at her thread in the new hobby if you would like. (sorry for lengthy post in advance lol)

Anyway, It was a used tank and mature filter. I kept the internal filter submerged the entire way home (no more then 45minutes), as i was told this will help keep the bacteria alive. Anyway, ive set it all up for her with 5 cichlids (reseraching as to which they are) and a small Flat Head Gudgeon (which i intend on keeping in my tank if reserach says it will be okay). About an hour or so after setting it up i tested her water and results were:
Ammonia = 0.5 - 1
Nitrite = 0.25
Nitrate = 5
PH = 7.4

I then tested her tap water and got the results:
Ammonia = 0.25-0.5
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 5
PH = 7.4

Okay my questions are. What can i do to reduce the ammonia and nitrite back to 0 in her tank? (I know we should expect a mini cycle, which im hoping all that this is)
Also, what can i do to the tap water (i used dechlorinator) that will help reduce ammonia to 0 before it goes into the tank?

Any help will be greatly appreciated,
Thank you.

Regards,
Indir

 

[minxfishy]

Did you use any of the water that was in the tank to set it up and her tap water? If you ammonia in your tap water then its always going to be difficult, but the filter bacteria should be able to convert that pretty quickly when you do water changes.

Do you have any of your own mature media you can put into the filter as well, just to help it along?

What cichlids have you put in the tank?

I would suggest also, that you take some tap water, leave it to sit overnight and then re-test it to see what it comes out as then.

And when you tested the tap water initially, are you sure you thoroughly rinsed the tubes out after testing the tank water, just in case thats the reason you have ammonia tap water readings.

 

[indir-emir]

Hmm ill see if i can. But hers is an internal filter, while mnine is an exturnal Fluval 104.. Would that still work?

And im pretty sure i rinsed them well.

Ill get her to leave the tap water overnight and ill test it for her tomorrow.

Also, ive got no clue what cichlids they are Cant seem to find their picture lol. It is yellow, but a dull yellow (i think form the stress of the move though), with white/grey stripes but are also dull (but are visible enough). At the moment their only about 3 or 4 cm long. The guy told me it was an electric yellow, but it definetly doesnt look like that... Any ideas lol.

And no i didnt use any of the old water just the dechlorinated tap water, was a bit of a drive from the persons house and he had alreayd cleared up all the stuff for me to pick up. But had the filter fully submerged in tank water as i requested from him.

Regards,
Indir

 

[minxfishy]

Shouldnt have lost much beneficial bacteria, but it does happen, do you know how long it had been sat in a bucket of water for?

Im assuming they are african cichlids then, in which case I wont be much use in ID'ing them, but get some pics up and someone else is bound to know what they are.

You can easily trf some of your filter media from the external to the internal, just cut some of a sponge up from your external and pop it in, or even some of the ceramic media.

 

[indir-emir]

Thank you very much fr the replies.

Hmm okay ill see if i can open my fluval to give to her tomorrow to help her out. Dont wont them dying on her, she would be so upset. Cant have that since its for her birthday lol.

It looks sort of like a Kenyi. But they are not as big looking lol. But then again the four she has are small lol.
link to them:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=34905

Ill try to get a nice clear picture tomorrow when i go over her place.

Any other ways of geting the ammonia to 0 in tap water so no ammonia is going anywhere near the tank lol?

Regards,
Indir.

 

[minxfishy]

You could add some ammo-lock to the tap water before adding, but how good it is I dont know as Ive never used it.

 

[indir-emir]

Hmm,i see. Hopefully the tank will have removed all the ammonia and nitrite by the time i test it out tomorrow so that way i know its guaranteed to be just a mini cycle :\

Watch this space ill have pictures up tomorrow night

Regards,
Indir