xandc
New Member
This is a bit of a long story but I'll try to keep short.
I started fishkeeping in Feb 2006 (rekord 70 2ft, gravel, community fish) and liked it so much, I got a bigger tank ( 4ft, sand, community) in Nov 2006. I knew about cycling so I put my new filters in my old tank for 2 weeks to start the bacteria, put the gravel from the old tank in a stocking and put it in the new tank, for bacteria transfer. Added cycle, added my fish( about 20) from my old tank and watched the stats for my testing. Nitrites peeked but not overly so but then settled. I considered my tank cycled but didn't put anything extra in until Jan 2007.
This is where I became silly. Christmas brought LFS vouchers and I went daft with them.
I bought 17 fish and put them in all at once!!!
It didn't click that I would have to put in small batches of fish and let the bacteria adjust to the increase in ammonia levels, I didn't realise that my bacteria wouldn't be able to cope with the sudden increase. I thought once your tank was cycled that was it. Doh!
My nitrite level was at 5, fish gasping at the top therefore lots of 50% water changes for the past week to ten days.
It has decreased considerably both ammonia and nitrite below 0.25 and my last water change was two days ago.
Silly moment no 2!!
I have been adding extra bacteria in the form of Cycle but both my filters (eheim and another, both suitable in capacity) have lost pressure due to brown slimy gunking up. So I cleaned them both as I thought increased aeration would help. Another spike due to me washing away all the bacteria. Double doh!! That was 2 days ago. Stats are as above now.
Questions.
So how can I get my stats down or do you think that they are on there way down anyway? I know ammonia and nitrites are intolerable but if both are below 0.25 but not 0, can I leave it and see how things go taking stats and if they spike again, do the water changes?
Is sand a good medium for bacteria or does it take longer to colonise as there is not so many nooks and crannies, should I add some gravel?
Do I add a bubble air thing, would that help any?
Leave the filters and do a rotation of each filter, that would mean once every five weeks. Is this ok as they seem to clog quite a bit or do they settle down?
My tank has both filters at one end with the heater in the first 18" from filters. Do I need to move a filter, add an extra heater as the majority of my fish spend the majority of their time at the filter and heater end. Only half of my tank is being used by the majority of the fish.
Sorry about this being so long, grateful for any and all assistance and now I know your tank is only cycled to the amount of ammonia that your fish produce. Don't put all your fish in at once.
Cheers folks.
I started fishkeeping in Feb 2006 (rekord 70 2ft, gravel, community fish) and liked it so much, I got a bigger tank ( 4ft, sand, community) in Nov 2006. I knew about cycling so I put my new filters in my old tank for 2 weeks to start the bacteria, put the gravel from the old tank in a stocking and put it in the new tank, for bacteria transfer. Added cycle, added my fish( about 20) from my old tank and watched the stats for my testing. Nitrites peeked but not overly so but then settled. I considered my tank cycled but didn't put anything extra in until Jan 2007.
This is where I became silly. Christmas brought LFS vouchers and I went daft with them.
I bought 17 fish and put them in all at once!!!
It didn't click that I would have to put in small batches of fish and let the bacteria adjust to the increase in ammonia levels, I didn't realise that my bacteria wouldn't be able to cope with the sudden increase. I thought once your tank was cycled that was it. Doh!
My nitrite level was at 5, fish gasping at the top therefore lots of 50% water changes for the past week to ten days.
It has decreased considerably both ammonia and nitrite below 0.25 and my last water change was two days ago.Silly moment no 2!!
I have been adding extra bacteria in the form of Cycle but both my filters (eheim and another, both suitable in capacity) have lost pressure due to brown slimy gunking up. So I cleaned them both as I thought increased aeration would help. Another spike due to me washing away all the bacteria. Double doh!!
That was 2 days ago. Stats are as above now.Questions.
So how can I get my stats down or do you think that they are on there way down anyway? I know ammonia and nitrites are intolerable but if both are below 0.25 but not 0, can I leave it and see how things go taking stats and if they spike again, do the water changes?
Is sand a good medium for bacteria or does it take longer to colonise as there is not so many nooks and crannies, should I add some gravel?
Do I add a bubble air thing, would that help any?
Leave the filters and do a rotation of each filter, that would mean once every five weeks. Is this ok as they seem to clog quite a bit or do they settle down?
My tank has both filters at one end with the heater in the first 18" from filters. Do I need to move a filter, add an extra heater as the majority of my fish spend the majority of their time at the filter and heater end. Only half of my tank is being used by the majority of the fish.
Sorry about this being so long, grateful for any and all assistance and now I know your tank is only cycled to the amount of ammonia that your fish produce. Don't put all your fish in at once.
Cheers folks.
