newaquariumguy

Hi everybody. My 55 has a Fluval 305, and an Aqua Clear 70, Fluval E300 heater,air stone (it is directly under the heater and just enough to keep the low flow warning off). 1 angelfish, 5 albino cory's, 5 neon tetra, 5 oto.s, 1 nerite snail, and 11 harlequin raspbora. I have 2 struggling amazon swords, 1 Hygrophila (siamensis), several moneywort stems, and probably a dozen red ludwigia. From all my research, I realize I shouldn't rate my lighting in watts/gallon, but I have no way of testing PAR and PUR. I am using a twin T5HO, both tubes are 54 watt at 6500K. Both tubes are about 3 months old. I change about 20 % water very religiously every Sunday. My ammonia is always 0, Nitrite 0, and nitrates creep up to about 30. Water is super clear. I have ordinary aquarium gravel and use root tabs. I add 5 ml of Flourish twice a week, and because of the BBA, 5 ml of Excel at the same time. For the most part, I thought I had the BBA under control as it is 90% better than it was 3 months ago. I have the lights on a timer and currently have it down to 6 hours a day. I feed once a day and about 1/6 as much as when I started this hobby. I am getting BBA starting to cover leaves on the plants again, but am finding another type of "stuff". It looks and acts identical to BBA, but it is definitely brown--not chocolate brown but brown. Man can it grow!. I have a small 5 gallon tank that I set up 8 days ago. I put a lot (probably 2 dozen) money wort into it. I stole the wife's grow light from her greenhouse. It is a T5HO, 24 watt tube, and leave it directly over the small tank. It is turned on for 14 hours a day. There are no fish in this tank, and it gets dosed with Flourish. As I don't have of a way to measure that small amount, I add 10 drops of Flourish every day (my math tells me 1/10 of a ml, I guessed 10 drops). I am trying to figure out if my problem, is it too many hours lighting, or to many nutrients, or what combination will work. After 8 days, there is still no sign of BBA. The plants are growing out of the water with no signs of algae. What in hell am I overlooking? I should add that I checked records and this tank was started January 10/18. Any advice is greatly appreciated and thank you in advance.

Just a quick update. For 2 days in a row now, things are looking better. Both tanks test 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 20 nitrates again. At one point there was a small amount of nitrite in both tanks but all seems to be good now. All the fish seem to be happy with no visible signs of harm. Thanks guys, for your help.

Ok--thanks. I see on you tube that one sign of ammonia stress on fish is that they will go to the top as if to get air. What else should I be looking for? I think it was on Seachem's website that I read Prime will only bind the ammonia for 24 hours. I did not realize it would trick the test kit for more than that time.

I ran out of ammonia liquid in my test kit, so opened a brand new kit and used that ammonia test. It says use before 2022. I thought maybe it was faulty but it showed 0ppm on the source water. I ran a sample from both tanks to petsmart in medicine hat yesterday and although they use strips which I am told are not as accurate, they claim they test free ammonia only. Both tanks showed .25ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 0 nitrates. My API test still shows today, 1ppm ammonia , 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrates. Yes, there is an overdose of Prime in both tanks. Water changes are happening everyday, and although I am not sure if it is going to help or not, Top Fin bacteria booster is added daily too. I talked to a neighbor and was informed that one day last week when we were both gone from home, that the power was off for about 5 hours. With battery back up in alarm clocks and such, we were unaware the power was off. I am guessing when the power came back on, dead beneficial bacteria spewed into the tanks. I guess what I need to know now, am I dealing with 2 uncycled tanks, or with the small nitrate reading, do I have some what of a cycle still?

Hi everybody. I am stuck for an answer here and hope somebody can enlighten me. I have 2 tanks: Tank #1 55 gallon, Fluval 305 and Aqua Clear 70 filter, Fluval E300 heater, air stone, and a mini submersible pump for added circulation. In it are 2 angel fish, 7 neon tetra, 11 harlequin raspbora, 5 albino cory cats, 2 nerite snails, and 6 oto cats. Gravel substrate, 2 pieces of Malaysian bog wood, and 5 or 6small pieces of slate. 2 amazon swords, several stems of moneywort, several stems of scarlet temple, 3 stems of ludwigia "rubin", and 4 small java ferns. Tank has been cycled and running since last January. Ph is always 7.4. Ammonia (has always been 0) nitrite 0, nitrate about 10. Tank #2 50 gallon, Fluval 305 and 306 filter, Fluval E300 heater, air stone. In it are 9 tiger barbs, 5 bronze cory cats, 9 zebra danio, and 3 nerite snails. Gravel substrate, 3 pieces of Malaysian bogwood, and 5 or 6 small pieces of slate. 2 amazon swords, probably 24 stems of money wort, and about 10 stems of something I am not sure what it is (petsmart sold it to my wife as a floating plant). This tank has been cycled and running since last December. Ph is always 7.6. Ammonia (has always been 0), nitrie 0, and nitrate about 15. Both tanks religiously get a water change every Sunday, of about 25 to 30 %. I use Prime and twice a week a capful of flourish excel. There is only me and my wife here (no little kids). I think root tabs come 10 to a pack and have used one pack for both tanks since the beginning. This past Sunday when I tested water before changing it, the 55 showed 1ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates. The 50 showed 1.5 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrates. I think we all understand the difference we see when checking the vial color against the card. I immediately did about 60% water change on both tanks and overdosed Prime. On the Monday test, the ammonia was slightly down, as was it Tuesday. Wednesday (today) there was virtually no change. Water changes have been done everyday since this problem has arisen. I am the only person doing anything to these tanks, and as I have said there are no little kids that might have dumped something in. I removed 2 little amazon swords from the 55 recently but other than that nothing has been added or subtracted from either tank. I understand the nitrogen cycle, which brings me to my problem. I have ammonia and nitrates but no nitrite. Has anybody got an answer to why I lost my cycle? Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give as much detail as possible. thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi geleen. Yeah , I feel guilty locking a living thing in a box of water against their will, and not giving it a good life. I found a lady that was able to take the pair of angels and they left yesterday. She tells me they are doing good and will be happy. I did my usual sunday water change and cleaning today--and that tank now has more eggs. I realize that will not be a problem--just think it is odd that from what I read, so many people try to get a mating pair, yet we bought these from 2 different stores the same day, and out of 4, we had 2 mating pair. Thanks for your advise.

