# Need help on new aquarium



## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

Hello,

I did a 10% water change today and I used Prime to condition the tap water. Windsor, On. tap uses liquid chlorine 1.2ppm, fluoride and other stuff.
WUC: FAQs

Using API Master Test Kit I tested the aquarium water today. 
Ammonia: looks closer to 1.0 than 0.5ppm
Nitrite: 0.25ppm
Nitrate: between 0 and 0.5ppm
Ph: 7.4



I was using a jungle test strip before and it usually shows everything is OK.

I learned that I have an over populated fish tank. One dalmatian Molly has died but this is due to bullying. One male guppy and one red wag platy died from fin rot.

Our Betta has fin rot too. One of the julii Cory is very lethargic. I have isolated this two fishes on a 1gal tank and I have added Melafix. What should I do to help these two fishes?

What can I do to fix the water quality? We have reduce the feeding to 1 a day from 2 or 3 a day.

Please understand that we did not know much about aquariums and stuff. We were relying on Petsmart people and I know it is not an excuse;


************************
A little history

19Dec. Got a topfin aquarium starter kit 37. Add gravel, decor, water, and whole sample bottle of nutrafin aqua plus, and run topfin 40 filter.
20Dec Add cabomba, Amazon Sword, and nutrafin cycle per instruction
21Dec Add more plants (moss ball), decor, air pump, nutrafin cycle, 6 Neon Tetra and 4 Red Wag Platy, 3 Silver Molly, and 3 Dalmatian Molly. Replaced original light with a smaller one (F15T8/18" 17w). I have no room at the back so I place the filter at the sides.
22Dec Went to Corbrets and got 2 Green Cory Cats, 2 Julii Cory Cats, 2 Rainbow Shark, and a Common Pleco named Bob. Add nutrafin cycle.
23Dec Went to Pet food and got a aquaclear70. Set it up, sponge at bottom, charcoal filter, Zeo Carb, then biomax filter. Add another sponge at the top to push evrything down. Added a biomax filter to the topfin 40.

I learned that nutrafin cycle was no good so I got rid of it.


Topfin Aquarium starter kit 37


Aquaclear 70


Topfin40 with added biomax filter


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Surprising to see nitrites so early, given your timeline. Watch your ammonia and nitrites...if the values get over 1 then do a 50% water change, wait 1 hour and test again. If still over one do another water change the following day.

Hard to say what could be wrong with the fish since it is a new tank. Get the cycle complete and the tank established and the deaths should become much less. I don't think bottom feeders/algae eaters are very good fish to cycle a tank with. 

I'd just leave it for now with the fish you have and track the cycle. Once complete, decide on new fish you want.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Your ammonia (.5-1) is high especially for a planted tank. And nitrItes have bumped up a bit.

I'm sure the .5 nitrates you meant were actually 5 nitrates (check the decimal LOL).

and pH is a little low for my tanks which run high anyway.

what I would do is add some anacharis or vals or wisteria to get the tank more balanced out with plants.

Stop adding any food until ammonia is definately 0 and nitrites are low. then resume very light feeding. As the plants take over you should notice a pH rise, but just to make sure you may want to get a (non high reading) pH test to measure lower pH readings.

You also may want to get a kh and gh test kit which you can buy combined for about $12 or so. I have found that kh and gh movements can be important and they very slowly. But with peat moss in the substrate they do seem more constant and for years.

So it looks like overall you are just slightly out of balance and more plants and less bioload (feeding) should bring things in line.


still just my .02


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> Surprising to see nitrites so early, given your timeline. Watch your ammonia and nitrites...if the values get over 1 then do a 50% water change, wait 1 hour and test again. If still over one do another water change the following day.
> 
> Hard to say what could be wrong with the fish since it is a new tank. Get the cycle complete and the tank established and the deaths should become much less. I don't think bottom feeders/algae eaters are very good fish to cycle a tank with.
> 
> I'd just leave it for now with the fish you have and track the cycle. Once complete, decide on new fish you want.


I just need to wait it out? Should I test the water everyday? What do you do with the vial after testing? just rinse it over the sink?


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Test the water daily and you may rinse the tubes in tap water. Ideally, you would want to rinse the test tubes with water you are testing, but you can see how that would be a problem, so tap water is just fine.

If the ammonia and nitrites spike, do a partial water change. I would recommend 50% of the water at a time, but you can get away with 25% at the least. Do not vacuum the gravel, and do not change the filter media.

