New Tank

[LittleMissDynamite]

I have purchased a 95 litre tank to set up at the care home where i work.I have an Aqua one,Aquis700 external filter,the tank came with a heater.I purchased a large sack of Dorset gravel which was verydirty and took a lot of washing.Filled the tank with tap water to which i added a measured capfull of ALI streescoat and Stressszyme to each bucket full.The tank has been filled for 24 hours with the filter running but the water still looks very cloudy,although disturbing the gravel does not make the water look dirtier.The water in the tank is ph 8.8.The waterfrom the tap is ph8.4 at work.My tap water at home is ph7.4.I have never tested the hardeness but believe i have hard water.I use the API liquid test kit. I have not put any plants in it yet but plan to have quite a lot of live plants,including Amazon swords and a planted piece of bogwood and community fish in it.
OK here goes.
1) has the gravel or the water additives made the ph so high.
2) the water is still cloudy,should i empty the tank again and refill it?
3) someone told me the api test kit is rubbish and i should use sticks?
4) what is the best decholrinator and bacterial filter boost.
5) when should i add my live plants.
6) should i do anything at all about the water ph?
7) i can not find ammonia,does using fishfood to cycle the tank work?
I have an Aqua one 550 at home with filter noodles,black and white wool and carbon in it.Should i add some of this media to the Aqua one external filter to start the biological cycle and if so,which ones and how much,so it wont adversly effect my tank at home?

Asking these questions now so i do not make any mistakes before i buy any fish but elderly folk with dementia obviosly struggle with the empty tank. I have told them it could be 6 weeks before the water is safe to put fish in.I am used to water testing and water changes.Someone told me my external pump only needs cleaned (in tank water) once a month?
I know if i transfer media to keep it wet in my tank water.

 

[Rickzayne]

I have purchased a 95 litre tank to set up at the care home where i work.I have an Aqua one,Aquis700 external filter,the tank came with a heater.I purchased a large sack of Dorset gravel which was verydirty and took a lot of washing.Filled the tank with tap water to which i added a measured capfull of ALI streescoat and Stressszyme to each bucket full.The tank has been filled for 24 hours with the filter running but the water still looks very cloudy,although disturbing the gravel does not make the water look dirtier.The water in the tank is ph 8.8.The waterfrom the tap is ph8.4 at work.My tap water at home is ph7.4.I have never tested the hardeness but believe i have hard water.I use the API liquid test kit. I have not put any plants in it yet but plan to have quite a lot of live plants,including Amazon swords and a planted piece of bogwood and community fish in it.
OK here goes.
1) has the gravel or the water additives made the ph so high.the additives wont have
2) the water is still cloudy,should i empty the tank again and refill it?do 2 large water changes and each time put a bowl in, as to not disturb your gravel
3) someone told me the api test kit is rubbish and i should use sticks?the stick tests are awful and cheaper to buy a liquid test
4) what is the best decholrinator and bacterial filter boost.Any tap safe type will do. and filter boosts don't work
5) when should i add my live plants.AFTER you do a proper fishless cycle.
6) should i do anything at all about the water ph?Just do a water change every day and see if it brigns it down
7) i can not find ammonia,does using fishfood to cycle the tank work?Not very accurate, check boots and homebase
I have an Aqua one 550 at home with filter noodles,black and white wool and carbon in it.Should i add some of this media to the Aqua one external filter to start the biological cycle and if so,which ones and how much,so it wont adversly effect my tank at home? take a 1/4 of the noodles and this should give it the boost you want.

Asking these questions now so i do not make any mistakes before i buy any fish but elderly folk with dementia obviosly struggle with the empty tank. I have told them it could be 6 weeks before the water is safe to put fish in.I am used to water testing and water changes.Someone told me my external pump only needs cleaned (in tank water) once a month?
I know if i transfer media to keep it wet in my tank water.

 

[LittleMissDynamite]

I have purchased a 95 litre tank to set up at the care home where i work.I have an Aqua one,Aquis700 external filter,the tank came with a heater.I purchased a large sack of Dorset gravel which was verydirty and took a lot of washing.Filled the tank with tap water to which i added a measured capfull of ALI streescoat and Stressszyme to each bucket full.The tank has been filled for 24 hours with the filter running but the water still looks very cloudy,although disturbing the gravel does not make the water look dirtier.The water in the tank is ph 8.8.The waterfrom the tap is ph8.4 at work.My tap water at home is ph7.4.I have never tested the hardeness but believe i have hard water.I use the API liquid test kit. I have not put any plants in it yet but plan to have quite a lot of live plants,including Amazon swords and a planted piece of bogwood and community fish in it.
OK here goes.
1) has the gravel or the water additives made the ph so high.the additives wont have
2) the water is still cloudy,should i empty the tank again and refill it?do 2 large water changes and each time put a bowl in, as to not disturb your gravel
3) someone told me the api test kit is rubbish and i should use sticks?the stick tests are awful and cheaper to buy a liquid test
4) what is the best decholrinator and bacterial filter boost.Any tap safe type will do. and filter boosts don't work
5) when should i add my live plants.AFTER you do a proper fishless cycle.
6) should i do anything at all about the water ph?Just do a water change every day and see if it brigns it down
7) i can not find ammonia,does using fishfood to cycle the tank work?Not very accurate, check boots and homebase
I have an Aqua one 550 at home with filter noodles,black and white wool and carbon in it.Should i add some of this media to the Aqua one external filter to start the biological cycle and if so,which ones and how much,so it wont adversly effect my tank at home? take a 1/4 of the noodles and this should give it the boost you want.

