Need A Little Help With Water Please

[SchottayB]

Hi guys, well I've recently brought a Juwel Trigon 190 seccond hand.

The person I brought the tank off used to change a qualter of the water a month, and what he would do is rince the filter pads out IN the tank water thats left INSIDE the tank.... so yea, the gravel was full of crap, and by the time I'd got it home the little water that was left in the tank was black, couldn't see a thing!

I took home 75Ltr of his water that he had in the tank. The rest of the water I added myself with conditioner.

But the ammount of crap what was in the gravel was unreal the water just wouldnt settle. So I took half the water out doing a huge gravel vac cleaning and replaced half the tank with again clean water. And I gave the pads from the filter a little firm squeeze in the tank water that I'd taken out (the ammount of crap from the filter was mad supprised it even still worked!)

I did this yesterday morning and I've just tested the water, as it's got fish in there (been setup at the person house I brought it from for two years, so the filter is cycled, I was just worried about the ammount of water I've changed... will it efftec anything?)

Water:

0 NitrIte
5 NitrAte
7.5 pH
0 - 0.6 Ammonia

Think I'll be alright?

Sorry for the essay , hope you undeerstand Cheers!

 

[joeskandal]

i think your friend might have lost you a bit mate.

Basically, the chlorine in tap water would kill the bacteria in your filter.
So when you do water changes, aiming to do about 50% WEEKLY, with the water you have taken out, wash your sponges in that, so it doesnt kill bacteria, but thats the water you will be throwing away.(doesnt need to be scrubbed, just wash away the heavy slime on the outside of the sponge)
Don't worry about the amount of water you are throwing away, because in 2 weeks, it will all be new water, you know?
Basically the bacteria lives in the filter, so providing you dont wash the filter with tap water, and you wash it off slightly in the water you have just filtered out, you should be okay.
Hope this helps.
Your water readings sound fine though.

It was good that you left the filter in the tank with water though, as this will help keep bacteria alive, just providing you added de-chlorinator to the water you were filling the tank up with before pouring it in.

 

[SchottayB]

That's what I did when I changed roughly 50% of the water. I gently squeezed the filter sponges out in the old tank water I had taken out of the tank. I didn't wash the sponged in tap water.

All the dirt from the gravel had collected in the filter once I'd set it up when I got home. So the next day when I changed 50% of the water, I washed the sponges out in the old dirty tank water. Then filled the tank back up with tap water that I'd added the tap water treatment in.

Was just worried about the ammount of his old water I'd thrown away (roughly 50% of it) ...just wonderd if that would effect anything.

Cheers for reply

 

[minnnt]

If you dechlorinated the water first then your bacteria should be fine. Why did he rinse his sponges IN the tank? lol!!

Not sure about the readings mate, i think the amonnia should be 0 also?

 

[SchottayB]

I have NO IDEA why he rinced the sponges out IN the tank lol! You can only imagine how much crap I had in the gravel I had to clear out . If only I'd took a picture, it was out of control!

 

[fluttermoth]

Yeah, ammonia should be zero at all times if possible. I expect a little of the bacterial colony has been lost; another water change to get the ammonia down is due I'm afraid!

It's very, very rare for water changes to cause any problems.

 

[minnnt]

Also, generally speaking, as much old water you can get rid of the better. There is next to no goodness in the water for your filter, and as long as the water is dechlorinated you will be ok i think.

 

[joeskandal]

Doubt it really mate.
You could do a test though, before adding any fish.
Do you have any ammonia?

I really dont think the amount of water you chucked will make a difference.
When we got our tank, which is 220L, we had about 30 litres of water from her, the rest was out own, and our tank is fine.

Oops, just read how many posts you have made, didnt mean to sound patronising in my reply mate, i thought you must have just been starting out when you asked that question.

What fish are you going to put in there?

 

[StandbySetting]

A 50% water change could be lethal, it just depends on how different the water conditions are, as long as the fish were acclimatized post-water change then they should be fine, if you get any ammonia readings, which you probably will, just do a water change.

Also all of this talk of tap water killing all of the bacteria in a filter is not true, it wouldn't do significant damage to a colony, the chlorine they put in tap water is there to destroy small bacterial colonies suspended in the water, the colony in our filters are huge compared, the damage done would be negligible.

 

[minnnt]

A 50% water change could be lethal, it just depends on how different the water conditions are, as long as the fish were acclimatized post-water change then they should be fine, if you get any ammonia readings, which you probably will, just do a water change.

Also all of this talk of tap water killing all of the bacteria in a filter is not true, it wouldn't do significant damage to a colony, the chlorine they put in tap water is there to destroy small bacterial colonies suspended in the water, the colony in our filters are huge compared, the damage done would be negligible.

If thats true then why do most people on here recommend not to do it?

 

[SchottayB]

Haha, no worries .

Well the tank has the fish in there that came with the tank. So there is already fish in there. I will be getting rid of all the fish I got with the tank though to stock it with something differnt. No idea what yet though lol.

Just trying to concentrate on getting the water sorted before I stock it.

Cheers again guys .

Guess I'll have to do another water change today, how much of the water should I change if the Ammonia is from 0 - 0.6?

Thank you

 

[StandbySetting]

Because it's bad practice, scientific investigations have further backed up what I have just stated.

What test kit are you using to get a reading of 0-0.6? or do you mean that it is between these two values?

 

[joeskandal]

ooh, i just read ammonia 0, didnt see the -0.6 part, sorry.

I think its better not to wash off the sponges in tap water, as nobody could possibly predict what readings come out of which tap etc.
thats like saying, dont worry, you will be fine walking on the path, cos cars drive on the road, so you wont get knocked over.

 

[StandbySetting]

To find out how much chlorine is in your tap water you can look at your local water boards website where there is a mean value for the concentration of chlorine. I'm not saying wash your sponges in tap water, I'm just making the point in that it wont kill all of the bacterial colony.

 

[joeskandal]

yeah, but whose to say there isnt a giant chlorine monster between the water board, and my house?!?

Also, averages, like you say. Because they couldn't possibly know exactly how much chlorine is in what water, and where.
So as a general rule on here, its don't wash them out in tap water.

It's like washing a spud before you cook it.
Probably not going to kill you if you don't, but do you really want to run the risk?!