You're in a very interesting predicament right now - your fish are sick, and your cycle is not established. If you medicate your main tank, you run the risk of wiping out the bacteria colonies you are trying to establish when establishing a cycle. Quarantine as many fish as you think are sick and medicate in the quarantine tank. You will lose fish, I'm sad to say, because you can only medicate for one ailment at a time or you risk killing your fish from over-medication.

Those are my suggestions. Good luck!


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

beaslbob said:


> Your ammonia (.5-1) is high especially for a planted tank. And nitrItes have bumped up a bit.
> 
> I'm sure the .5 nitrates you meant were actually 5 nitrates (check the decimal LOL).
> 
> ...


Yes, you are right about the nitrate. It is 5ppm not 0.5. I got the color chart inverted.

I have added two plants today, an amazon sword and a Telanthera. They were on sale! I will see if I can find an anacharis or wisteria. What is a vals?

no food till ammonia is 0 and nitrites are low. nitrites is about 0.25. Should it be 0 also before I start feeding again?

Using the jungle test strip, it shows GH at 150ppm and KH at 80 to 120ppm.
Is this test good enough or should I get a better test kit? What do you recommend? I just have gravel for the substrate. I do not have peat moss. I have sphagnum peat moss that we use for our garden. Is that the same thing? Or are there different kinds of peat moss?

So, I just need to wait this out? It is hard to just wait and not doing anything knowing that something is causing my fishes to rot.

Is there anything I should do about the filters that I have?


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Yeah, you need to wait it out, unfortunately. Don't touch your filters, they're fine. What you can worry about is quarantining your sick fish and dosing one and only one medication at a time, for the duration of the treatment regimen on the bottle.

Sadly, I think you haven't seen the end of losing fish in this situation.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Do not treat bettas with melafix,bettafix or pimafix.It will burn the gills and cause them much more harm than good.For the bettas finrot,place him in one gallon of fresh clean dechlored water.Get the temp to 84*and keep him warm.he will need daily waterchanges,100% for a week or until you see regrowth,which is usually clear edging.

Are you sure its finrot,or could it be ripped fins from aggression from other fish,or decor in the tank?You should do a pantyhose test on any decor for bettas.This is done by running pantyhose over the decor.If it snags and rips,so will the bettas fins.If injured,still treat like finrot.If you have it,aquarium salt will speed healing though you cant use it with the cories.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> Test the water daily and you may rinse the tubes in tap water. Ideally, you would want to rinse the test tubes with water you are testing, but you can see how that would be a problem, so tap water is just fine.
> 
> If the ammonia and nitrites spike, do a partial water change. I would recommend 50% of the water at a time, but you can get away with 25% at the least. Do not vacuum the gravel, and do not change the filter media.
> 
> ...


I just did a 10% change today. Should I do another 15% or can I do that another day?

When using Prime, how long do you wait after adding Prime to add the water to the tank?


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

majerah1 said:


> Do not treat bettas with melafix,bettafix or pimafix.It will burn the gills and cause them much more harm than good.For the bettas finrot,place him in one gallon of fresh clean dechlored water.Get the temp to 84*and keep him warm.he will need daily waterchanges,100% for a week or until you see regrowth,which is usually clear edging.
> 
> Are you sure its finrot,or could it be ripped fins from aggression from other fish,or decor in the tank?You should do a pantyhose test on any decor for bettas.This is done by running pantyhose over the decor.If it snags and rips,so will the bettas fins.If injured,still treat like finrot.If you have it,aquarium salt will speed healing though you cant use it with the cories.


I just added melafix on the tank with beta and cory this morning. So tomorrow, I just replace the whole water? I got a couple of gal. already treated with Prime ready for tomorrows water change.

How can I raise the temp on the 1gal tank? I dont have a heater that small.
I have change the temp on our house to a constant 77.

I think it is fin rot because I have a guppy and a red wag platy who died because of it.

************************************

On my main tank, I can see a little bit on the tail of the female guppy and on two of the red wag platies. The others looks OK.
I change the setting on the heater on the main tank to 82. The stick on thermometer on both ends of the tank shows 82.

