Im At My Wits End - Can Anyone Shed Some Light On This Nightmare?

Gilli

Gilli
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Can anyone on here help me? I am really at a loss here and feel as though my problem is going to go on forever......

As some of you regulars will know my external filter of 2 years suddenly died on me and I had to rush out and buy a new one. I have 250L tank and purchased an external Fluval 305 filter which is suitable for a 300L tank. Extremely better flow than the old one which had a very weak flow and sometimes went down to a trickle but all water readings were always fine.It is also more powerful as the old Interpet filter was only for a 250L tank.

I packed the 2 compartments of ceramics from my old filter into the new one and also put the x 3 new packets in that were supplied . I then cut up my sponges from the old filter and put those in, and of course it has its own new sponges in there too.

The new filter went in on the 13th feb (nearly 5 weeks ago now) and its still not caught up!!!! as you can imagine 30% water changes every day for 5 weeks is taking its toll on me and my pocket!

Ive been testing my water daily (API liquid test kit) and have readings of 0.25 or 0.50 ammonia on a daily basis for which I have been doing a 30% daily water change. I only had one day where my nitrites were 0.25 and I did a 50% water change that day and since the nitrite has stayed at 0. I was initially getting a reading of 0 Nitrates but now my Nitrates reading is 20 so the filter is obviously working to some degree or my Nitrite and Ammonia readings would be high and I would have no Nitrates.

Nothing has changed - not added any new fish. Ive tested my tap water - 0 ammonia. Ive even gone out an bought a new API liquid testing kit as i'd had my old one for a couple of years so I thought maybe it was out of date but still the same readings! Ive taken everything out of the tank and given it a thorough gravel vac so nothing nasty is hiding causing the problem, and ive cut my feeding down to a bare minimum of every 3 days but im still getting that ammonia reading.......

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME BEFORE I GO MAD!!!! :hyper:
 
have you lost any fish due to this ? if not i wouldnt worry so much
 
have you lost any fish due to this ? if not i wouldnt worry so much


No not yet but some of them have tatty looking tails - im hoping all the water changes will fix this as im not going to add meds as I dont want to slow the filter down.

What im worried about is why 5 weeks on am I still getting these readings when you can cycle a tank from scratch in 6 to 8 weeks!!!
 
Hi Gilli,

Have a look in the classifieds section under equipment - I'm just ablot to list a power gravel cleaner that could be just the thing for you!

Andy
 
Hi Gilli,

Have a look in the classifieds section under equipment - I'm just ablot to list a power gravel cleaner that could be just the thing for you!

Andy

Thanks but theres nothing wrong with my gravel vac - thats not the problem!
 
hi gilli

im afraid i cant help much either, like you i cant see whats wrong, but something def is, and i wouldnt hang about any longer youve done all the things i would have thought of too, and cleaning the gravel isnt going to speed up the filter cycling to be honest although it might help reduce the ammonia in the tank due to detious waste build up in the gravel, although i would have thought that would help build up more bacteria if rather daunting for the fish in there. You know what i would do, pm water drop, ive read a few good replies and they really seem to understand chemistry much better than you and i and could very well tell you your problem. Other than that keep feeding down like you are doing, keep water changes up and thats all you can do. You could try emailing fluval, they are very good and esp as its a new filter then would help im sure. di

http://www.hagen.com/canada/english/aquatic/manuals/fluve03.cfm
 
how well does the water flow through the filter? u didnt jam too much stuff inside it and impede flow did u (im not entirely sure thats even possible but...)?

maybe consider getting one or two cheap internals while u try and fix up the external, at least that way u should be able to lessen the frequency of water changes
 
I dont think so - the water flow is really very strong and as my last filter used to go to a weak trickle and water stats were always ok I dont think thats the problem.

If I bought internal filters how would that help as they would be totally uncycled ? I must be almost there with the cycling for the readings to be what they are - just dont understand why its taking forever?
 
Well I emailed Fluval and here is the advise ive been given - i think its crap but what do you lot think should I take it????

