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Tuppers

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Hi guys just started out again got a 60 litre tank with a sting ray in it. It has been setup for a couple of weeks now, 1" to 1 1/2" of 5mm gravel with five bunches of plants with a small piece of bogwood.

I am awaiting a better filter to add into the tank with a view to permanently taking out the stinray as its hiddeous and to be honest I dont think that good from first impressions.

I have tested my tap water and it shows the following:

PH 7.0-6.5 scale
Ammonia 0
Nitrite and Nitrate to be tested yet but I dont think it will be required yet as I have only just begun to cycle really.

I have tested my water and i read:
PH 5.5 ish on scale :unsure:
Ammonia >7.3mg :hyper:
Nitrite and Nitrate is a measureable amount but a very pale red in colour not like the purples on the charts. The nitrates test is slightly darker but still very pale. :unsure:

I am very shocked by the PH of the tank? what could this be? any way of getting it back up? will getting it back up help the cycle?

My question is should I wait a week and see where I am which by then i will have a far better filter an eheim aquaball to help with the filtration? or change the water by doing a near complete change? I have yet to find a large water tub that i can use to store some water in to do the water changes any ideas? I am in the uk by the way!

Cheers in advance for any and all advice given!! :good:
 
Hi guys just started out again got a 60 litre tank with a sting ray in it. It has been setup for a couple of weeks now, 1" to 1 1/2" of 5mm gravel with five bunches of plants with a small piece of bogwood.

I am awaiting a better filter to add into the tank with a view to permanently taking out the stinray as its hiddeous and to be honest I dont think that good from first impressions.

I have tested my tap water and it shows the following:

PH 7.0-6.5 scale
Ammonia 0
Nitrite and Nitrate to be tested yet but I dont think it will be required yet as I have only just begun to cycle really.

I have tested my water and i read:
PH 5.5 ish on scale :unsure:
Ammonia >7.3mg :hyper:
Nitrite and Nitrate is a measureable amount but a very pale red in colour not like the purples on the charts. The nitrates test is slightly darker but still very pale. :unsure:

I am very shocked by the PH of the tank? what could this be? any way of getting it back up? will getting it back up help the cycle?

My question is should I wait a week and see where I am which by then i will have a far better filter an eheim aquaball to help with the filtration? or change the water by doing a near complete change? I have yet to find a large water tub that i can use to store some water in to do the water changes any ideas? I am in the uk by the way!

Cheers in advance for any and all advice given!! :good:

Hey tuppers im goping by sting ray you mean the make of filter if not your going to need a MUCH MUCH bigger tank than that !!!!! for the fish if its a ray. i have a 165l and thats too small for a ray. and youll need to get rid of that gravel strait away, rays burry themselves in the substrait therefore need sand he will cut himsef to shreads with gravel.


have you tested the ph of your tap water ??

Re large tubs to hold water i use a plastic bin i got from homebase they hold 80l and cost £10 if thats too large then wilkinsons sell fermentation bins (in the wine and beer making section) that hold 5 gallons for about £10 as well, you can also get fermantaton buckets that hold 5l too these are the 3 things i use for water changes

Scoou tsted the ph of youtt
 
i think he meant a stingray filter.....................?
 
Yep filter not as in fish :lol: Although when I read it 1st my jaw dropped to the floor and thought, oh poop he cant be serious.
 
yeah sorry just re read my post! I do mean a sting ray filter!!

I have tested the PH of my tap water and its more or less neutral maybe slightly acidic but then that might be me reading the colouration wrong on the card or from the test tube.

Cheers thanks for the tub hint!
 
The pH has crashed and the ammonia is IMO too high. Above 8ppm ammonia is so high that it inhibits the AOB's formation. If you are replacing the filter anyway, I'd remove all the water and let it sit empty for the time being, untill the new filter is fitted. If you isntantly swap the filters, you will go back to square one again anyway, and running side-by-side may caurse issues with the cycle, as imature bacteria colonies are less able to multiply than mature ones, so a mini-cycle would be almost un-avoidable when the stingray is removed :sad:

The pH crashing usualy means either a dodgy pH test kit, or a low KH. Do you have a liquid KH test kit? Also, is the pH kit liquid or strips? likewise for the others? With a low KH, you may need to take steaps to rectify the issue to avoid the pH crashing with fish in the tank that IME usualy wipes most of them out of existance :crazy: pH crahses are common in cycles, once you start getting nitrate, but with that still relatively low, there could be an underlying problem that needs fixing before going too much further...