I have not added any meds to the main tank.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

The only safe way to raise the temp is with a heater.You should look into one as he will be much happier in warmer waters.They come from Thailand,tropical waters.You should go ahead and pull him from the melafix water,it will cause him breathing dificulties.Seriously smell the stuff.Its menthol.Bettas rely on a labrynth organ,allowing them to breathe surface air.Actually if they cant reach the surface,they drown,lol.Interesting that a fish can drown.Anyways,the menthol smell of the medication,while it will irritate our noses,it does the same to the gills of a labrynth fish.This will cause swelling and reddening,and the fish will suffocate because he cant get a good breath.Kinda like hyperventilating.Where we can move the bottle from our noses hes swimming in it.

On the heating thing(just now saw the main tank is 82.Find a container you can place him in to float in the main tank.This will give him the warmth he needs plus the quarantine benefit.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

On nitrIte it should be fine to wait until it is one its way down. Once you reach that point you are probably only a day or two from unmeasureable anyway.

Then resume very light feeding and I think you will find nitrItes just stay at 0.


my .02

added

vals are my short hand for Vallisneria which are grass like plants that spread by runners. 

never used Telanthera but aquarium plants does have it and states it is fast growing. Let us (me) know how it works out.


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## mfgann (Oct 21, 2010)

Often fish can carry diseases that haven't manifested themselves yet. When a fish is moved to a new tank, especially one undergoing the nitrogen cycle and having toxic chemicals in higher concentrations, it stresses the fish and the disease can show up. I agree you need to treat diseases in a seperate tank if possible. You do need a heater.. most of your fish would appreciate higher temps.

Other than that, you just have to ride out the cycle. Its a painful process in the start of any new tank. You can accelerate it by getting some ornament or gravel from an established tank (like at the petstore) and putting it in your own tank (you can put the gravel in pantyhose or a filter bag to be able to pull it out if it doesnt match). Honestly though, you're probably on the end of the tank cycling.

As mentioned before, partial water changes if ammonia or nitrites get above 1ppm.. I'd do 30% if its 1ppm, 50% if higher. 

Beaslbob mentioned vals. Vals look like very long grass. It is a fast growing plant that is pretty easy to find. The more fast growing plants you have in your tank, the more they soak up ammonia for you.. plus later when the tank is established they soak up nitrates so your water never gets too much built up. Another good fast grower is wisteria. Not sure how it would mix with your decor though. (Nice looking tank, btw)

Lastly, did you get the fish from a good, clean fishstore? I got most of mine from petsmart, but they keep very clean tanks here. If a place keeps dirty tanks, or you see dead fish in tanks, don't buy from them. Just want to be sure you didn't get walmart fish.. they rarely take care of them, and their fish are probably very diseased 

Good luck!


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

mfgann said:


> Lastly, did you get the fish from a good, clean fishstore? I got most of mine from petsmart, but they keep very clean tanks here. If a place keeps dirty tanks, or you see dead fish in tanks, don't buy from them. Just want to be sure you didn't get walmart fish.. they rarely take care of them, and their fish are probably very diseased
> 
> Good luck!


There are two petsmart store here. I got the neon tetra and red wag platy on one store. This one, the fish look OK. The other pet smart, I got the mollies, guppy and betta. This one has some dead fish on certain tanks. I got the cory cat, pleco, and rainbos shark on Corbrets. This one looks OK too.

Walmart used to have some fishes for sale, but they had stopped selling.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Big chain stores are notorious for selling fish that are unhealthy.For future purchases,I suggest you get a small quarantine tank,to keep from introducing new infections into the already established system.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

What happens to the leaves that are floating around? Do they become contributors to the ammonia as well?

The tip of one of the amazon sword is brown. Should I cut it off? I don't mind if it is brown. Just wondering if it would help the plant.

When you have peat moss as a substrate topped with sand, then gravel, is it messy if you have to add new plants or moving existing plants?

Can I use this? Maybe just placed it beside the plant so the roots can just go to it? It is a sphagnum peat moss pellet that I got from Walmart.


I went to the petsmart with dead fish looking for some plants. Their plants does not look healthy so I did not get any. They only have Wisteria and Val's. No anacharis.

Is it OK to order plants online? Do they come in healthy? Any suggestions for online stores that deliver in Canada? Are there any good stores in the Detroit area?

I did a check this morning on the water
Ammonia: 1.0
Nitrite: 0.25ppm
Nitrate: between 0 and 5ppm
Ph: 7.4


It looks like nothing has changed since yesterday. I did a 4.5gal water change this afternoon and will check the water again tomorrow.

