Newbie With Questions

[wolfwolf]

Hi everyone

I've added 5 Serpae's to my 20 gallon tank (11 days ago). For the first week my ammonia and nitrite did not go over .25 (API liquids). Over the past 4 days the ammonia is between .25 and .5 and the nitrite has been between .5 and 1 (Difficult to tell the difference in colors). I have been doing 20% water changes each night. Tonight I used Prime instead of my standard Stress Coat for dechlorination. I'm afraid that my Stress Coat is breaking up the Chloramine in my tap water and creating ammonia in my tank. I've read good things about Prime but can I still test ammonia accurately with my API liquids after using Prime?

Also will switching to Prime now hurt my fish? Does it really detox nitrite?

After this cycle is done can I add 2 more Serpea and 1 more juli cory to my tank? Right now I have 5 Serpae and 3 juli coryies. I have an aquaclear 150 filter. No live plants. The tank is a standard 20 gallon (not 20 Long).

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Musho3210]

i have to add that you should return the fish and go with a fishless cycle...

That said prime is pretty good at detoxing chlorine, and ammonia, but i dont think it does anything with nitrite or nitrate.

 

[WILDER]

Not many fish are hardy enough for a cycling tank.
Best not to do to many water changes as it just prelongs the cycle.
Increase aeration as that helps, salt does but not with corys, though they can tolerate very small doses.
You can add more fish after the cycle but not to many as it then can cause a mini cycle.
You do have quite a way to go yet nitrite can go off the chart and stay there for a few days till it drops down eventually to 0.

 

[wolfwolf]

i have to add that you should return the fish and go with a fishless cycle...

That said prime is pretty good at detoxing chlorine, and ammonia, but i dont think it does anything with nitrite or nitrate.

My tank was cycled completely until I add the serpaes. I am currently in a "mini cycle". My fault for adding too many fish. Wish my LFS would have given better advice.

 

[WILDER]

I see.
All you can do to make them comfortable is small water changes, increased aeration, stir two teaspoons of salt into a jug of water and add to the tank once it dissolved.

 

[afishdude]

what fish did you cycle your tank with?

 

[rdd1952]

You can do water changes to keep the levels low. Try to keep them under .25ppm. It may extend the cycle a day but probably not. The problem is that you have gone 11 days and still have nitrite and ammonia. That should definitely not be the case. Nitrifying bacteria can usually double in about 24 hours and you basically trippled your bio load (3 tfish to 8 assuming roughly the same waste production) so it shouldn't take but about 2 days for them to catch up. I would cut feeding to once eery other day and do water changes as needed to keep the levels under .25. One other thing. What is the pH of your tank? Bacteria reproduction slows severely as pH levels drop into the low 6s. At levels below 6.0 they go will dormant and will not reproduce at all. The one positive to that is that ammonia is also less toxic as ph levels go lower but nitrite isn't effected and is still just as toxic.

 

[Bignose]

Best not to do to many water changes as it just prelongs the cycle.

No, this is just plain wrong, Wilder. The actual levels of ammonia or nitrite in a tank have nothing to do with how quickly a tank cycles. So long as there is some food, the bacteria will continue to grow. The bacteria don't care if there is 1% more food than they need or 101% more. Anything extra is just not consumed immediately -- but meanwhile the fish are producing more waste and the ammonia or nitrite is poisoning fish. If you do waterchanges to dilute the poison, the fish will be healthier and the bacteria will still continue to grow.

The bacteria will continue to grow until the rate of consumption by the bacteria is equal to the rate of production by the fish.

I can post a proof of this concept if you wish, but it might be outside the scope of this particular thread. I could also PM it to you if you'd like.

But, to the OP, do waterchanges as often as possible to keep the pollution levels low. Just be sure to gt close to the same temperature. If you are using the same tap water, the pH and hardness of the new water should be pretty close to the old, so all you really have to worry about is the temperature.

 

[Bignose]

Bacteria reproduction slows severely as pH levels drop into the low 6s. At levels below 6.0 they go will dormant and will not reproduce at all. The one positive to that is that ammonia is also less toxic as ph levels go lower but nitrite isn't effected and is still just as toxic.

