It Has Arrived..damaged

[minxfishy]

Well there was quite a bit of ammonia

I will get the test kit tommorow and hopefully it wil be fine. I might purchase some fish tommorow aswell

DO NOT add fish until you have tested the water, from what your saying there was alot of ammonia in the media, which personally I think was a very bad idea to add ammonia directly to the media, too much will kill bacteria not help keep it alive. At best a tiny tiny drop in the bag of tank water the media was in would have been more than sufficient and I dont see the point anyway, without flow going over the media like it would in a filter, wouldnt have helped at all.

If there was a lot in the media already, then there will now be in the water. Wait until you have the test kit and know how much ammonia is in the water, if its more than 5ppm you will need to do a w/c to get it down, anything more and the bacteria will slow in growth perhaps not even grow, but die back. Wait until the levels are 0 for ammonia and nitrIte in 12 hours from 5ppm, as in any fishless cycle, before adding fish.

If you buy fish and add them to the tank before testing the water, you may kill them if there is a lot of ammonia in the water.

 

[youngfisher]

Ok - So if I do the API test kit tommorow what should the readings be? Could you put it in a list. - I will test it friday mid day, friday night, saturday morning. If they are all good I will get some fish saturday. (No more than 3)

If not then I wont get any fish and just carry on cycling.

If I carry on cycling I have to top up the ammonia source to 5ppm and check it in 12 hours and make sure the NitrIte + ammonia is 0?

 

[minxfishy]

I dont understand what do you mean a list.

For the tank to be ok to put the fish in tomorrow, it would need to cycle 5ppm (or being less anal 3/4ppm) of ammonia, thru nitrIte to nitrAte in 12hrs.

So if you test it tomorrow and it has say 2ppm of ammonia, 1ppm of nitrIte, then its clearly not ready for fish, you would need to keep topping up with ammonia to 5ppm until the cycle finishes, as per fishless cycle guidelines (see link in sig for how to fishless cycle).

If tomorrow you test it and it says 0 for both ammonia/nitrIte then you can a) add fish and hope the bacteria stayed alive enough to cope and test daily to ensure no spikes in ammonia or nitrIte or b) add 5ppm of ammonia and continue along the fishless cycle route until it was ready for fish.

 

[youngfisher]

Ok - Well I will only get fish on saturday IF its at 0.

 

[pippoodle]

Im getting the api test kit tommorow morning. As I get payed tommorow

maidenhead had them for £20 when i was there 2 weeks ago

 

[youngfisher]

Im nowhere near them

I can get it for £23.45

God my dad is still moaning 'your wasting your money bla bla the LFS will test it with strips and it will be ok bla bla'

GRRRRRR.................

either way im getting the test kit.

 

[tom_os]

hey sorry to hear it wa damaged?!

i double bagged it in thick bags. at least you got it. btw all the liquid in the bag wasnt ammonia, the majority was tank water to keep the media covered in water.

hopw it works ok though

 

[youngfisher]

oh sweet. it should be ok.
d.w its not your fault.

Post me your paypal information so I can send you the money tommorow matey.

Going for dinner now

 

[WILDER]

You have to package liquid good up well. Make sure there sealed in plastic bags. If they leak the post office won't take the responsibility.

 

[tom_os]

there were 2 very tight knots, i mdde sure it wansnt leaking before i put it in

 

[WILDER]

Best of getting them sealed sandwich bags from tesco's. Maybe use some salotape to secure it more.
Sounds like somebody stood on the package and burst the bag open, or heavy handling.

 

[Amerce]

Sorry if I upset you but you say your father already has a mature tank, why didn't you put your filter (media included) into his tank and let it get seeded that way ?

How long has his tank been running and how many fishes does he have ?

 

[tom_os]

the bags were thicker then sandwhich bags. they were old fish bags, but heavier duty ones