Temp is setup at 82F. I notice some white spots on certain fish on their fins. It is hard to get a picture since they are constantly moving around but I will post it here once I get a good shot.

***********************************
betta died today on the isolation tank.

Julii cory cat is still hanging in there. I don't see any fin rot. He is just very lethargic. Currently treating him with Maracyn and Maracyn 2. I have not given him any food.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

I would try a lot of the wisteria and vals.

the peat "tabs" would work. they should help keep kh and gh in line and hopefully have no added nutrients.

on line I like aquariumplants.com. they are relatively close to Detroit in South Dakota. (hey it's closer then florida or california LOL).

I am not sure about nutrifin cycle but read on line says it fights ammonia/nitrItes in new tanks. My fear is that it locks ammonia to a safe form but that form still tests positive with test kits like the api kit you are using. The danger is you add more still test add more etc etc etc. All the while it locks up oxygen and can eventually suffocate the fish.

Seachem (i think) has a ammonia multitest kit that measures the locked and dangerous ammonia. I you know someone that has that kit you could check to see if the 1ppm ammonia you measure is actually the locked safe ammonia. If to stop adding the cycle.

Actually I would stop adding the cycle and use the live plants anyway.

But that's just me and my .02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

+1 on Wisteria. It will do well in any tank I think.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

Hi,

I have been looking for wisteria, vals, and anacharis. Will go out today to another fish store to check.

What do you use to test kh and gh?
I have replaced about 4gals yesterday with treated water (prime). 
I did a check this morning on the water. The white cloudiness is gone. Water is very clear. Yay!
Ammonia: 1.0
Nitrite: 0.25ppm
Nitrate: between 0 and 5ppm
Ph: 8.0 It has gone up.

Does Prime lock up ammonia? Tap water here in Windsor is just treated with chlorine (1.2ppm) and hardness is 90 to 125ppm. Fluoride is 0.6 mg/l

I threw away the nutrafin cycle when I read that it was not good. I would like to use plants to control this ammonia thing. Or maybe some partial water change.

I am planning to move my aquarium to a different spot in the house. Closer to the sofa where you can relax while watching the fishes.

I do have a bunch of questions regarding the move, but I will ask them later using a different thread. Just need to finish the new aquarium stand I am gonna build and also let the cycle run its course.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

roacan said:


> Hi,
> 
> I have been looking for wisteria, vals, and anacharis. Will go out today to another fish store to check.
> 
> What do you use to test kh and gh?


 a kh test kit and a gh test kit. *old dude API makes a kit that containes both in one box. KH is carbonate hardness and gh is general hardness.


> I have replaced about 4gals yesterday with treated water (prime).


 especially with the values below stop doing water changes and see if ammonia/nitrItes drop to 0.


> I did a check this morning on the water. The white cloudiness is gone. Water is very clear. Yay!
> Ammonia: 1.0
> Nitrite: 0.25ppm
> Nitrate: between 0 and 5ppm
> Ph: 8.0 It has gone up.


 looks good to me especially if the 1 ammonia is locked from the prime


> Does Prime lock up ammonia?


yep


> Tap water here in Windsor is just treated with chlorine (1.2ppm) and hardness is 90 to 125ppm. Fluoride is 0.6 mg/l


 by skipping the water changes those things are not relevant.


> I threw away the nutrafin cycle when I read that it was not good. I would like to use plants to control this ammonia thing. Or maybe some partial water change.
> 
> I am planning to move my aquarium to a different spot in the house. Closer to the sofa where you can relax while watching the fishes.


the hard part is relaxing and enjoying the aquarium(s). Most want to be constantly fussing with things


> I do have a bunch of questions regarding the move, but I will ask them later using a different thread. Just need to finish the new aquarium stand I am gonna build and also let the cycle run its course.


The spikes of the cycle are almost all done.

my .02


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

Some good news, it's been 4 days and no more deaths and I have two baby fish that has survived. I think they are platys.*w3

I bought a seachem in tank monitoring that measures free ammonia (NH3) only and it reads 0.02mg/l. When I use the API kit, it reads almost 1ppm.

I noticed that the ph is getting higher, from 8ppm to 8.2ppm
I have not done any water changes. Nitrate and Nitrite readings have not changed.

I topped off the water using about 1/2gal of ro water.:fish-in-a-bag:

I also added some ghost shrimp, using them like a canary in a mine.