geleen. Thanks for the reply. I don't know how often angelfish will lay eggs, but a whole bunch more were laid last night--maybe the other 2 had them? Anyway is was like a downtown Chicago gang war in a 55 gallon tank. All day the 2 pairs were at each other, seeming to get worse as time went on. About an hour ago one had another pinned down on the gravel and I thought it was going to kill the other. I put both of the first pair in the other tank for now, and put an ad on facebook, trying to get rid of them. Once they are added to this tank, according to Aqadisor, the tank is over full. I can live with a little additional maintanance for now but there are 12 Tiger Barbs in this tank. The angels seem to have taken over one corner and the tigers split but I thought eventually the tigers would nip fins? Have you got any suggestions until I am able to find a home for them? Once again, thanks.

Thanks geleen . It seems this is taking longer than I expected. Eggs have been laid and taken care of by the filters. The eggs actually appeared on the 14th--but the aggression is I think, a little worse. In your opinion, will things get better? I feel bad for the 2 that are forced to stay in a corner.

Hi everybody. I have had the same 4 angelfish since they were about the size of a quarter. They are about 4 inches now. In the last week or so, 2 of them for the most part stay in one corner, and the smaller of those 2 started raising cane with the other 2. At first it was only when the other 2 came close but now it purposely comes out of the corner to lunge at the others. Will they hurt each other? Is there anything I can/should be doing? Is It time to start looking for a new home for the miserable little bugger? 55 gallon pH 7.6 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 10 Temp 24 Once again, thanks in advance.

Hi everybody. I have 9 Tiger Barbs, one RTS, 4 Bronze Cory', and 7 assorted Platies in a 60 gallon. Plenty of filtration with a Fluval 305 and a Fluval 306 canister filter; decent (?) heater which is a Fluval E 300. It has been cycled for about 3 months now and using the API liquid test kit, I can continually get readings of ammonia 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 20. I change about 25 - 30% water, weekly. I have been testing it and after leaving it for 10 days, the ammonia creeps up to .25 while the nitrates will go almost to 30. I have been told that that ammonia reading might actually be ammonium, due to the use of Prime. Although being new to this, I would call the tank medium planted--maybe a little less. I use Flourish Excel and root tabs. The fish all seem to be happy and healthy and I am amazed at how fast they actually grew. I have learned that I was previously over feeding and have got that under control now for over a month. I feed NLS Community pellets along with a pinch of flakes twice a day. I drop some sinking shrimp pellets or a wafer for the bottom guys. Usually one day a week, they are not fed. I have tried peas (they all would rather starve to death than eat them) and cucumber which is not going over great with them but they will eat it if not fed for 2 days. Twice a week I cut rations to about 1/3 and give them either dehydrated brine shrimp, tubifex worms, or blood worms. They all go crazy for that. Now the Tigers do not eat anything except the times when I give them the treats. Have I spoiled them? Am I getting worried about nothing? Will they eat if they are hungry? Do they eat less now that they are finished growing? This not eating thing has been going on for about 2 weeks now. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks

Okay--thanks guys.

Hi. When I joined this group recently, I promised not to ask too many questions that have an obvious answer--well this might be the first one? Most people have heard of Ph, Kh, and Gh, but unless we are into keeping specialized fish and/or running a water treatment plant, we just simply do not understand it or the importance of it in an aquarium. In one of my tanks I consistently get readings of: ph 7.8-8.2 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10. In the other tank I get ph 7.6-7.8 ammonia sneaks up to .25 just at w/c time, which is every Friday nitrite 0 nitrates 5 (this tank has more live plants). Both tanks are at 24 degrees. All fish seem to be healthy and doing very well. I use the API Master testing kit. Should I be concerned about the Kh and Gh, in order to keep every body in the tank healthy, or just don't wake a sleeping dog? I have read in a hundred places that trying to change Ph can cause problems that I am not going to cause--does trying to change the others have the same effect? One tank has Tiger Barbs, a Red tail Shark, Bronze Cory's, and assorted Platies. The other has Albino Cory's, Angelfish, Zebra Danio's and Neon Tetra's. (I know now that the Neons should not be with the Angelfish--but the guy at the LFS didn.t tell me that when I bought them. Thanks in advance.

Hi everybody. My name is Glen. I live in southern Alberta; in Bow Island. It is so flat here, that on a clear day, you can look into the horizon and see the back of your own head. I have always wanted a fish tank and as of last December I finally did it--in fact I got 2. A 55 gallon and a 60 gallon. I did not know anything about keeping fish--and like the guy in the store told me, I took equipment --and fish-- home with me. I have learned tons on other forums and recently this one too. Who would have guessed that an aquarium is its own little environment and needs special care? Anyway, although not on purpose, I managed to cycle 2 tanks at the same time--and not lose any fish. There were some sleepless nights though, with water testing and emergency w/c. Recently I decided I did not like the look of plastic or silk plants and resin stuff so I am going live plants and some slate objects that I made. I hope not to be a pain to anybody on here by asking questions that should have an obvious answer. I have not yet experienced any disease problems--so all that will be new to me when it happens. I am glad that there are people in the "neighbor hood" that are willing to give me advice. Thanks in advance.