Q's About My Tank

[bobross]

Hello all,

I just have a few questions regarding my 55g tank. First of all, It currently houses a male severum & 14 tiger barbs. I've had this tank setup close to seven months without any problems...until I added the last four tiger barbs. Everything was fine when I went to bed. The next day I woke up to my tank being 'foggy.' I was assuming that it was a mini-cycle since I added the four fish. It did eventually clear(2-3 days later). When it came time for water changes, I did my usual 12g water change, only to have a really cloudy tank, again. So I busted out the test kit, found that even after that water change, my ammonia level was at like 5-10 & nitrates were at 10-20. So another 12g water change followed by a 5g water change. After all the water changes, my water was super cloudy. Next day, water is fine. But my ammonia & nitrates have not moved!

So I've came to the conclusion that my tank is cycling again.(all over four little fish?!?) It seems like when I do a water change to reduce ammonia & nitrate levels, my water goes cloudy. But if I let it sit overnight, my water is clear. But here's my question. Do I let the cycle run its course or do I do crazy water changes everyday until my levels come back down. To me, it seems like I'm taking too much water out causing the water to get cloudy. But if I let the cycle run it's course, my levels are gonna go through the roof before I can do a major water change. Does all of this rambling make sense? Sorry, I'm not the best with descriptions of things.

Here's some additional info in case it gets asked.

I run an aqua-tech 30-60 (filter that came with tank) & an XP2.
Everything has been running spot on for almost seven months without any drastic changes or dead fish.
PH stays at a constant 7.8-8.0
I usually change 12-15g of water every fourth day.
The tank doesn't any natural sunlight.

Can someone please explain what the *%$! is going on with this?

Any other questions regarding my setup are cool, too.


Thanks a lot,

BobRoss

 

[dthoffsett]

Have you tested your tap water since the ammonia/nitrite spikes started?

Did you test before adding the new fish? Four fish shouldn't make your ammonia/nitrite spike that high, there's got to be something else going on. Have you cleaned your filters lately?

12gal is only a 20% water change, I would probably up that to 15-20gal when you do water changes.

If your water is clouding up everytime you add it, it leads me to think this is a problem with the tap water. Unfotunately with high ammonia/nitrite you're really going to need to do daily water changes to avoid losing fish.

So, I'd say next step is to test your tap water, post your results and we'll see what we can suggest next.

 

[caboose_122]

sounds weird, try doing a 50% water change then test the water, then wait for another day and do another 50% water change and do a test, i would test your tap water too , i would keep doing 50% water changes as much as possable

just my 2 cents

 

[Tolak]

What product are you using to treat the water? Sounds like it may be a tap water issue you are seeing. In the summer months water usage is higher, folks are watering their lawns, filling pools, and taking more frequent baths & showers due to the heat. The water moves through the system faster, meaning less chlorine & chloramine can be used by the water company.

Winter comes, no lawn watering, pool filling, and nobody near me is sweating due to the weather, I'm sure it's the same by you. The water sits in the system longer, the water company compensates by adding more chlorine & chloramine.

Try doubling up on water conditioner for your next water change. The increase in bioload doesn't appear to be much, but add in a little extra chlorine to knock back your bio filtration a bit, and you have a little cloudiness, which is free floating nitrifying bacteria looking for a home.

 

[bobross]

I've been using Stress Coat since I started this hobby. The odd thing is, I usually use more stress coat than you're supposed to. I use about 8mL per 5g everytime i change water.
I haven't tested my water out of the tap in a while(several months ago, in the summer) so I'll give that a try once i wake up a little more.(i.e. hangover clouds go away) The even weirder thing is that about once a month, I change about 30g out of this tank. Even then, the water is a little cloudy at first, but that usually clears up in several hours.


"12gal is only a 20% water change, I would probably up that to 15-20gal when you do water changes. "
----What's wrong with a 20% w.c. every four days? (I suppose the answer to that is going to depend on the bio-load in my tank)


"Did you test before adding the new fish? Four fish shouldn't make your ammonia/nitrite spike that high, there's got to be something else going on. Have you cleaned your filters lately? "
No, I haven't. I have noticed a reduce in flow in the aqua-tech 30-60 so I'll try to tackle that later today. Here's what I can't understand about that, though. If there was something in my filter ( like a build up of something toxic), wouldn't I have that kind of rise every four or five days? instead of, all of a sudden, I have a spike in ammonia in nitrates? Does that make sense?


