Help & Advice On Water Changes

[wheeler-dealer-1988]

hiya all

well my tanks been going for a long time and have been trouble free. all fish are healthy and looking well.

well i just done a API test now with my solution.

every thing else is all ok but my ammonia came back as 0.25PPM

so i am going to do daily water changes now untill i get it back to 0

i have here nutrafin aquaplus tap water conditioner, stress coat, and zyme

what shall i add to the water each time i do a change.

i am doing 25% - 30% water changes daily starting from today.

my tank is a 128 L fluval. internal filter but shortly (3 days) changing to external fluval 205

in my external i will have, my old filter pads, carbon, biomax and 2 bags off ammoina remover. Per bag for ever 50 Litres

any help will be great

 

[tom130691]

i would run both filters for a while mate this will finish this mini cycle you are having and will be less likely to have one when you finally remove the internal one

as for the changes i only use the declorinator

 

[famous]

you need to add the correct amount of stress coat or aquaplus to take the chlorine out of your tap water. you could also add some stress zyme but i would keep this and add it when you add the 205 as this will help it get started

 

[wheeler-dealer-1988]

thanks all

well im waiting for my medias to get delivered from the internet, shoul dhave them by wednesday, so once i fit all my filters in my fluval 205

shall i just put all new media in my fluval 205 and put it in the tank, and also leave my internal filter in there and leave that run aswell so both are running untill my external builds enought bactria so i can then remove my internal filter.

if so how long will this take,

also i think i will add my conditioner. & zyme

also i got a 128L tank but only doing a 30% water change so how much do i add off each,

so i add just enought conditioner for the water i have taken out or do i add the ammount needed for the full tank

EG - 5ml treats 38Litres, - i only remove this ammount every time i do a water change.. so do i add just 5Ml off it back in

 

[minxfishy]

Why are you adding ammonia remover bags? If you add these, they will take the ammonia away for sure, however, your filter bacteria needs this ammonia to survive, without it, you will find a large ammonia and nitrIte spike once these bags effectiveness wears off after a few weeks.

I agree that run the two filters together for a while to allow the media in the new filter to grow the beneficial bacteria it needs. You can just put all the media into the external, but as you are seeing traces of ammonia, then I would advise to run the two together, sometimes cloning (putting the media from filter into another) doesnt always work 100% and can leave a slight spike in levels, in this case you are already having problems, so running the two together would be the best idea.

 

[wheeler-dealer-1988]

i have not added the ammonia remover as yet as my external is not set up as awaiting media from the internet.

well shall i leave that out and just add my new filter pads, biomax and carbon, and run the this new set in the tank and also leave the old internal in there untill i got the bactria in my external filter

i will think i will leave me ammona remover completely as the 2 filters together shoudl sort out the ammonia, i heard good things about carbon aswell if true or not.

 

[minxfishy]

Carbon is used to remove medication from the tank (if you need to medicate) and can also be used to remove tannins from bogwood etc. However, it doesnt retain its usefulness for more than a few days and afterwards is completely useless. So I would recommend not putting it in, and keeping it in case you ever need to remove medication from the tank. Fill the space with more bio rings/sponges instead.

 

[wheeler-dealer-1988]

hi i have biomax and sponges coming, also synthetic wool.

the fluval 205 got 3 baskets and 1 sponge holder,

shall i put 2 sponges in there, 2 biomax and 1 synthetic wool

 

[steelhealr]

Why are you having a 'recycle'? We need the rest of the info: pH especially and nitrite? Old tank syndrome? SH

 

[wheeler-dealer-1988]

PH - 7.2
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0

now sure how to get SH

 

[ian]

how long has the tank been running?

 

[wheeler-dealer-1988]

8 weeks now

 

[ian]

so really its not been running for that long, did you cycle the tank and when did you last add fish?