Urgent Help have i done something wrong?

[marnold00]

is this the correct thing to use? https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Pet-Supp...al-management-500ml/B0002APIIW/?tag=ff0d01-20

Seachem Prime concentrated conditioner - 250ml https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002568S6/?tag=ff0d01-20

That bottle wpuld last quite a while. Get the 500ml bottle if you dpnt mind paying £6more

Edit: i think 250ml treats 10,000 litres according to amazon?! Bear in mind youll be using some every water change in the future

 

[leebrook]

Seachem Prime concentrated conditioner - 250ml https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002568S6/?tag=ff0d01-20

That bottle wpuld last quite a while. Get the 500ml bottle if you dpnt mind paying £6more

Edit: i think 250ml treats 10,000 litres according to amazon?! Bear in mind youll be using some every water change in the future

Is your link and the one I posted the same things ?

 

[Byron]

Sorry, I use EASY LIFE. filter medium.

What I do is remove the water straight down the toilet. Then fill buckets up and then put the correct dosage of the treatment into the fresh water ( which is right temp) which makes it safe to put into the tank.

Fine on the process.

I just researched Easy Life Filter Medium and have some concerns. First, as a dechlorinator. The data says it will dechlorinate but only up to a limit, 4 ppm. I've no idea how much chlroine/chloramine may be in your tap water, so this is something to look into. Most conditioners detoxify immediately, and up to the level normal (allowed) in municipal water.

The other things it claims to do are a bit disconcerting too. Minimizing water changes to once a month is not a good idea. Replacing water changes with more additives (even if they are "natural") is not the same thing to the fish.

 

[Byron]

This thread is getting difficult to follow, we are all posting so rapidly.

If you get Prime, a small bottle will do. This is not a conditioner I endorse for regular use. During cycling, fine, but this should not be longer than a couple months, and you use very little. Only add the amount for the fresh water, not the whole tank (as Seachem will suggest). There is no value in filling up the fishes' bloodstream with unnecessary chemicals and substances.

When the tank is showing cycled, any good conditioner that only deals with what you have in your water is fine. Simplicity. We only take medicine when we are sick, and then only what we need for that illness; there is no value in more.

 

[leebrook]

Fine on the process.

I just researched Easy Life Filter Medium and have some concerns. First, as a dechlorinator. The data says it will dechlorinate but only up to a limit, 4 ppm. I've no idea how much chlroine/chloramine may be in your tap water, so this is something to look into. Most conditioners detoxify immediately, and up to the level normal (allowed) in municipal water.

The other things it claims to do are a bit disconcerting too. Minimizing water changes to once a month is not a good idea. Replacing water changes with more additives (even if they are "natural") is not the same thing to the fish.

Thank you for your research.

In stupid terms could I have a list on what is best to get. If possible amazon links would be appreciated and I can then order them imediatly .

Thank you again

 

[marnold00]

My fault for confusing. Ill be quiet now and let byron answer as the knowledge difference between my relative newbie experience and byrons experience is rather substantial...

 

[Byron]

Thank you for your research.

In stupid terms could I have a list on what is best to get. If possible amazon links would be appreciated and I can then order them imediatly .

Thank you again

At present, all you need is Prime and Stability. Prime is the conditioner that helps during cycling, and Stability will quicken the establishment of the bacteria.

The Prime link you posted is correct, and I think the 250 ml bottle might be sufficient here, but as the 500 ml is only a dollar more, go for it:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B007R5LWZI/?tag=ff0d01-20

This is the Stability, and the 250 ml bottle should be enough. I have never used as much of this as they recommend, and it worked fine:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0002APIJG/?tag=ff0d01-20

 

[Byron]

My fault for confusing. Ill be quiet now and let byron answer as the knowledge difference between my relative newbie experience and byrons experience is rather substantial...

We are on the same wavelength. I just have an aversion to dumping substances into fish tanks because I know what these do inside the fish, and the less the better.

 

[marnold00]

We are on the same wavelength. I just have an aversion to dumping substances into fish tanks because I know what these do inside the fish, and the less the better.