Added two bunches of wisteria. The telanthera was a bad move. It looks like it is disintegrating/melting.

Still looking for anacharis. I might just order some online.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

sounds like you're coming along.

I think the seachem ammonia dots measure the free ammonia whereas the api test kit measures the free plus the locked ammonia.

So the difference between the two may be the prime doing it's job. I also would seem the ammonia is safely locked up as well.

keep us posted


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

The monitoring ammonia things are based on test strip technology...don't trust it. Personally, I think they are a waste of money.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> The monitoring ammonia things are based on test strip technology...don't trust it. Personally, I think they are a waste of money.


Hi,

I am not sure how the test strip work, but I know that if it gets contaminated with moisture, it would affect your results.

I was trying to find a liquid based test kit for just the NH3 but I can't find one. It is always NH3 & NH4.

This one is always immersed in water and it only detects the free ammonia NH3.

API test kit measures both NH3 and ammonium NH4. From what I have read, NH4 is not harmful to the fish.

From seachem website;

":The technology of this device is very unique to our company and has been an excellent seller for many years to hobbyists, breeders, and public facilities alike. The Ammonia Alert is designed to change color in the presence of free (gaseous) ammonia, not ammonium (ionized ammonia) which is harmless to fish and other aquatic life. The longer it is left in a particular body of water/aquarium, the more sensitive it becomes to that water. Most conventional test kits test total ammonia which is a combination of free ammonia + ammonium = total ammonia. PH is the determining factor on what type is present. If your pH is acidic (below 7.0), it is chemically impossible for ammonia (harmful gas) to exist. Yet a total ammonia test kit will register a reading because it detects both the free ammonia (harmful gas) and ammonium (harmless ionized form of ammonia). The more basic your pH becomes, the greater the chance of ammonia existing. Example: If you have 1.0 ppm of total ammonia and your pH is below 7.0, then 1.0 ppm will exist as ammonium. Ex. If you have 1.0 ppm of total ammonia and your pH is 7.6 (slightly basic), then of that 1.0 ppm total ammonia......only .2 or so would exist as a gas and the other .8 would exist as ammonium."


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

Update on water condition
Ammonia:0.25ppm maybe less
Nitrite: over 5ppm (darker than what shows on the color chart)
Nitrate: 10 or 20ppm (hard to distinguish)
ph: 8.0



I know that my lighting is low (0.5w/gal) but I was hoping that it was enough because the amazon sword and the cabomba was growing pretty well.

But there might be some problems with the amazon. See pic below;

This is the 1st sword I got and it has a two or three small plants growing from it. But the leaves on one looks like it is getting some dark stripes. What can I do with the extra plants? Can I just leave it as is or do I need to cut it and stick it into the gravel?

The other sword, not sure what is going on with the leaves.


Do I need to add fertilizer? If I do, I would prefer the kind where I can just stick it underneath the gravel. Any suggestions?

I got rid of the telanthera. It was melting and it stinks when I got it out of the water.

The small anubis has some fuzzy stuff growing on the roots, some white some dark like the black beard algae so I took it out, clean it under running tap water, and placed it in another container.

When I got the wisteria, I think some snail hitched a ride. I have found and killed four small snails now. Any suggestions how to get rid of those?

As for the fishes, a female guppy and a female platy died and I believe it was the rainbow shark.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

3591814040_bc03c264a5_o.jpg (image)
Look at this guide.Its very helpful.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

roacan said:


> Nitrite: over 5ppm (darker than what shows on the color chart)


Over 5 ppm? I'm surprised you still have fish and haven't killed everything in your tank. Your plants will probably love you though. Do a 50% PWC immediately and continue doing them once daily until the nitrite concentration is 1 ppm or less, then do 25% PWC's daily to keep it low.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

majerah1 said:


> 3591814040_bc03c264a5_o.jpg (image)
> Look at this guide.Its very helpful.


That's an awesome jpg. Thanks. I guess I need some fertilizer for the plants. I only have small gravel for substrate. Any suggestions on solid fertilizer I can push into the substrate?


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> Over 5 ppm? I'm surprised you still have fish and haven't killed everything in your tank. Your plants will probably love you though. Do a 50% PWC immediately and continue doing them once daily until the nitrite concentration is 1 ppm or less, then do 25% PWC's daily to keep it low.


