Water Test Results

[shrew]

i have a 260l tank with a built in filter in the hood and an external fluval 305 with pre filter, carbon, biomax, ammonia remover and foam as filter media. i have been doing a fish in cycle with 7 zebra danios and 7 green tiger barbs i have been doing water changes every other day and water test my test results have always been
ph 6.4
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nirates 0
why have i not seen any change is it because i added an external filter and then tank is over filtered so to say thanks for any help

 

[arobinson1984]

No, the reason you havent seen an increase is because you filter has ammonia remover in it (also known as zeolite)

Your tank will not cycle with zeolite present, you will need to remove it from the filter.

Andy

 

[shrew]

i have just removed the ammonia remover will my tank start to cycle or do you think it started already

 

[alchemist]

Be careful suddenly removing the zeolite - you might see a huge ammonia spike. I would halve the amount - wait a couple of days - then halve it again - keep going like that testing each day until you start reading for ammonia.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with the advice from alchemist. Switching out the zeolite means you will have to be very careful for the next week or two, perhaps testing at least a couple times a day to see if there is a sudden faster buildup of ammonia. I'd suspect you will now be at the start of the average one-month fish-in cycle period.

The goals for Fish-In method will remain the same: you want to be a detective and figure out the percentage and frequency of water changes that will not allow ammonia or nitrite(NO2) to go above 0.25ppm (handy number if you have API kit) or 0.30ppm (handy number if you have Nutrafin kit) before you can be back home, test, and potentially perform another water change.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

As WD said, keep a close eye on your water chemistry as you have just started on day 1 of your fish-in cycle and we don't know what to expect yet. Your goal, for the next several weeks, is to keep both nitrites and ammonia at less than 0.25 ppm at all times.

 

[shrew]

is it best not to use ammonia remover or can i put it back in when my cycle has finished

 

[arobinson1984]

Once your tank has finished cycling, the ammonia remover will no longer be required and I'd recommend leaving it out because the beneficial bacteria which will grow in your filter during the cycle needs ammonia to survive so you dont want any other things removing the ammonia instead.

It can be a good thing to have in stock in case of any emergencies such as high ammonia spikes but as a general rule you are best leaving it out.

Andy

 

[OldMan47]

The ammonia remover is part of another way to maintain a tank with lots of chemicals and resins instead of using water changes and live bacteria. That approach can succeed but is not a stable way to look after a tank and it requires lots of finicky attention and a fair handful of money. The method that we all seem to prefer here uses bacteria that exist in nature and can be encouraged to live in your tank and take care of your water. The two methods both aim for the same thing which is very low ammonia levels in the water and no nitrites with low nitrate levels. The ways that we get there do not work well together. As Andy said, the zeolites will break up any attempt to cycle your tank, the methods are just not compatible. There are at least 2 other methods used to care for fish that are also successful but it is better to stick with one that most of us understand and can help you with. The cycled filter is only one approach but it is stable, easy to master and not very expensive when you do it right.

 

[Assaye]

The ammonia remover is part of another way to maintain a tank with lots of chemicals and resins instead of using water changes and live bacteria. That approach can succeed but is not a stable way to look after a tank and it requires lots of finicky attention and a fair handful of money. The method that we all seem to prefer here uses bacteria that exist in nature and can be encouraged to live in your tank and take care of your water. The two methods both aim for the same thing which is very low ammonia levels in the water and no nitrites with low nitrate levels. The ways that we get there do not work well together. As Andy said, the zeolites will break up any attempt to cycle your tank, the methods are just not compatible. There are at least 2 other methods used to care for fish that are also successful but it is better to stick with one that most of us understand and can help you with. The cycled filter is only one approach but it is stable, easy to master and not very expensive when you do it right.

Just out of interest - what are the other two methods? Even just akeyword so I can google them

 

[shrew]

thanks for your help looks like i have a lot of water testing and changing to do thanks again i will keep the ammonia remover for emergencys

 

[OldMan47]

It is possible to maintain fish with nothing but large frequent water changes, much like fish have when they live in a river and the water they are swimming in is gone a few minutes later and replaced by new. It is also possible to use a heavily planted tank of fast growing plants to remove all the poisons in a tank and act as the filter in that tank. Neither of these is a very good idea for a beginning fish keeper. The frequent large water change approach is used by betta breeders to raise their fry in indivudual jars that are too small to filter. The plant approach is used in an NPT, Natural planted tank. Both methods have been demonstrated to be very effective and much harder to get right than a cycled filter.