Hi Everyone! I am new here at Tropical Fish Forums, though I'd join an online forum so I can ask questions when needed. Here is my story:
I purchased a 20 gallon hexagon fish tank starter kit, it included an Aqueon Quiet Flow LED Pro 20 Power filter (suited for up to 30 gallons), and 100W adjustable heater. On December 24th 2016, I set it up. Filled it with water (added de-chlorinator), added a few fake plants, gravel, etc. Temperature at 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Let it run for a few days to let it clear up, then Big Al's had a special on guppies, so I bought like 5 for 99 cents each. I also got some cory cats, about 6. Before I went to Big Al's, I went to Petsmart to check out what they had and the lady recommended I purchase a bacteria supplement, so I purchased Top Fin Bacteria Supplement (http://www.petsmart.ca/food-care/cy...36-catid-300035?var_id=36-17717&_t=pfm=search) and dosed it when I got home according to the label, then acclimated my fish and added them in. The next few days, I lost a few fish, and then did not lose any more... I still had a few guppies and 4 cory cats. Everything was going fine, nothing else was dying.
The next week, I decided to purchase a few more fish, this time a few angels, and a couple more guppies. Well this is where my tank has been through hell and back and everything has started to go wrong. I added 4 angels and 3 guppies. Everything was fine, until a few days later, the angels started getting little white fuzzy patches on their fins. I assumed it was ich (or ick, however it is spelt), so I purchased API Super Ich cure. I followed the instructions (removing the carbon filter, etc) and finished the bottle like the instructions said. It turns out, it didn't work, so it was not ich, and by this time, all angels had it, but not the guppies. The patches were pretty big, so I called up Big Al's and they suggested I purchase API Melafix, as it is probably a bacterial infection, so I replaced my carbon filter and cartridge and performed a small water change so that the ich cure was out of the tank, then followed the instructions a few days later for the melafix by removing the carbon again, and dosed it according to the bottle. Well 3 days in, and my tank was a disaster with no filter cartridge (I had to remove the whole cartridge because the carbon is inside the filter pad) in the filter, and the water got so foggy (pretty much white), you could not see anything. So I decided that this was enough and cancelled the dosing of the melafix. Plus the angels fins were not getting any better. I replaced the filter pad, and did a water change to clear it up. Everything was fine for the next few days, water was starting to clear but not completely clear, until one angel fish started chasing the other angel fish all over the tank, and that one angel fish started pecking at my cory cat's fins also. I thought nothing of it, so waited until the next day, and the same thing happened. SO I decided enough was enough, and I removed all 4 angels and the 1 cory catfish because it no longer had a tail and it was dying because of the angel that kept pecking at it all day long. I only had guppies and 3 cory cats left.
After removing the angels from the tank, I kept just the guppies and cory cats alone inside the tank for a few more weeks, just to make sure everything was fine. The water was still a little cloudy, not crystal clear. After a few weeks, Big Al's had some nice guppies, gouramis, and cory catfish on sale, so I purchased 16 fish in total; 3 catfish, 2 plecos, 3 gouramis, and the rest guppies. I acclimated them to my tank and everything was fine, the only thing was the water got cloudier.
After 2 weeks, I went to a local pet store for my sister's rabbit, since she needed to get her nails trimmed, and I saw that he had some nice gouramis and clown loaches. So I purchased another gourami, and a small clown loach, maybe 1 inch in length. Now my tank has 4 gouramis, 7 cory catfish, 1 clown loach, and about 15 - 20 guppies. The water was still foggy, so I did a water change and cleaned out the gravel, etc. After a few days, the water got cloudy again, and since I had a new aqua clear 50 filter that I had just purchased a few weeks ago (because I knew I wanted to change to an aqua clear anyways), I changed the filter for the aqua clear 50 yesterday. When I changed the filter, and after turning it on, I added the dose of bacteria supplement again inside the filter to give it a boost so my fish won't die. I tested the water this morning with the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, and I got: 0.25 ppm ammonia, 5ppm nitrite, and 10ppm nitrate. I tested again this evening, and got results: 0.25ppm ammonia, 5ppm nitrite, and 10ppm nitrate, so I did a small water change again.
I just want to know, since my fish tank has been through hell and back in the last 2 months, how should I go about cycling this new aqua clear filter? And FYI, everytime I have done a water change with the aqueon filter, I have added maintenance dosage of bacteria supplement. When I did a water change this evening, I did not add any bacteria supplement because I do not know if I should or not. What should my next steps be? The water seems a little more clear now. And if it helps, I forgot to mention that I have a Marina 100 air pump suitable for a 40 gallon aquarium with an air stone that runs with the LED lights on the hood 12 hours a day, from 7:30am to 7:30pm.
