Interpet Filter Aid Murkey Colouration After Putting It In

[zain611]

Im new to the forums and this is my question:

I have a aquastart 320 tank which is 28L and got 4 guppies yesterday half of them male and female and i decided to do a water change and add the filter aid in after as it looked cloudy before i got the fish and i followed the directions:

1)shake bottle
2) Add the amount needed for the litre of water into the measuring cup (about 6ml which covers about 30 litre)
3)add it into half a litre of warm water (it didnt say to use tap water or treated water so i used tap water)
4)poured it around the top of the water

the result is a dark murky colour so will this clear up and im getting some other fish in about 6 days

 

[minnnt]

That's normal. It works by binding all the particles together so that the filter can catch them in the media.

Is your tank cycled?

Welcome to the forum too.

 

[zain611]

Thanks for replying, I heard different things about this product like it killed there fish also the tank looks more cloudy then before i added it and do you have any estimates for it to clear up?

I had my tank for 8 weeks now and on the 6 weeks i had it, i had 5 goldfish but i rehomed them as i heard they were creating alot of nitrite and probably ammonia as i was using my test kit wrong when i was measuring ammonia and nitrate. Last week or the 7th week i rehomed them, next day i got API stress zyme and interpet tap safe as i was setting up the tank for tropical fish. I would say that its not cycled propaly

 

[minnnt]

I would agree that it is not cycled properly.

The last thing you need to be doing is adding anymore fish. What kind of test kit have you got? I would be testing daily and acting on the results by doing water changes as necessary until you are gaining 0 for ammonia and 0 for nitrites.

You may lose your Guppies as they are not ideal fish for a fish-in cycle.

The water should be clear within a day or two.

 

[zain611]

I would agree that it is not cycled properly.

The last thing you need to be doing is adding anymore fish. What kind of test kit have you got? I would be testing daily and acting on the results by doing water changes as necessary until you are gaining 0 for ammonia and 0 for nitrites.

You may lose your Guppies as they are not ideal fish for a fish-in cycle.

The water should be clear within a day or two.

I have an API master test kit and this is my results for it:

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 2.0-5.0
nitrate: 10ppm

 

[minnnt]

Water change then

 

[zain611]

Water change then

Did one today and took out about 7 litres which is a quarter of the tanks water and i would say that the nitrates look lower

Can these chemicals lower by itself other time?

 

[minnnt]

It's not the nitrates you need to be worrying about. The ammonia and nitrites are what will harm your fish first of all.

I would do a minimum of 50% water change each time as you are theoretically reducung them by a half.

 

[zain611]

It's not the nitrates you need to be worrying about. The ammonia and nitrites are what will harm your fish first of all.

I would do a minimum of 50% water change each time as you are theoretically reducung them by a half.

I have API stress zyme to help cycle my tank faster and should i get the API aquarium salt to detoxify the nitrites as its the only high chemical. ammonia looks between 0.25 and 0.50ppm

 

[minnnt]

Stress zyme won't cycle your tank quicker and don't add any salt! Water changes are the only way to go about it.

 

[zain611]

Stress zyme won't cycle your tank quicker and don't add any salt! Water changes are the only way to go about it.

How high should each of the chemicals be for me to do a water change? i heard for ammonia if its above 0.25ppm then do a water but what about the others

 

[fluttermoth]

Did one today and took out about 7 litres which is a quarter of the tanks water and i would say that the nitrates look lower

25% water changes are unlikely to be enough during a fish in cycle. 50% might be, but you have to be guided by your test results.

If, for example, your nitrite is at 1ppm, a 25% change would only bring it down to 0.75ppm, which would still be much too high. If you changed 90% of the water, that would bring it down to a, just about acceptable, 0.1ppm

Can these chemicals lower by itself other time?

Well, yes, sort of. I get the feeling that no one has explained cycling to you properly. If they have, don't feel patronised by me putting it very simply for you

The fish produce ammonia as a waste product, from their poo. One family of bacteria eat the ammonia and turn it into nitrite, then another type of bacteria eats the nitrite and turns it into nitrate. Cycling means growing a colony of those two families of bacteria in your filter. Once your filter is fully cycled, you'll never see a reading for ammonia or nitrite, only for nitrate, the end product of the filtration process, and we get rid of the nitrate through out regular, partial water changes.

You want to keep both ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm, and really as near to zero as you can manage. You probably won't need to worry about nitrate yet, with a fish in cycle, as it won't have a chance to build up with the amount of water changes you'll be having to do.

It's not just the numbers you need to worry about, as the different chemicals have different levels of toxicity. Ammonia and nitrite can both be toxic to fish over 0.25ppm, whereas nitrate is only toxic at levels over 100, for most fish.

For example, if your tests come back as:

ammonia 1ppm
nitrite 0.5ppm
nitrate 40ppm

it would be the ammonia and nitrite you would want to worry about, not the nitrate, even though that number is higher.

Hope that makes sense to you

 

[zain611]

Can doing water changes over 50% damage the guppie or harm them and will the nitrates lower during water changes and do i have to keep the nitrates showing

 

[fluttermoth]

As long as the new water is warmed and dechlorinated, the water changes can be as big as you like: don't forget to switch off your heater and filter for large ones though!

If you're doing lots of water changes, as you are, the nitrate will probably end up the same, or very slightly higher, than the level in the tap water; most places have at least some nitrate in the tap water.

You don't have to have some nitrate showing, but you might want a bit in there if you have live plants, as that's what they use as food. Nitrate is nothing much to worry about as long as it's lower than 60 or 80ppm, as it's not very toxic to fish, unlike the ammonia and nitrite. Unless you have very few fish and loads and loads of plants, it's unlikely that you'd ever have zero nitrate anyway.

 

[zain611]

As long as the new water is warmed and dechlorinated, the water changes can be as big as you like: don't forget to switch off your heater and filter for large ones though!

If you're doing lots of water changes, as you are, the nitrate will probably end up the same, or very slightly higher, than the level in the tap water; most places have at least some nitrate in the tap water.

You don't have to have some nitrate showing, but you might want a bit in there if you have live plants, as that's what they use as food. Nitrate is nothing much to worry about as long as it's lower than 60 or 80ppm, as it's not very toxic to fish, unlike the ammonia and nitrite. Unless you have very few fish and loads and loads of plants, it's unlikely that you'd ever have zero nitrate anyway.

Did the water change and took out 2 gallons and 7 litres of water