the test kits are just to test for ammonia nitrites and nitrates, you are supposed to test for these before adding any fish, the first two should be 0 or else are harmful to fish, you can reduce the levels by changing some water, small water changes often are better than a lot all at once. What size is your tank (gals) and how many fish, what type have you added. di
Always remember that you are unique; just like everyone else.
In the first post Rat has said his tank is 110 litres with 5 tetras and a couple of Albino cats Di
I'm being a bit thick here I'm afraid,
its a new tank, with new filters, new gravel, with fresh water.
I put Aqua safe in the water which apparently neutralises whatever nasties are in the water,
That was over two weeks ago, I then left the tank to simmer with a dose of Interpet Filter starter and then every two days, to rapidly get the filter bacteria culture going.
If I had used a test kit on basically fresh neutralised water with a filter starter in it (with no fish) I would have thought it would show negative across the board? or am I wrong?
There is nothing in it to dirty it up!
Now I have added a few fish (I forgot there are a couple of Neon dwarf rainbows too) Its now I need to keep an eye on contamination and will need to run the tests.
Or as I understand, every two weeks Hoover the gravel and at the same time remove 20% of the water then replace with fresh treated water (left over night to remove chlorine)
Have I got it right this time
wheres the valium!
Sorry we are confusing you Rat!
We know your tank is a new setup. Because it is only a few weeks old it hasn't cycled which means the filter hasn't established a bacteria colony. If you have a read at this it should explain things http://www.fishcrazy.co.uk/forums/t/19946.aspx
You will read that fishless cycling is the best way to go and is kinder to the fish. A few flakes of fish food are added each day. As they rot and break down the nitrogen cycle begins. Filter start products can help, but alone will not do much. Some believe they do nothing at all. There are some other bacteria products like bactinettes which are more powerful though. Using frozen prawns is also good as they soon break down and produce ammonia.They smell quite nasty as they rot down!
Ammonia is the first thing to show then that converts to nitrIte. Both are very toxic to fish and can kill them. Finally nitrIte converts to nitrAte which although it can be toxic in large amounts, it is far less harmful to fish in levels below 50. It can even be ok in levels a bit higher than that. No water changes are done while the tank is cycling.
Once ammonia and nitrIte are nil and have been so for a couple of days, and nitrAte has risen higher than it was at the start, the cycle is complete and it is safe to add a few fish. The filter media has established a bacteria colony. It can take anywhere between 6 to 8 weeks for the average tank to cycle from scratch with new media etc. Some take longer some are ready sooner. A tank is still not fully mature though until it is at least 6 months old after the cycle was complete.
When a tank is cycled with fish a different approach must be taken. As fish waste breaks down ammonia and nitrIte levels rise and are harmful to the fish. So regular (daily) small water changes have to be done in order to keep the levels down. Otherwise the fish are in danger of dying. Some people still do cycle with a few 'hardy' fish, and might not lose any but some might lose them all. However,it is more common practice to fishless cycle an aquarium these days and no fish are lost.
In either case the water has to be tested in order to establish where the cyling process is. In the fish's case also to keep on top of those toxic levels. So, it's ideal to test the water at the outset so there is a baseline to work from.
All water companies add something or other to the water. So all vary as to what may be detected. All add chlorine which is very toxic to fish. And most add nitrAte so tap water might measure on the higher side to start with. So it's important to know what it is so you know when it has risen in the tank. You can still do that now and at any time in the future. Some tap water may also have traces of ammonia in it, but not often.
So the very basic test kit required is one to test ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte. There are many on the market. dipsticks that measure some other things too all in one go. Tablets that dissolve. Liquid tests. I have used them all and prefer the liquid tests.
Yes each water change has to involve water that is free of chlorine and chloramine. Some people leave tap water in containers for a day or two so that the chlorine dissipates. But most of us add a water conditioning product to tap water such as Stress coat which also removes some other things such as some heavy metals.
Hope this helps
Please don't hesitate to aks more questions especially if still confused or unsure
Thankyou jan, see i told you so Are you sure youve kept fish before
Just to add. I'd keep an extra eye on the rainbows and corys as they are not hardy fish and would likely be the first to suffer as they are suitable for cycling with.
Do you know which tetras you have Rat? Again some are much less hardy than others and none are really suitable for cycling with either.
Humm!
Well basically, It looks like I got impatient,
However in my own defence I went by the instructions on the bottles and they referred to a 2 week cycle, hence I stuck a few fish in it, which now looks as if that was definitely not a wise decision.
I had done all this prior to looking out for a website that could help me out with the temperature problem I had in the first place.