Clean water all the way!

@leebrook fyi new tanks. Can have a bacterial bloom towards the end of the cycle where your water turns a milky colour. It never happened to me, but just making you aware - dont worry too much about it. Itll pass, you just have to be patient.

 

[FroFro]

I'm kinda late on this topic, but do you know ANYONE in your life that keeps a tropical freshwater tank as well? If you do see if you can get some used filter media from them. This does wonders to seed the tank with beneficial bacteria and can help you with the cycling process. Don't get any filter media from the pet store as lord knows what could be lurking in those tanks. Just make sure that if you do get media from someone you know with a healthy tank that they place it in a sealable container with tank water. The filter media should never be allowed to dry out, keep it moist with water from the original tank, never refrigerate. Again, keep it in water from the original tank, no tap or bottled! Don't let it dry out or its no good!

Back when I was having a similar issue my Uncle gave me an entire filter pad from his tropical tank as he was changing the media anyway and he saved it for me in a large baggy with tank water kept at room temperature. It had been sitting in that baggy for a few hours before I was able to pick it up. I scooted on down the road and popped that sucker into the back of my filter and it was like magic, within two hours my tank was crystal clear and my nitrates and nitrites were nearly gone.

 

[leebrook]

Cheers fokes, I have ordered through Amazon what Byron sent the links for one item will be with me tomorrow and the other on Monday. Today I have done 40 - 50% water change. So should i just keep this up each day for the near future?

 

[Byron]

Cheers fokes, I have ordered through Amazon what Byron sent the links for one item will be with me tomorrow and the other on Monday. Today I have done 40 - 50% water change. So should i just keep this up each day for the near future?

You mention (in post #1) high ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, but no numbers have been given in the thread. If you are showing ammonia or nitrite (note, nitrite, not nitrate) above zero, then yes, do the daily water change.

 

[leebrook]

You mention (in post #1) high ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, but no numbers have been given in the thread. If you are showing ammonia or nitrite (note, nitrite, not nitrate) above zero, then yes, do the daily water change.

Sorry I will post the results off this latest result in about half hour.

 

[leebrook]

You mention (in post #1) high ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, but no numbers have been given in the thread. If you are showing ammonia or nitrite (note, nitrite, not nitrate) above zero, then yes, do the daily water change.

Ammonia is between 0.25ppm and 0.50ppm

Nitrite is 1.0ppm

I have used the api master liquid test kit

This was alot higher before i did the water change today

 

[Byron]

Ammonia is between 0.25ppm and 0.50ppm

Nitrite is 1.0ppm

I have used the api master liquid test kit

This was alot higher before i did the water change today

I would do another water change, about 70%. Ammonia at .25 could be managed (especially with live plants that would readily take this up), but nitrite at 1 ppm is very dangerous.

The fastest uptake of ammonia in an aquarium occurs with live plants; ammonia can be both assimilated (as a nutrient in the ionized form ammonium) and taken up (as a toxin, NH3) by plants. But ammonia is also taken up (though more slowly) by certain nitrifying bacteria, and this produces another form of nitrogen—nitrite, which is also highly toxic to all life at very low levels. Fish readily absorb nitrIte from the water and it combines with the hemoglobin in their blood, forming methaemoglobin. As a consequence, the blood cannot transport oxygen as easily and this can become fatal. At 0.25 ppm nitrite begins to affect fish after a short period; at 0.5 ppm it becomes dangerous; and at 1.0 ppm it is often fatal.​

[from an article I did for another forum]

This is where Prime will benefit, by detoxifying the ammonia/nitrite for 24-36 hours. The conditioner you are now using claims to deal with nitrite in some way, so it may be helping in fact, I can't say. And remember, with Prime the "nitrite" will still show as nitrite with the API test, even though bonded into a harmless form, so don't get worried when you see that after using Prime. Alternate day water changes with Prime should keep this detoxified until the bacteria catch up. And Stability will help with that aspect.