Thanks for reading my long post, but I am not sure what to do! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
I purchased a 20 gallon hexagon fish tank starter kit, it included an Aqueon Quiet Flow LED Pro 20 Power filter (suited for up to 30 gallons), and 100W adjustable heater. On December 24th 2016, I set it up. Filled it with water (added de-chlorinator), added a few fake plants, gravel, etc. Temperature at 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Let it run for a few days to let it clear up, then Big Al's had a special on guppies, so I bought like 5 for 99 cents each. I also got some cory cats, about 6. Before I went to Big Al's, I went to Petsmart to check out what they had and the lady recommended I purchase a bacteria supplement, so I purchased Top Fin Bacteria Supplement (http://www.petsmart.ca/food-care/cy...36-catid-300035?var_id=36-17717&_t=pfm=search) and dosed it when I got home according to the label, then acclimated my fish and added them in. The next few days, I lost a few fish, and then did not lose any more... I still had a few guppies and 4 cory cats. Everything was going fine, nothing else was dying.
The next week, I decided to purchase a few more fish, this time a few angels, and a couple more guppies. Well this is where my tank has been through hell and back and everything has started to go wrong. I added 4 angels and 3 guppies. Everything was fine, until a few days later, the angels started getting little white fuzzy patches on their fins. I assumed it was ich (or ick, however it is spelt), so I purchased API Super Ich cure. I followed the instructions (removing the carbon filter, etc) and finished the bottle like the instructions said. It turns out, it didn't work, so it was not ich, and by this time, all angels had it, but not the guppies. The patches were pretty big, so I called up Big Al's and they suggested I purchase API Melafix, as it is probably a bacterial infection, so I replaced my carbon filter and cartridge and performed a small water change so that the ich cure was out of the tank, then followed the instructions a few days later for the melafix by removing the carbon again, and dosed it according to the bottle. Well 3 days in, and my tank was a disaster with no filter cartridge (I had to remove the whole cartridge because the carbon is inside the filter pad) in the filter, and the water got so foggy (pretty much white), you could not see anything. So I decided that this was enough and cancelled the dosing of the melafix. Plus the angels fins were not getting any better. I replaced the filter pad, and did a water change to clear it up. Everything was fine for the next few days, water was starting to clear but not completely clear, until one angel fish started chasing the other angel fish all over the tank, and that one angel fish started pecking at my cory cat's fins also. I thought nothing of it, so waited until the next day, and the same thing happened. SO I decided enough was enough, and I removed all 4 angels and the 1 cory catfish because it no longer had a tail and it was dying because of the angel that kept pecking at it all day long. I only had guppies and 3 cory cats left.
After removing the angels from the tank, I kept just the guppies and cory cats alone inside the tank for a few more weeks, just to make sure everything was fine. The water was still a little cloudy, not crystal clear. After a few weeks, Big Al's had some nice guppies, gouramis, and cory catfish on sale, so I purchased 16 fish in total; 3 catfish, 2 plecos, 3 gouramis, and the rest guppies. I acclimated them to my tank and everything was fine, the only thing was the water got cloudier.
After 2 weeks, I went to a local pet store for my sister's rabbit, since she needed to get her nails trimmed, and I saw that he had some nice gouramis and clown loaches. So I purchased another gourami, and a small clown loach, maybe 1 inch in length. Now my tank has 4 gouramis, 7 cory catfish, 1 clown loach, and about 15 - 20 guppies. The water was still foggy, so I did a water change and cleaned out the gravel, etc. After a few days, the water got cloudy again, and since I had a new aqua clear 50 filter that I had just purchased a few weeks ago (because I knew I wanted to change to an aqua clear anyways), I changed the filter for the aqua clear 50 yesterday. When I changed the filter, and after turning it on, I added the dose of bacteria supplement again inside the filter to give it a boost so my fish won't die. I tested the water this morning with the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, and I got: 0.25 ppm ammonia, 5ppm nitrite, and 10ppm nitrate. I tested again this evening, and got results: 0.25ppm ammonia, 5ppm nitrite, and 10ppm nitrate, so I did a small water change again.
I just want to know, since my fish tank has been through hell and back in the last 2 months, how should I go about cycling this new aqua clear filter? And FYI, everytime I have done a water change with the aqueon filter, I have added maintenance dosage of bacteria supplement. When I did a water change this evening, I did not add any bacteria supplement because I do not know if I should or not. What should my next steps be? The water seems a little more clear now. And if it helps, I forgot to mention that I have a Marina 100 air pump suitable for a 40 gallon aquarium with an air stone that runs with the LED lights on the hood 12 hours a day, from 7:30am to 7:30pm.
Thanks for reading my long post, but I am not sure what to do! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