Well its done now so I will just have to make sure I'm careful from now on.
WHATS IN THE TANK.
2 X Cory Albino cats
2 X Neon Dwarf rainbow
5 X Hengli or is it Mengli hard to read the list (which I thought were Tetra's)
Ancient history
30 odd years ago I had a 4' tank and had all the usual Black Molly's, black angels, guppy's the pink albino cats, Cooley loaches which appeared once ever year, various others and also a tiny aggressive fish only one of them don't remember its proper name but was known a bumble bee fish because of its colouring.
I had a couple of smaller tanks and managed to breed a few Siamese fighters?
Back then a filter was a small triangular plastic thing hung in the corner of the tank, definitely not a sophisticated by todays standards.
The under-gravel filter was a sort of crows foot affair of plastic pipes with holes in the rods.
It worked but there was only so much rubbish the gravel could hold and it was a major nasty operation cleaning the tank out.
I see somebody was advertising on Ebay a "Wolf fish " apparently not a communal fish, with a name like that I'm not surprised.
I dont think any of those fish are suitable for cycling a tank, so dont be suprised if they die of gradually and bit prematurely, youll know why, i think things have progressed a lot over the years in this hobby, i used to keep fish in bowls once, im suprised they can still sell them for that purpose. di
Well you are in the right place now Rat and as said before, we will try to help you as much as we can
Sounds like you were quite experienced all those years back breeding siamese fighters
Indeed all the equipment has come a long way over the years. Some people still use under gravel filters, but the way to go are externals. We have both external and internal for the one tank as a few people do.
Wolf fish are quite mean looking and are aggressive and kept on their own!
The filter system I have is something called a Bio life internal set up.
External does sound the way to go as it must be less upsetting for the fish for a start, and far easier to service the thing.
Might have a look into that as I dont really like invading the tank as it must stress the fish out a bit.
Do they make a small external system for 120 ltr tanks or are they meant for very large tanks.
speak to sye, no doubt he can sort you something out, di
sorry keep forgetting your new, sye is imustbedreamin and has just started a shop and will give you loads of discount and invaluable advise. not sure where you live but a visit could be ideal. di
It says IOW under rats avatar!!! Sye is in worcestershire, so a bit of a trek - bet he loves you promising people discounts
You can get externals that do 120 ltr tanks - You will need something that turns the tank over 4-6 times an hour (can be more), so you need a filter that does about 480-720 litres per hour. If it was me i'd chuck an Eheim Pro II 2026 on it but some might say thats overkill, How about an Eheim Ecco 2234? Could also look at Fluval 205 which would be cheaper. Eheims are better (quality wise) in my opinion.
1xTrigon 190 3 Clown Loaches,14 Cardinal Tetras,8 Rummynose Tetras,6 Cory Trileneatus,6 Hatchetfish,4 otocinclus,1 SAE,1 Bristlenose,, 10 amano Shrimp, 1 pair Apisto Agazzizi. 3 Blue Discus Anubius Barteri,Crinum thianum,Limnophilia sessiflora,Rotala rotundifolia, Echinodorus Blehri, Ech. Parviflorus,Ech. cordifolius, Ech. Tenellus, nymphaea lotus, Hygrophilia polysperma, Microsorum pteropus,Lilaeopsis brasiliensis 1xRekord 60 Blue Lobster, Flash plec 2 Anubias Barteri, 1 Microsorum pteropus 12 litre tank - 3 Glass shrimp, 4 japonica shrimp 1 Anubias Barteri, Riccia, Eleocharis acicularis Coming Soon - Bluedave's 5' Bullnose Marine Divider (Watch this space!)
We have the Eheim pro II 2026 and the internal Juwel on our tank, but it's 180litres
I think I will have a look at Eheim a bit later on as I have spent a small fortune on this current set up, I need to give my wallet a rest for a while.
I bought what I thought would be a necessity a gravel cleaning Hoover, this is the one with the ball valve in it so you shove the thing in the tank terrifying everything then shake it up and down to get the flow going.
What an appalling useless thing it is!
Invested in a Eheim sludge buster before the fish suffered a nervous breakdowns.
So far no casualties
I use that type of gravel cleaner and have always found it to be the best type! I only use the smallest one even though we have a 180 litres tank.
The only problem I have with the current one is the ball valve gets an airlock and sticks sometimes. Having lots of plants it's the easiest one that causes less disruption around them. The fish are used to it now and even go up to it investigating the tube
I have moved this thread as it is more suited to this section and will also get seen by more people
Hope you don't mind Rat