Water Changes Question

[ColR1948]

One thing always puzzles me with water changes. We are told that fresh water can kill the bacteria in the filter and always rinse the filter media out in water from the aquarium.
Now in an aquarium cycle the filter is making bacteria to get the water right for the fish but again I read do daily water changes and some say do large ones, so isn't the new water killing the bacteria and making the cycle take longer or am I missing something here?

I already have 2 up and running tanks but going through a cycle on my 3rd tank and this got me thinking, the Ammonia is almost zero but still got 0.3 Nitrite and I'm on day 17 of the cycle, I'm in no rush so that isn't a problem but just asking about this adding fresh water.
I did add some media from one of my established tanks so that might be helping, the tank I'm cycling is a Fluval 360L corner unit.

 

[Gilli]

The fresh water you are putting in will not be killing the bacteria as long as you are adding the dechlorinator . If you dont add the dechlorinator then it will kill the bacteria as the dechlor removes chlorine copper heavy metals and all impurities from the water which are harmful for the fish and your good bacteria.

Large water changes may slightly slow your cycling but it is necessary for the welfare of the fish if you are doing a fish in cycle .

 

[ColR1948]

Thanks Gilli, Yes I do add dechlorinator to the new water.
On this subject I read recently on another forum where one guy said he never adds it and has had no ill effects, he did say though he draws the water mid week as most water companies tend to add Chorine at weekends and around midweek it has diluted.

 

[Davo86]

If you have two tanks setup why are you cycling the third? You could have simply cloned one of those and away you go

 

[ColR1948]

Cloned? Please expalin, I did use some media from one of the already cycled tanks but I don't think it was enough, I didn't want to remove all the media from the already cycled filter.

 

[Davo86]

I would have simply added one third of media from each of the two established tanks, and then added a number of fish equal to a quarter of the stocking from each tank, (i.e. if you have 12" fish in one 8" in the other, add 3"+2" = 5" to the new tank) and then build gradually giving time for the bacteria to grow.

In a new setup it may take Nitrospira bacteria upto 3-4 weeks to establish from scratch, however when it is already present it can take as little as 24-48 hours for the colony to double in size. so whilst adding a third of the media won't give you enough bacteria to fully stock the tank it will give you an established filter. meaning that for x amount of bacteria you have you can safely add x amount of fish.

 

[ColR1948]

Thanks, I just added some more from the other established tank so I'll see how that goes, like I say I'm in no great hurry, in fact I'm not sure what fish I want in there yet.

 

[ColR1948]

A little up date:
The water is looking good now, the Nitrite is practically zero, Ammonia is slightly less than 0.3 so it's getting there, Nitrate is almost Zero too though I'm not sure if that should be right, I thought when the Nitrite drops the Nitrate starts but may be I'm wrong, I'm sure you will put me right on that.

Still can't make my mind up what fish I want, my PH is around 6.5, I live in Manchester and the water supply is soft so I don't want to be playing around with the softness/hardness I prefere to get fish suitable.
I like the idea of Chiclids but they seem to like the water a bit harder than what mine is, I think I read somewhere that Rams are OK but not sure.
I don't really want another community tank I feel I want something more dedicated, so I'm still looking.

 

[Davo86]

South american species, cichlids included should thrive in those conditions, so tetras, rams, apistos, Angels, Discus, hatchets, corys, plecos, pencilfish, headstanders and medium sized catfish and cichlids gives you plenty of options for stocking

 

[ColR1948]

I like the idea of Rams, not familiar with keeping them, what quatity is recomended, I have a large corner tank 34"x34"x22" so not 100% sure of it's volume, I'm hopeless at working this out, I think it might be 36 gallon but don't laugh if I'm way off.
Also what other fish if any can I keep with Rams, I don't want anything that grows too big that I will end up having to rehome?

 

[Davo86]

I thought It was a 360l fluvial tank as in your fist post?

 

[ColR1948]

I thought so too till I saw another post somewhere else it it made me look again, I'm still unsure what it is, I was in the LFS a while ago and they had a Jewel corner tank but mine was bigger so the woman there siad it was a 360L, I just took it she knew what she was on about, sorry for the mix up.

 

[coolie]

With my setup, I didn't use dechlorinator for the first fill, because I was in no rush, Chlorine goes in 24 hrs and chloramine has a half life of 2 weeks, but I was quite happy to wait a month. Like a lot of these things there are differening circumstances. I don't change large percentages of water either because I only have 6 tiny tetras in there and that is it, but some people have really over stocked tanks which need more water changting. With less water changing I have less dosing of fertilisers. etc etc

 

[ColR1948]

I agree coolie, I don't really like overstocked tanks either, I appreciate some fish prefere and are happier in a large shoal but if that was the case I wouldn't be tempted to add many more after that.

 

[ColR1948]

I found an advert someone selling a tank with the same measurments as mine and they say it is 350L, mine is a bow front corner tank, I struggled to find a volume converter online, a lot of corner tanks were not bow front.

Copied from the add: This is a Juwel Delta 300 corner fish tank. 350 litres. The two back sides measure 3ft and the widest part of the tank is 4ft. Approx 2ft high. Cabinet is same just abit taller.