This isn't quite right, rdd. What does happen is that another species of ammonia oxidizing bacteria that grows faster in acidic water starts becoming the dominant species. The neutral water bacteria can still process ammonia, but not as fast as the acid water bacteria. So, if the pH remains low the acid water bacteria simply outgrows the neutral water bacteria. The neutral water bacteria don't really start dying until the pH approaches 4.0. The real problem comes from if you keep your tank in very acid conditions then go back to 7.0 or above, the acid water bacteria don't do as well and then the neutral water bacteria become dominant again. In either case, the tank appears to re-cycle each time as the new bacteria that loves the specific pH becomes more dominant and the older one becomes less efficient.

 

[wolfwolf]

what fish did you cycle your tank with?

As it turns out I cycled with 3 juli cory cats. Before everyone blasts me please understand that I misunderstood the aquarium cycle at the time. When I added the fish the levels were nitrite 0, ammonia 0, and Nitrate 15. With the nitrate present I thought the tank cycled. Turns out the Nitrate was just from my tap water.

I will never cycle an aquarium again with fish in. I love my fish (unfortunately they are subject to my lack of knowledge). that is why I spend time every day reading this forum.

 

[ShoC]

what fish did you cycle your tank with?

As it turns out I cycled with 3 juli cory cats. Before everyone blasts me please understand that I misunderstood the aquarium cycle at the time. When I added the fish the levels were nitrite 0, ammonia 0, and Nitrate 15. With the nitrate present I thought the tank cycled. Turns out the Nitrate was just from my tap water.

I will never cycle an aquarium again with fish in. I love my fish (unfortunately they are subject to my lack of knowledge). that is why I spend time every day reading this forum.

words of some one who is soon to become an expert

 

[wolfwolf]

Hi everyone

I've added 5 Serpae's to my 20 gallon tank (11 days ago). For the first week my ammonia and nitrite did not go over .25 (API liquids). Over the past 4 days the ammonia is between .25 and .5 and the nitrite has been between .5 and 1 (Difficult to tell the difference in colors). I have been doing 20% water changes each night. Tonight I used Prime instead of my standard Stress Coat for dechlorination. I'm afraid that my Stress Coat is breaking up the Chloramine in my tap water and creating ammonia in my tank. I've read good things about Prime but can I still test ammonia accurately with my API liquids after using Prime?

Also will switching to Prime now hurt my fish? Does it really detox nitrite?

After this cycle is done can I add 2 more Serpea and 1 more juli cory to my tank? Right now I have 5 Serpae and 3 juli coryies. I have an aquaclear 150 filter. No live plants. The tank is a standard 20 gallon (not 20 Long).

Thanks for your advice.

Noone really answered. Can I add more fish?
Can Stress Coat break the chloramine bond and release ammonia?
Is switching to Prime on the fly bad for the fish?

 

[ICEEGRL]

Switch to prime! It is much better. It saved a lot of my fish. (long story)
It won't hurt anything to swap now.
It should be fine to add a few more fish once the tank is stable again. Just don't add too many. (from one that always over stocks...)

 

[iihay]

i have to add that you should return the fish and go with a fishless cycle...

That said prime is pretty good at detoxing chlorine, and ammonia, but i dont think it does anything with nitrite or nitrate.

Yep, it detoxs nitrite as well,

From the Seachem website:

"Primeâ„¢ detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. It will also detoxify any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels"

It's marvellous stuff and so concentrated it works out really cheap.

Iain

 

[rdd1952]

Noone really answered. Can I add more fish?
Can Stress Coat break the chloramine bond and release ammonia?
Is switching to Prime on the fly bad for the fish?

Once your ammonia and nitrite are down to 0 again, I don't see any problem with adding the 3 additional fish. And yes, Stress Coat will break the chloramine bond and release ammonia. Personally, I don't see that as a problem. I have used nothing but Stress Coat for the 2.5 years I've had tanks and never had an issue with ammonia released from chloramine. Switching won't cause a problem though.