Water Treatments

[Kitch_03]

Dear all,

I'm new on here and fairly new to fishkeeping. Due to recent circumstances at home i have now acquired a fish tank. It currently houses, 5 neons, 4 danios, 2 bristlenose plecs, 3 dwarf gouramis.

My problem as such is this. The tank has not been maintained by the previous owner and has a very high nitrate level. The tank has moved house with me with only 60% of the water. The tank orginally ran on RO water so any new water i'll be adding will be totally different. I have been warned that adding as much as 40% in one day will be a shock to the fishes system so have been advised to add it gradually.

I have been adding 10 - 20l every other day. I have been treating the tap water with nutrafin aqua plus, however i do remember a chemical called nutrafin cycle being added when the water changes did occur.

Basically, to try and round up....(sorry for the essay) when i add the new water, do i add any of the cycle chemical everytime?

Does that make any sense to anyone!!! If it does, please help....

Thanks

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmm why was RO being used in a FW set up....... aside from discus your not really meant to use it, and when you do you need to add some extra's as it takes out some of the stuff you need.

Unless there is some problem with your tap water just add that with dechlorinator and you'll be fine.

oh and also test the ph of the tank water and your tap water, RO will generally have a much lower ph so adding lots of something higher could upset your fish, you can adjust them to a higher ph but must do it gradually.

 

[Kitch_03]

As far as i know, the RO water was recommended to him. There were minerals added i know that much.
I tested the tap water and it all seems fine.

I guess i'll keep addin my 10l with treated water and then add the cycle chemical when i do my first water change....

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you dont need to add cycle at all.

the product is designed to start off a bacteria colony in the filter of new tanks, to kick start your cycle. The tank's been up and running for a while so it will have a mature bacteria colony. It doesn't need cycling so don't add any cycle!

 

[Kitch_03]

Makes perfect sense.

I was following instructions on bottle which said to add a certain amount with every water change.

Thanks for ur help

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Makes perfect sense.

I was following instructions on bottle which said to add a certain amount with every water change.

Thanks for ur help

yup, they want you to keep buying it so they say you need to keep using it, it's rubbish!

no worries