Tank Changeover

[biffobear50]

Had my tank running for over 2 years...110 litre.
Was looking a bit of a mess so i decided to give it a good clean and a makeover.
I completely emptied tank, cleaned it , put fresh gravel and ornaments in and added an external cannister filter in place of the old internal.
Old internal had 3 sponges so i added 1 to the new external media.
Kept just over half the water and topped up with dechlorinated tap water.
This was 8 days ago.
When i did water tests after 3 days my ammonia level was starting to get dodgy but my nitrites were 0 and nitrates off the scale.
I added a bag of JBL BioNitratEX to help reduce nitrates. I also added the other 2 sponges(maybe too late (4 days but still wet)).
For the last 5 days i have done a 20 litre water change (10 tap and 10 ro )to reduce ammonia and feeding a very small amount every other day.
Tests today show a small level of ammonia,nitrites still 0 and nitrates very high.
The nitrates are probably high as the tank is overstocked and they`ve come from the original water but thought they would have dropped a bit by now.
Ammonia i understand but why no nitrites.Is it just the filter hasn`t worked from last tank and it`s like starting over with too many fish and the nitrogen cycle is taking a good while to start.
So anyaway ammonia and lots of nitrates but no nitrites.
Is there an explaination i am missing.
Fish a bit quiet but nothing bad and no deaths.

Thanks

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum biffobear50.
First things first. The 5 day pause while your media stayed wet will have allowed the bacteria population in your media o drop but it will bounce right back. You have added all of the filter media from your original filter to the new filter so you should be cycled or almost cycled on that tank. That means you should never see ammonia or nitrites but nitrates will increase constantly since they are the end product of the open cycle that we use in our tanks. You say that you used a 50/50 mix of RO with tap water. Is that the normal way to do a water change on your tank? If it is, your fish are accustomed to the lower mineral content that results but if not you have added to the fish's stress. It is far better to keep things constant, in terms of water qualities, than to do things that make maintenance harder by requiring an ongoing mix. I do maintain one of my tanks that way for fish that cannot tolerate my local tap water hardness but that tank takes a lot more advance planning and work than any of the others.

 

[biffobear50]

Welcome to the forum biffobear50.
First things first. The 5 day pause while your media stayed wet will have allowed the bacteria population in your media o drop but it will bounce right back. You have added all of the filter media from your original filter to the new filter so you should be cycled or almost cycled on that tank. That means you should never see ammonia or nitrites but nitrates will increase constantly since they are the end product of the open cycle that we use in our tanks. You say that you used a 50/50 mix of RO with tap water. Is that the normal way to do a water change on your tank? If it is, your fish are accustomed to the lower mineral content that results but if not you have added to the fish's stress. It is far better to keep things constant, in terms of water qualities, than to do things that make maintenance harder by requiring an ongoing mix. I do maintain one of my tanks that way for fish that cannot tolerate my local tap water hardness but that tank takes a lot more advance planning and work than any of the others.

Hi
I have just posted again and my ammonia and nitrites are still there....Never thought this would happen myself.
Thought if anything it would be better adding a better filter system.
As for the RO water. No i normally use all tap. The reason i have been using some RO (<10% tank volume) was just to help drop nitrate level as my tap water was showing some nitrates. I was also adding minerals to the RO water.
Anyway yes normally 100% dechlorinated tap water which is what i have reverted back to the last few changes too.
Only have the RO water as i have 2 saltwater tanks.
If you could check out my new post on ammonia and relate your thoughts i would be grateful.
Thanks

Gary