Tell Me It Will Be Ok (cycle)

[newfishy]

ok, so i did the typical newbie stuff got a tank jammed fish in it...lalala some died....lalala finaly came here and got good advice. well the first tank....a 10 gallon started leaking...not condensation but really leaking at the one back seam....just as i had the thing cycled. so I replaced it with the 20 gallon...that was cycled but ended up going into a mini cycle cause the power went off and the filter box went dry, no one died, but i was getting a and ni readings again.

come down to yesterday morning.....the 20 gallon was leaking, what the heck?
I called the manufactuer and they asked me a whole slue of questions...have I ever dropped it, every moved it with anything in it...ect, and I had done nothing bad. asked if I had it on a proper stand...yea my husband spent half a day building the nice new heavy duty stand, then searching the living room for the best most level spot (we live in a very old farmhouse with old wooden floors) so it wasnt the stand that was the issue.

their idea of why both of the tanks I got from this place leaking was maybe someone set a whole palet of fish stuff down way too hard. all the advice I got was to take it back to where I bought it and get a new one, unless I felt like using some sealer myself and keeping all my fish crammed in the 5 gallon for several days while it set up. umm no, its still a new tank I went and got it replaced.

well now I have a 29 gallon...I had taken 5 gallons of tank water form the old 20...put it into the 5 and just moved the filter over to there to run, put all the fish in teh 5. drained and kept as much of the water i could hold in buckets....kept the gravel in the buckets with the water to stay wet.

set the 29 up, replaced gravel and water, replaced heater, set up new filter, I am running the old filter in the 29 as well, so I now have a tetra 10-20 and a tetra 20-40 running, becaue I have no idea how else to get the filter meadia transvered.
last night and this morning all levels were at a0/ni0/na20/ph8.2 I know that because i had changed a good bit of water it could keep everything cleaner for a while, but my big question is

is this the best way to change over a tank? can i leave the two filters running side by side permantly? will it start going into a nasty cycle?
oh i have 4 guppys and 6 platys in the tank

 

[rdd1952]

Sorry to hear of all your problems. On the good side, you started with a 10 gallon and now you've got a 29 gallon!!!!

Anyway, you can run both filters on the tank for a while and the bacteria will colonize the new one. If the new one is stronger, most will move to the one that is gettiing te most flow. Leaving them permanently is fine too. I ran a Whisper 30 and a Whisper 20 together on my 29 gallon for almost 2 years until one started to get noisy and I replaced both with a Whiper 60. Actually 2 filters gives you a little security in case one happens to stop working.

With the stock you have you shouldn't see much of an ammonia problem is you just keep an eye on the levels. Do water changes as needed to keep the ammonia and nitrite as low as possible. With your pH at 8.2, more of the ammonia is toxic than if the pH was neutral. People used to and still do cycle with fish and it can definitely be done successfully. Until you get the tank cycled, I would only feed once every other day. Feed a normal amount, not extra to make up for the missed day as that will cause more problems as any uneaten food will decay and produce ammonia. The fish will be fine with that (mine go unfed any time I go on vacation).

One other thing about the tanks that cracked. You said your husband built the stand. One thing that could have caused your problem is if the stand table area (where the tank sits) was out of level. i would think that could possibly bind the tank on one end/corner and cause the silicone to fail. Did both tanks leak in the same place? If so, you cold run into a problem with this one too.

 

[rabbut]

Sounds like you did everything right Keep an eye on your waterstats though, as a mini-cycle might me heading your way That said, if all the old filters media stayed wet, and was in the same bucket/temp tank as the fish, not much damage will have been done.

you can run the two filter side-by-side permanatly of you wish, it will do no harm, and may even be better for the tank overall. Running the two makes you overfiltered, and if you clean one at a time, you are less likely to kill off significant amounts of filter bacteria when doing so, reducing the chances of further mini-cycles

HTH
Rabbut

 

[newfishy]

thanks you guys,
for the levels i check daily...or twice a day if I have time and do daily water changes as needed. With this stand my husband leveled it on our floor before we put the tank on it to make sure this wasnt our issue, a very good point though, but the old tanks leaked in different places.

any ways the ph is most likey going to stay that way and the na too because thats the levels in our well water...so no soft water fish for us lol.

I think I would like to run both of the filters to make sure that things are extra clean and as a backup in case one dies while I dont expect it.

as another thought, I now have 2 100 watt heaters, 1 is in the tank at this time (seperate tiny heater for the unused 5 gallon) can I use both heaters in the tank in case 1 dies in the night? or would that over heat the tank....its sitting in the spare stuff box right now.

and yes I like having the 29 instead of a 10....much nicer and more fish...but not yet lol when things calm down.

 

[rdd1952]

Your pH shouldn't be a problem. Most fish can adapt to any pH as long as it's stable. And most high pH water has lots of buffering so it stays put.

I'm like you on the 2 filters. I think any tank over 3' should have dual heaters and filters and have that only 75 gallon. As I said, it gives you a bit of security so if one goes out at least there is some water being processed. Using both heaters will be fine too. It will mean they don't have to work as hard to keep the water temp where you want it.

 

[newfishy]

oh another really good question....what is the best way to secure a tank and stand if you have a 1 yea old...the tank and stand r both heavy duty, but I still tether all my tall furnature to the walls...like book cases and such. can I use regular furnature tethers?

the tank is in an out of the way spot with a low piece of furnature in front to keep the baby away from it right now.

and I watch the baby all the time, no unatended kids in my house, I just like the extra piece of mind.

 

[rdd1952]

That's a good one and one Ive never heard. I fully understand your concern as our 5 year-old grand daughter pulled a TV off on here a little over a year ago. I think you would most likely have to tether the stand as I'm not sure of anyway to attach anything to the tank itself. The tank itself would be hard to pull off unless the baby could get his/her hand over the top edge of the tank to get a grip on it.