Hi,

I was surprised by the result so I did it twice. I'll do the pwc asap!


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

you nitrItes are high. stop adding food or fertz until they drop down.

my .02

ps plant look fine to me.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

Hello,

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:20 or 40ppm
Ph:8

So, does this mean my tank is done cycling?


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

roacan said:


> Hello,
> 
> Ammonia:0
> Nitrite:0
> ...


Actually the cycle never ends just that the "spikes" go away.

With a planted setup the above is not necessarily a sign the bacteria has build up. Could be the plants expanded enough and the bioload is low enough the plants are keeping ahead of the ammonia production and consuming less nitrate. Hence the nitrate spike.

It is a good sign IMHO the ph is high.

As long as you add fish slowly and feed lightly you should be fine. And eventually (2-3 weeks or so) nitrates should drop down.


my .02


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

I am adding more plants. I have ordered some java ferns, anubias barteri, pellia, and a marimo ball from aquaticmagic. Would this create a spike? 

Can I leave the anubias nana floating or do I need to anchor it down?
The amazon sword has extra small plants growing, one of them already has lots of roots. Should I cut this and plant it into the gravel? What do you do when the tip of the leaves turn brown? Do you cut the brown off or cut the whole leaf?

I know I have some stocking issues with the common pleco and the two rainbow shark. Depending on my boss's approval, we might get a bigger tank.

What is the recommended tank size for a common pleco? When I measured him two weeks ago, he was 2"-5/8. now he is 3"

I was planning on moving the current aquarium into the living room but I might just get a bigger tank for it.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

It would be better if you anchored the anubias. You can cut or break off the baby from the sword and plant in another location at least 5-6" away from the mother. They are very root heavy plant. If I get an ugly leaf, I remove the whole thing if it bothers me.

Common plecos get pretty large. Defintiely too big for that tank.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Common plecos can grow to 24", so a 150-200 gallon tank might suit him eventually. Until then, you're just shortening his life by putting him in a smaller tank.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> Common plecos can grow to 24", so a 150-200 gallon tank might suit him eventually. Until then, you're just shortening his life by putting him in a smaller tank.


Yeah, I read about that. Good thing he is the favorite in our aquarium right now. So maybe around summer, we can get a bigger tank that I will put in the basement.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

How can I get rid of snails? We have been crushing small snails about 3 or 4 every day.

One of my dalmatian molly died but she gave birth to over 10 babies. Do they always die when giving birth?

When putting the substrate, is it OK to have lets say the left side deeper than the right side? I would like to put the an inch of peat moss, eco-complete, and gravel on the left side where the plants will be and on the right, about an inch of small gravel or sand. It will be separated by a divider. Plant side would be about 18" and fish side would be about 42".


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

roacan said:


> How can I get rid of snails? We have been crushing small snails about 3 or 4 every day.
> 
> One of my dalmatian molly died but she gave birth to over 10 babies. Do they always die when giving birth?
> 
> When putting the substrate, is it OK to have lets say the left side deeper than the right side? I would like to put the an inch of peat moss, eco-complete, and gravel on the left side where the plants will be and on the right, about an inch of small gravel or sand. It will be separated by a divider. Plant side would be about 18" and fish side would be about 42".


I just let the snails be. In a year there are only a few left.

Sure you can have one side deaper then the other. I used to make the back deeper but found that over time it all just settled down to the same deapth. 

The divider is a good idea for plant eating fish. I think 18/42 is about right. You also might enjoy a very dense planted part contrasting with an open fish part.

my .02


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

beaslbob said:


> I just let the snails be. In a year there are only a few left.
> 
> Sure you can have one side deaper then the other. I used to make the back deeper but found that over time it all just settled down to the same deapth.
> 
> ...


I thought the snails multiply like crazy? Don't they eat the plants?

I was just worried about pressure distribution at the bottom of the tank. Was wondering if it would make a difference when you have one end of substrate substantially thicker than the other.

I wanted to get clown loaches and cichlids, maybe oscars so I need to protect the plants. Planning on putting crs shrimps on the plant side. Anyone who crosses the divider would become a meal.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

roacan said:


> I thought the snails multiply like crazy? Don't they eat the plants?


 Some do but the ones I get seem to be more algae/food/poop eaters. I guess if they ate the plants that had the eggs on I wouldn't have any plants to buy. I do get a huge snail bloom the first few weeks of a new tank. In that time I also do not have much fish. Then as the fish population expands there are less and less snails. I think the fish eat the snail eggs. I also feed very lightly so the fish have the incentive to go foraging for things like snails and algae and so on.


