Neewbie Questions (Again)

[BigbruiserAl]

Hi all

I have my 54L shrimp tank on day 21 today the tank is going through approx 4ppm of ammonia every 24 hours with nitate at 5ppm+ and nitrite at about 200ppm+

Will start the 12 hour testing soon however i have added monapi wood and oak leafs to the tank, even soaking them the tank water is really brown.

1. Can i do a 50-80% water change this far in without effecting the fishless cycle, if there any chance of slowing the cycle i wouldt bother but i want rid of that brown water.

2. The filter media is a basic blue sponge, after this amount of time it has crud all over from fishfood,leafs LFS media etc when can give it swirl in used tank water not to uspet the cycle?

3 Api master kit can you get refills as such saving on packaging and cost or do people just re buy thr kit from flebay?

Thanks again all

 

[Gvilleguy]

1. Yes, I believe you can do a large water change without affecting your cycle. Just make sure to dechlorinate the water!

2. You can gently swirl the gunk off the sponge in tank water, but take it easy.

3. I do not believe refills are available for API. Have to buy more kits...

 

[Aqua Tom]

You can buy individual API kits rather than a whole master kit, Eg just Ammonia or just Nitrite, you will find that you run out of the ammonia one first.

The tannins in your water will not effect the fishless cycle so unless you want to change it for asthetic reasons you dont have to. If you do want to change the water, tempreture match it closely & dechlorinte it first.

Unless the filter output is actualy slowing down I would leave it alone, its not worth the risk of upsetting the bacteria.

hope this helps

~Tom~

 

[BigbruiserAl]

You can buy individual API kits rather than a whole master kit, Eg just Ammonia or just Nitrite, you will find that you run out of the ammonia one first.

The tannins in your water will not effect the fishless cycle so unless you want to change it for asthetic reasons you dont have to. If you do want to change the water, tempreture match it closely & dechlorinte it first.

Unless the filter output is actualy slowing down I would leave it alone, its not worth the risk of upsetting the bacteria.

hope this helps

~Tom~

Nice one, is there a ceratin place to buy these at a decent price or is it just a google. Thanks for your help

 

[Gvilleguy]

You can buy individual API kits rather than a whole master kit, Eg just Ammonia or just Nitrite, you will find that you run out of the ammonia one first.

The tannins in your water will not effect the fishless cycle so unless you want to change it for asthetic reasons you dont have to. If you do want to change the water, tempreture match it closely & dechlorinte it first.

Unless the filter output is actualy slowing down I would leave it alone, its not worth the risk of upsetting the bacteria.

hope this helps

~Tom~

Nice one, is there a ceratin place to buy these at a decent price or is it just a google. Thanks for your help

If you do the math I think you come out cheaper just getting another kit, assuming you will want ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph tests. But maybe some places have them cheaper than others.