Dear Gillian

Thank you for your e-mail

I can see what the problem is straight away.

The problem is over water changing,which is not giving the filter chance to cycle properly.

To solve this problem stop feeding for 5 days and do not change any more water for 2 weeks,when feeding is resumed only feed a very small pinch ONCE a day ( all food must be consumed in 30 seconds ) as the most single cause of ammonia is waste food .After 2 weeks only change 20 % of the water and replace with conditioned water.

Add 50ml of Nutrafin Cycle to the aquarium every day for 5 days,the ammonia levels will rise, this will feed the bacteria,which in turn will build up in the filter.Test the water weekly and you will see how quickly the aquarium will cycle.

Hope this helps

If you need any further information please feel free to give me a call here at customer services.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Wright
Aquatic Customer Service/Technical Advisor
 
hmmm i can see where they are coming from, too many water changes are not letting teh filter establish itself

I say go with it

what is your Ph out of curiosity?
 
the thing is Nutrafin cycle doesn't work, you might as well put 50mls of water into your tank. As you might know Nutrafin is owned by Hagen, which own Fluval.

Is there know where you can get some mature media from Gill?

it might be a good idea just to pm Waterdrop/OM47/FHM or the likes and point em into the direction of this thread, cos i'm not sure about leaving the water standing for that long with fish in the tank.
 
I really feel for you, that sounds like a total mare :crazy:
As you are effectively doing a fish in cycle, you can't let the ammonia get over 0.25 as then damage starts to occur. The fact you are getting ammonia readings regularly means that there is more food than the bacteria can eat so plenty of scope for colony growth.
The wierd thing is why you are in this situation in the first place. In moving the media over, you might have lost a bit on the actual filter housing etc, but it should have been pretty straightforward. I would surmise that something happened (god knows what!) that all but wiped out your old colony and you have started a fish in cycle pretty much from scratch.
When I did my fishless cycle, I found the blase quotes of 6-8 weeks to be gross underestimations, so you could well still be in that cycle.
In the meantime, the water changes must be killing you, and if you're anything like me, the constant worry is even worse. Which dechlorinator are you using? I'd recommend seachem prime as it also makes small amounts of ammonia safe, so might ease the worry, even though you'll still have to do the water changes.
I really, really hope it doesn't take too much longer. :nod:
 
Thanks for the replies. I thought that the advise given by fluval is rubbish - it goes against everything ive ever read in 2 years of fishkeeping! There is no way im subjecting my fish to 2 weeks of ammonia build up - the first thing you are told to do when you get even a trace of ammonia readings is a water change and you keep doing so until readings are 0!!

I can't be that far off now surely and im taking hope from the fact that nitrites are 0 and im now getting a reading of 20 nitrates whereas I had 0 before. I use Tetra Aquasafe dechlorinator same as ive always used.

I have already PM'ed Waterdrop who has answered me but seems also to be at a loss :no:

I guess i'll just have to keep on keeping on and it will either sort itself out eventaully , or i'll die from exhaustion from all the water changes, or be declared bankrupt from all the gas im using boiling up pans, water rates(we are on a water meter) and dechlorinator fees! :-(
 
You might have run into something that hap-pens around here from time to time. The water company has some kind of problem with water quality so they up the chlorination to the maximum legal limit to help deal with it. For you and me drinking the water that is not a problem but the regular dose of dechlorinator is not enough to remove it all. I routinely use 1 1/2 doses of dechlorinator so that I never see an effect in my mature tanks but for a new filter, like you are working with, a double dose of dechlorinator is not a bad idea. Anything more than a double dose has been shown to slow the bacteria growth. As others have already said, letting your fish get stressed by chemical poisoning while adding dead bacteria would be something only a dead bacteria producer would think of as a good idea.
 
Thanks for the reply - thats an interesting fact. I always put more dechlorinator in than necessary as im always scared its not quite enough and more is better than less cos you cant overdose on it. But I will up it a bit more and than k you for that. :good:
 

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