BigA Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Hi. I have a 29gal tank with a pair of breeding P. pulcher in it, along with 10 fry about a month old. Noticed today that the water is kinda murky or cloudy. Last of my weekly water changes was on Sat, Jan 13th. pH is 7.5, ammonia is a little high at .25ppm, 0 nitrites, and nitrates are at 5ppm. Just wondering if more frequent water changes would fix the problem or if another solution is what I have to do? Add something to enhance the biological filter? Any help woult be great. Thank you Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon71 Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 1.) How long has this tank been set up? The presence of ammonia suggests that the tank is still cycling. 2.) How big are the water changes you are doing? No more than 20 - 25% is necessary. Some even do less. 3.) Have you also been cleaning the filter media? If so, only rinse the media in tank water. NOT in regular tap water. A couple of things to consider. More info is needed to give you a better response. If you want to polish the water, use some carbon in your filter. If you are not already doing so. I also use some filter floss to clean the water that extra bit. Leon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Are you over feeding(dumping lots of food in for the fry?) Sometimes people throw in a lot of food in hopes the fry will get some, this could raise your levels without careful WCs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 (edited) When doing WCs in Edmonton, you have to use a dechlorinator that binds free ammonia that is release when the chlorine/ammonia bond is broken in chloramine. That being said, floating plants do a good job of eating up excess nutrients. I prefer larger leafed varieties over plain duckweed. Duckweed is just hard to keep in check. If you want some floating plants, PM me. I have lots. Edited January 18, 2007 by jvision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigA Posted January 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 Tank has been set up for about 6 months. As far as water changes, I do about 25%, but I am not sure exactly. I have been cleaning the filter media with every water change. Usually running it under the water that I siphoned off. The dechloronator that I use is Aquaplus, made by nutrafin. Is this ok? What else would you use? Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 I use Seachem's Prime. It binds the free ammonia, however it's still in a form that plants can use easily. I've never used Aquaplus, but it may not bind free ammonia from chloramine. If your tank just has a pair of kribs, you'll likely not need to clean any of the filter media for months at a time - unless filter efficiency is slowing down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 As far as water changes, I do about 25%, but I am not sure exactly. How frequently, and what do you use to filter this tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigA Posted January 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2007 I do weekly water changes. The tank has an eclipse hood on it with a filter and biowheel built in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacey Posted January 20, 2007 Report Share Posted January 20, 2007 Get the Prime. It's not cheap, but it's concentrated -so you don't use much. It will also detoxify the ammonia, BUT only for 24 hours, then it breaks down....... so you may need to dose daily until you figure out the cause of the ammonia spike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigA Posted January 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Cool. Thanks Stacey. I'll try some of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacey Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 anytime! it's good stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrosionjerry Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 anytime! it's good stuff I never clean my filtre material by running water over it...use the water that you take out when you change out your water. That way you will not kill off the good bacteria and I would only do this as jvision said rarely/ once every 2-3 months would be lots... oh ya and dont overfeed or overstock the tank.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOSStile Posted February 2, 2007 Report Share Posted February 2, 2007 (edited) anytime! it's good stuff I never clean my filtre material by running water over it...use the water that you take out when you change out your water. That way you will not kill off the good bacteria and I would only do this as jvision said rarely/ once every 2-3 months would be lots... oh ya and dont overfeed or overstock the tank.. Err actually that is what Aaron said, really he did :eh: Edited February 2, 2007 by HOSStile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigA Posted February 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 Just to let everyone know.... Things seem to be doing better. I got some floaters from jvision (thank you very much btw) and picked up some seachem prime. Now, 2 water changes later things are a lot clearer. I am going to test the levels tonight to see exactly where I am at, but I am optomistic. Thanks to everyone for the input. P.S. Jack and Jill (my kribs) laid some more eggs over the weekend. If anyone wants some fry, PM me. I'll hook you up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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