> I was just worried about pressure distribution at the bottom of the tank. Was wondering if it would make a difference when you have one end of substrate substantially thicker than the other.


While a concern I think the substrate is a more distributed load as opposed to being a point load from say rocks. Plus the weight of the water, while also distributed, I also much greater. Still just my .02


> I wanted to get clown loaches and cichlids, maybe oscars so I need to protect the plants. Planning on putting crs shrimps on the plant side. Anyone who crosses the divider would become a meal.


Actually what you are doing is what I did with my 55g reef tank. There the fish will eat the macro algaes. So I put a partition 3" in front the back glass and added 2 2 tube shop lights behind the tank pointing forward. Various small pods (grammarus?) as well as the macro algae thrived in that area. In three weeks nitrates dropped to 0, phosphates a few months later. Plus my tangs were constantly graising on the macros that poked through the egg crate. But that was with fast growing macro algaes. But still an very effective method of maintaining the tank.


Keep us posted.

my .02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I continouusly get snails in 3 of my tanks. One of them I have had for 8 months now and no sign that they will just go away any time soon. There are ideas on here and the web on how to trap them...just need to search. I forget the specifics or I'd post it. I enjoy smashing them up against the glass and my fish love them...so it's a little protein snack for them.

You're getting a different bigger tank? Hope so, cloan loaches get to 12". Cool fish though.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

Something funny just happened.

My wife was freaking out because she saw the female guppy ate one of the babies. I think we have over 16 babies so now it was down to 15.

She was really pissed off at the guppy. I keep on telling her that big fish eats the small fish and that is the way it is but she's not buying it.

We are getting abigger tank because she agreed that Bob (pleco) would not fit into our 37gal. I told her that we will just give it back to the LFS but she would not have any of it.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

A bigger tank will not keep a bigger fish from eating smaller fish. Only way to do that is have them give birth in smaller tank or transfer to a fry tank. You can help by putting down breeder grass (artificial) or by planting the tank failry heavy. A big clump of Java moss will help.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> You're getting a different bigger tank? Hope so, cloan loaches get to 12". Cool fish though.





jrman83 said:


> A bigger tank will not keep a bigger fish from eating smaller fish. Only way to do that is have them give birth in smaller tank or transfer to a fry tank. You can help by putting down breeder grass (artificial) or by planting the tank failry heavy. A big clump of Java moss will help.


Were getting a bigger tank because of the pleco. I guess the pleco which is worth about $5 would cost me over $500 bucks in new aquarium.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

I have an aquaclear70 filter. I used to have a sponge, carbon, then biomax.
I have removed the carbon and added two more bags of biomax.

Won't it be better if I just place the biomax at the bottom of the substrate? This way they won't get disturbed when I need to clean the sponge.

I also placed a 100% polyester (quilting batt) for extra filtering to remove the small debris floating. I bought it from Walmart and cut it to size. I still have a white haze in the water that I would like to get rid off.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

pH=7.6
High pH=7.4
So I guess pH is around 7.5?

Ammonia=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=40 or 80
It's hard to tell. So I did a 50% water change and when I tested again after a couple of hours, it still looks like 40 or 80 so I guess it was 80 before and now it's 40?
Is there a better nitrate test?

I just got the plants from aquaticmagic and they are all squeezed flat. What's the best way to ensure that these plants survive? The following is what I got;
Pellia -Live Aquarium Plant Christmas Java Aquatic Moss
Philip Java Fern - Live Aquarium Plant Fish Moss Tank Q
Anubias barteri x1-Live Aquarium Moss Plant Fish Tank 
Marimo ball -Live Aquarium Fish Tank Plant Free Ship BP

What is a good carpet plant?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Just get them in the water. There are a number of carpet plants, but most either need really good light or CO2 or both. At least the better ones anyway.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

OK, not sure why, but my nitrates are zero this week.
2 weeks ago it was about 80ppm and I did two 30% water changes 3 days apart to bring it down to about 20ppm, then a week about 5 or 10ppm and this is with another 30%.

Nothing much has change except for returning one of the rainbow shark and adding a marino ball. Does this mean that the plants are now taking care of the nitrates? I do have a lot of fishes because of the baby guppies and mollies.


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