Asking these questions now so i do not make any mistakes before i buy any fish but elderly folk with dementia obviosly struggle with the empty tank. I have told them it could be 6 weeks before the water is safe to put fish in.I am used to water testing and water changes.Someone told me my external pump only needs cleaned (in tank water) once a month?
I know if i transfer media to keep it wet in my tank water.

Thankyou Rickzayne,i predicted your answers but it reassured me that i am thinking on the right lines now.I keep reading the new tank posts and just before you answered found a post by you about the plants.So i need a household ammonia from boots or homebase.many thanks.

 

[Overload]

I have purchased a 95 litre tank to set up at the care home where i work.I have an Aqua one,Aquis700 external filter,the tank came with a heater.I purchased a large sack of Dorset gravel which was verydirty and took a lot of washing.Filled the tank with tap water to which i added a measured capfull of ALI streescoat and Stressszyme to each bucket full.The tank has been filled for 24 hours with the filter running but the water still looks very cloudy,although disturbing the gravel does not make the water look dirtier.The water in the tank is ph 8.8.The waterfrom the tap is ph8.4 at work.My tap water at home is ph7.4.I have never tested the hardeness but believe i have hard water.I use the API liquid test kit. I have not put any plants in it yet but plan to have quite a lot of live plants,including Amazon swords and a planted piece of bogwood and community fish in it.
OK here goes.
1) has the gravel or the water additives made the ph so high.the additives wont have
2) the water is still cloudy,should i empty the tank again and refill it?do 2 large water changes and each time put a bowl in, as to not disturb your gravel
3) someone told me the api test kit is rubbish and i should use sticks?the stick tests are awful and cheaper to buy a liquid test
4) what is the best decholrinator and bacterial filter boost.Any tap safe type will do. and filter boosts don't work
5) when should i add my live plants.AFTER you do a proper fishless cycle.
6) should i do anything at all about the water ph?Just do a water change every day and see if it brigns it down
7) i can not find ammonia,does using fishfood to cycle the tank work?Not very accurate, check boots and homebase
I have an Aqua one 550 at home with filter noodles,black and white wool and carbon in it.Should i add some of this media to the Aqua one external filter to start the biological cycle and if so,which ones and how much,so it wont adversly effect my tank at home? take a 1/4 of the noodles and this should give it the boost you want.

Asking these questions now so i do not make any mistakes before i buy any fish but elderly folk with dementia obviosly struggle with the empty tank. I have told them it could be 6 weeks before the water is safe to put fish in.I am used to water testing and water changes.Someone told me my external pump only needs cleaned (in tank water) once a month?
I know if i transfer media to keep it wet in my tank water.

Thankyou Rickzayne,i predicted your answers but it reassured me that i am thinking on the right lines now.I keep reading the new tank posts and just before you answered found a post by you about the plants.So i need a household ammonia from boots or homebase.many thanks.

http/www.boots.com/en/Boots-Household-ammonia-500ml_923908/ is the ammonia I got, you might have to order it online as most boots stores do not stock it. But you can have it delivered to a store for free

 

[the_lock_man]

1) has the gravel or the water additives made the ph so high.
2) the water is still cloudy,should i empty the tank again and refill it?
3) someone told me the api test kit is rubbish and i should use sticks?
4) what is the best decholrinator and bacterial filter boost.
5) when should i add my live plants.
6) should i do anything at all about the water ph?
7) i can not find ammonia,does using fishfood to cycle the tank work?

1) Gravel might have had an effect - if "Dorset Gravel" means it comes from Dorset, it might be an alkaline gravel, raising pH.
2) Agree with Mr Zayne!
3) Someone told you wrong! Stick tests are notoriously inaccurate.
4) So long as it neutralises chlorine and chloramines, then any dechlorinator fine. When I used a filter boost product, it made no appreciable difference to my cycle.
5) Live plants will use some of your ammonia, meaning that your cycle will take longer. Like RickZayne says, best leave it unplanted until you're cycled.
6) I think that using chemicals to alter pH leaves you more open to problems. Most fish can cope with a pH which isn't their ideal, but a large quick pH swing, caused by an error in using chemicals, will probably cause multiple deaths. Bogwood, releasing tannins, will help to lower pH.
7) Using fishfood as an ammonia source does work, but it's difficult to control the dose. Homebase sell ammonia off the shelf, which is where I sourced mine. Many other people order their's online at Boots, and have it delivered to their local branch.

You can take up to a third of the mature filter's media, so long as you replace it with new media, to give the bacteria colony somewhere to recolonise.

 

[LittleMissDynamite]

Many thanks.

 

[LittleMissDynamite]

Now a very unexpected thing had happened to the new tank.I filled the tank on saturday,put some fish food in the tank on saturday night and sunday night.My plan was to do the water changes tomorrow as advised because of the high phand put some of my "noodles" from my tank at home into the fluval pump and retest.I went to the shops to purchase ammonia from Boots or my local hardware store but i will have to order it in.The lps did not have any new noodles in either so they are ordered too.While i was there i purchased a tetra six in one test kit because it tests for chlorine,GH and KH and i thought using this along side my liquid ApI test kit would be usefull.The GH went straight to 16,which is the highest the strips recorded and confirms what i expected about our water.The kH was 10. I tested both my tanks at home and the tank at work (not far from where i live) and the readings were all the same in all the tanks.The ph on the test strips in my work tank showed 6.8.AAAAHHAAAA that proves they are really inaccurate i thought.I took a sample of the tank water from the tank and brought it home in a sterile urine specimen bottle to test with my liquid test kit at home,but to my great surprise the ph on there too has dropped to 7.6.I was delighted to find 0.25of nitrite in there so it must be starting to cycle,as there was no nitrite in the tap water.Did my Aqua one external pump remove what was in the gravel and therefore reduce the ph?

 

[LittleMissDynamite]

bump