See, my tank sits on a counter top above a sink and it's wedged very tightly(sp?) under some kitchen cabinets. Basically, from the back side of my tank, it's such a tight fit that I couldn't put on the lid of the aquatech or else the filter would be to tall to slide in under the cabinets. So in order for me to clean my filter, I have to drain about 30g out and move the tank back
two feet on one side to access the filter. If I had a decent enough camera, I would show you guys pics of it. My tank is a room divider between my kitchen & living room. ( I live in a trailer, if that helps paint a picture.)


Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I was told by a guy at my LFS that it's better to do a series of little water changes over the course of a couple of days versus one big one. Here's an example. Say I want to change 20g out. Instead of one big 20g water change, I could try four 5g water changes instead. Now granted that's just an example. but I was told this because the gradual change in water parameters is less stressful than on big water change instead. Any truth in that?

I just want to figure this out. Other than the occasional algae along the bottom of the tank, this has been the only other 'serious' problem I've had with this tank. It's really annoying me. But I'll do a few 10g water changes today & tomorrow & let you guys know how it goes.


Tolak, I was thinking about what you wrote & was wondering - does extra chloramine & chlorine added to my water change the levels of ammonia & nitrates in my water?

(Here's a quick little story about my trailer court I live in. This story might have something to do with the condition of my water as of right now. So bare with me. .... In early July, all of the crappy trailers were being moved out. (the reason why is irrelevant) well, fast forward to now. My trailer is one of two on the park. The water line that I shared with everyone else in the court is only being used my me & one other couple now. before, it was used by six other families. So, maybe the reduction in water usage over the past few months has slowly contributed to this to.)

I'll check back later once my hangover is gone so I can think a little more clear & make some sense out of all this rambling typing I seem to be doing.


Thanks so far people!!!!!!




BobRoss

 

[dthoffsett]

----What's wrong with a 20% w.c. every four days? (I suppose the answer to that is going to depend on the bio-load in my tank)

The higher the bio-load on a tank the larger the water change. For example, I have 17 African Cichlids, ranging in size from 3-7", in a 75gal tank. I do a 40-50% water change once a week.


No, I haven't. I have noticed a reduce in flow in the aqua-tech 30-60 so I'll try to tackle that later today. Here's what I can't understand about that, though. If there was something in my filter ( like a build up of something toxic), wouldn't I have that kind of rise every four or five days? instead of, all of a sudden, I have a spike in ammonia in nitrates? Does that make sense?

The reason I asked about the filter was to make sure you hadn't rinsed out your filter media in tap water instead of tank water, thus killing off your beneficial bacteria, which would cause an ammonia/nitrite spike.


Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I was told by a guy at my LFS that it's better to do a series of little water changes over the course of a couple of days versus one big one. Here's an example. Say I want to change 20g out. Instead of one big 20g water change, I could try four 5g water changes instead. Now granted that's just an example. but I was told this because the gradual change in water parameters is less stressful than on big water change instead. Any truth in that?

There is some truth to that. If the PH in the tank is quite a bit different from the tap water's PH, then you'll want to do small changes to lessen the shock of the difference. Also, with fry, small frequent changes are best. However IMO, most adult community fish do just fine with a 20-50% water change weekly, depending on bio-load. With some fish a large water change will even get them in the mood to spawn.

Tolak, I was thinking about what you wrote & was wondering - does extra chloramine & chlorine added to my water change the levels of ammonia & nitrates in my water?

I can answer this one too, chlorine/chloramine can kill off your beneficial bacteria, which is why you dechlorinate. If you have high levels of chlorine/chloramine, and not enough dechlorinator, you could be killing off some of your bacteria colony everytime you do a water change, leading to ammonia/nitrite spikes.

 

[Tolak]

Stress Coat is basically sodium thiosulfate. It will take care of chlorine, and will split chloramine inti its components, chlorine & ammonia. This leaves you withan ammonia spike, and nitrifying bacteria that quickly grow trying to consume this extra ammonia, and the nitrites produced in the process. The cloudiness you are seeing is free floating nitrifying bacteria, which clear once they have dealt with the excess ammonia.

An increase in chloramine would result in an increased ammonia spike, causing increased cloudiness. This usually balances out on its own, with the nitrifying bacteria growing where they belong, in the filter media. I would be using a water treatment such as Prime, which will convert the ammonia into ammonium, which is used the same as ammonia by your nitrifying bacteria, but is harmless to fish at the levels normally found in an aquarium.