All the best
Rabbut
 
Its never simple! I will wait for the other filter i think and do some water changes over the next couple of days! See how that works. I thought it may have something to do with the high ammonia levels so i will see if I can get that down first.

All the testing kit I have are liquid and not strips so I will see tomorrow after I have changed the water. When changing the water and the fact I still have no fish how critical is it that the temperature is the same as the tank when replacing?

Thanks again, I will see if I can get the KH tested. What should I do if it is high or even low?
 
A KH of 4 or above is usualy aimed for in most tanks, unless you are breeding and want it lower. IME going lower can make the pH very unstable, but when breeding, the "safest lowest point" drops down, as there is less load on the tank, and thus less KH gets "used up" over the course of a week. KH gets "used up" by acidic chemicals (Nirite, nitrate, pH buffers e.t.c) that try to pull the pH down, thus preventing them from moving the pH. When breeding, you often do lots of waterchanges, keeping the KH up and acids down.

If the KH is higher, leave it be unless the pH is also at an unreasonable level (above 8 for most fish) If it is too low and this is caursing the pH to crash, you should look to increase it. Long-term, use crushed coral in the filter to raise it. Have two bags, and swap out to old at each clean for the "rested" one. Once removed, rince under the tap, and leave somewhere warm to dry out, leaving the other in to take the old ones place. Add about a palm full per 20g and up it from there if it isn't enough. :good:

If the KH from the tap is good, but the pH crashes during the cycle, you can add Bicrabonate of soda, or cooking powder/cooking soda (Both work) to fix the pH while it cycles. The excess KH is then removed at your final waterchange :good:

HTH
Rabbut
 
Hi guys well completed my water change this morning near enough to 100% I could get it to. I have left the tank running for around 2 hours and I now have the following test results.

PH 7.0 :good:
Ammonia 0.6 :good: (from > 7.3)
Nitrite 3.3 :crazy: (from nothing to this!!)
Nitrate 110 :crazy: (from nothing to this!!)

I tested my water for all the above and they read the following:

PH 7.0
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 0.00

So i am now unsure what to do? leave the tank alone for a few days? Do another water change? Can anyone please advise me?

Not had chance to get to shop to test KH yet but will do when I first get chance.
 
Hi also when changing the water i took out near enough 40 ltrs of water.

I also have a T8 30W 18" sun glo bulb that cam with the tank. Is this ok for the plants I have? Should I get a different one?

Ta
 
What plants do you have? It is impossible to tell if it is enough without knowing more about the species of plant you are trying to grow, as plants, like fish, all have different requirements :nod:

The test results are a little confusing. If the levels are now as per the first set of results, I'd add some more ammonia but otherwise leave alone, assuming you have the new filter installed now? If you don't yet have the new filter, I'd leave alone for now :nod: The second set of results would need the same reaction, but they are very different to each other...

What are your tap water readings for all of the things you can currently test for?

All the best
Rabbut
 
I tested my water for all the above and they read the following:

PH 7.0
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 0.00

Hi rabbut above are my readings for the tap water

I am a little confused too i dont have a new yet but should arrive by the weekend!! So will wait till then before tinkering I think, but i will continue with tests in the mean time!!

Cheers for the advice!!
 
Hi guys! Just a quick question while I am thinking about it!! I am off to Cuba in 6 weeks for two weeks so I am a little worried about my cycling and this break as I will not be able to feed the bacteria with the ammonia??? Can anyone suggest anything for me?

Should I continue and the break wont affect it that much or should I quit now and wait till I am back?

I do hope I dont have to stop now! just getting right back into to it all!!
 
Well, it's not ammonia starvation that kills bacteria, it's lack of oxygen. You would see a noticable die-off if you leave the tank without food for two weeks, but you will not loose all the bacteria, thus you won't be back to square one; in theory at least. I personally have never tryed leaving a tank this long, but a few site a die-off rate of 5% per day without food in personal experiments. :nod: Don't realy know the circumstances arround these tests though, or how they arried on that number, thus the ammount of weight to give their study to me is a bit "swings and roundabouts" The number looks plausable, but the evidence they produce isn't solid...

I would carry on as normal at this point. :good:

I don't suppose you have a friend/neibour whom would not mind comming in and dropping in ammonia for you? How about fish food? Food can be left as pre-measured pouches to ensure just the right ammount goes in, but ammonia will have to be added accordingly after measuring how much there is left in the tank.

All the best
Rabbut
 

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