Eek! Help! Think I've Done Something Stupid!

[Angel47]

Hi,

I think I've done something really stupid. I set up my tank and ornaments yesterday and it looked really nice. I hadnt done anything to the water yet except add some 'Freshstart' to de-chlorinize it. However, I read on a few forums (read so many, not sure if its on here anywhere) that if you add some raw prawns in a pop sock or something it will give the bacteria situation a turbo boost. So I did this and now, of course, El Stupido here has gone and turned the water all cloudy Before I go and get too panicky,

1/ Was I wrong to add the prawns, if not, when should I take them out?
2/ Will the cloudiness clear on its own or do I now have to do a 100% water change.

Obviously I'm going to start my fishless cycle and I picked up a starter kit yesterday. It has 2 bottles of stuff, 1 for making the tap water safe (Fresh Start) and the other for supposedly boosting the bactieria (Cant remember name). It then has a little kit for testing PH and nitrites and instructions for cycling your tank. No mention of ammonia. Why is it so important to add ammonia and can you get away with not adding it?

Sorry, all probably naive newby questions but I really want to get this right!!

Thanks Maz

 

[Tropical_Fish]

I have very limited knowledge but from what I've read - I will try to repeat...


1. I know nothing about adding prawns - and haven't read it anywhere, but you say you wanted to do it to boost the bacteria situation, but you haven't started the bacteria situation, so you haven't got anything to boost!

2. The tap safe stuff you have bought is good and you need to use that for all water that goes in the tank to get rid of the chlorine, if you didn't add that to start with then I would have thought you need to change all the water in the tank

3. The 2nd bottle of bacteria is probably a waste of time, the bacteria dies very quickly so the bottle needs to be stored in the fridge and used quite quickly. Most likely the bacteria is all dead anyway.

4. Adding ammonia starts the cycle going in a fishless cycle, in a fish in cycle the fish waste makes the ammonia, but during that time the fish are exposed to potentially lethal spikes in the water properties. So if you like the ammonia is fake fish wee.


I've not got as far as putting water in the tank yet, but I have purchased an API Master Test kit for testing the water, and a bottle of aqua safe for making the water safe, and I'm trying to find a bottle of ammonia.

 

[Angel47]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes I did add the Fresh start before I put the water in, so that was all ok. The way I understood it was that the prawns created the bacteria that would normally be caused if there were fish in the tank. Therefore speeding up the cycle process as you weren't having to wait for it to be created

Anyone else heard of this or got any advice?

Thanks Maz

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Found this about prawns, which it says can be used instead of ammonia:

When adding a prawn 1 medium sized prawn is enough for any tank up to 30 gallons. 2 shrimp for up to 60 gallon and so on. Basically for every 30 gallons you add 1 medium size prawn. They need to be completely raw, frozen is ok, but not cooked or seasoned. Also, placing the shrimp in a fine mesh filter bag can help in removing when the cycle is complete without making a big mess where you may need to do a good gravel vac to clean up the mess.

 

[Angel47]

Found this about prawns, which it says can be used instead of ammonia:

When adding a prawn 1 medium sized prawn is enough for any tank up to 30 gallons. 2 shrimp for up to 60 gallon and so on. Basically for every 30 gallons you add 1 medium size prawn. They need to be completely raw, frozen is ok, but not cooked or seasoned. Also, placing the shrimp in a fine mesh filter bag can help in removing when the cycle is complete without making a big mess where you may need to do a good gravel vac to clean up the mess.

Hi, yes I've got mine in a pop sock! My tank is a 125 gallon tank and I suppose there were 5 or 6 king prawns. I've asked my husband to take them out now (I'm at work) as I've chickened out but I still dont know what to do about the water. Should I do a 100% water change and start all over again or will the filter take care of it?

Thanks Maz

 

[indigoj]

have a read in the 'new to the hobby' stickies at the info on fishless cycling.

 

[Angel47]

I take it that means I've mucked it up already?!

Cheers Maz

 

[Curiosity101]

The cloudiness is more than likely a bacterial bloom. This has been caused by putting the prawns into the tank, and then them decomposing, this is giving off ammonia and causing a bacteria bloom. A bacterial bloom is quite normal so I personally would leave them in there and the tank will clear on it's own.

Prawns can be used as a source for ammonia, but they aren't the best way of fishless cycling a tank as you don't know exactly how much ammonia they are giving off. For example in fishless cycling, it's recommended you add enough ammonia to give 5ppm. This means that when you put fish in the bacterial colony are already capable of processing 5ppm in a safe amount of time. Which means you shouldn't have any spikes in ammonia or nitrites onces the fish are in.

I'd suggest reading the fishless cycling guide and then going out to somewhere such as boots and getting yourself a bottle of household ammonia. Until then keep the prawns in.

Oh and just to back up what tropical fish said, the bacterial boost liquid wont cause any harm. But it's unlikely to contain any useful living bacteria, so wont boost your cycle either.

 

[Angel47]

Thank you Curiosity101, that has put my mind at ease a bit!

I am going to try and find some ammonia today. I already asked in B&Q and Homebase and both said they dont stock it. Boots has been mentioned a couple of times so I'll give that a go. Once I start doing the ammonia thing I think I'll def need some more help as I've been reading it and it sounds like a completely different language to me!!

Thanks for your help guys.

Maz

 

[Curiosity101]

lol it really is simple I promise.

You can use the calc at the top of the page once you have your ammonia, you put in your tank volume + the strength that it says on the bottle and then it pops out how much you need to add. You then test once every 24 hours to see how quickly the levels are going down. Topping up as necessary.
Eventually you'll get to the point where you're testing every 12 hours etc etc.

Just stick with the guide and ask questions when necessary.

 

[Angel47]

Just stick with the guide and ask questions when necessary.

Thanks! I'm sure you will be hearing from me. When I get the ammonia and testing kit should I take the prawns out and do a change of water? If so, what percentage?

Thanks again

Maz

 

[Curiosity101]

Take the prawns out as you don't need them any more as an ammonia source. Water change isn't neccesary. Test the ammonia levels and top up as neccesary. For example if it was at 2ppm then you need to add another 3ppm to get it up to the recommended 5.
So just use the calc at the top of the page but change the 5ppm to 3ppm and it'd give you how much you need to just top it up.

Hope that makes sense...

 

[Angel47]

Yes I think so! It will be better when I'm actually doing it so will post again as soon as I've done something constructive! Oh why do I have to be at work when I could be sorting out my fish tank.

Thank you once again!

maz

 

[Tropical_Fish]

My current problem is I can't find any Ammonia!

I've tried boots - and my local said they don't sell it anymore, boots online is out of stock. Homebase said they've never sold it.

Any more ideas for the UK?

 

[Curiosity101]

Google 'Household Ammonia', then click on shopping. There are lots of places online. The problem is that it may not be pure ammonia, tho the cheaper it is the less likely it is to have perfumes etc added.

Other options...perhaps the big supermarkets?