dreamermama
New Member
Hello, I'm brand-new here today! I'm grateful for these boards. 
I am a busy mom and my children and I are enjoying learning about fishkeeping. I need some advice regarding water changes.
We have two tanks, a 5 gal and a 10 gal. So far, between the two tanks, we have 4 regular goldfish, 3 corydora catfish, and 2 dwarf plecos. But we want to move everyone out of the 5 and get it ready for 3 guppies--our first real go at tropicals, yay!
Until today, this was the set-up:
5-gal had: 2 comets, 1 cory, 1 dwarf pleco. The comets we've had since a July 4th party where the kids got them free. Pulled from the pool.
They are too large for the 5-gal now but doing ok.
10-ga had: 2 plain goldfish (not fancy but fancier than comets), 2 cories, 1 dwarf pleco. Again, had the goldfish since 7/4/07. All doing well, but pleco doesn't come out of hiding and ignores algae completely, so it got to be bad. I cleaned most of it this week with a scrubber.
I made some newbie mistakes in past two weeks regarding filter changes and water changes and now the levels have spiked, whereas in February they were good (I don't have test kits, I take water samples to LFS):
My 5-gal has a simple filter system (Whisper) which, according to the instructions, you're "supposed to" completely change to new every month (the bag and the carbon). Now I see that's not so good because it gets rid of so much good bacteria. But I did just that 2 weeks ago, and did a 20% water change while siphoning the gravel. Before that it had been several months, yet water test at LFS was good in February. Then, ten days later, just a few days ago, I did a 50% water change and gravel cleaning because water was cloudy. It started to clear up and today I got water tested: Ammonia very high (3 ppm); Nitrites very high (200 ppm) and Nitrites between 3-5 ppm. Also high. The LFS employee who tested my water discouraged me from doing any more water changes until a week had gone by, and then only 25% whereas the test result literature says to do daily water changes. He sold me some Bio-Boost to add good bacteria. What would you do?
OK, on to the 10 gallon:
This one is my 9yo daughter's and with our busy schedules I've pretty much ignored cleaning it. It is all glass and came with a wimpy filter which by accident ran dry for a few hours soon after we got it in July 2007. I think that made it worse. But the fish have all survived despite our blundering. Anyway, I wanted to get this tank ready for all the fish from the 5-gallon so I bought a better filter, one that filters 100 gal/hour. Newbie mistake: I removed old filter, put in new, voila! Oops, didn't understand about keeping filter media. This is what I did this week after this tank had been ignored for months. It has been sparsely decorated due to a low pet budget but we're slowly improving it.
:
1. changed to new filter
2. removed one algae-covered plant (fake) to clean it
2. scrubbed 3 walls clean of algae, leaving fourth for pleco
3. installed a heater for the cories and plecos since water was about 68 degrees F and it is warmer in the 5 gal.
4. siphoned gravel in some areas, yuck it was bad
5. while siphoning removed 50% of water
6. removed another algae-covered decoration to clean it, churning up more gunk
7. let aquarium rest a day or two
8. yesterday had daughter add back one plant (cleaned) plus add several new rocks, churning up more old gunk
9. got water tested today: Ammonia: 0 yay! Nitrates 200 ppm and Nitrites 3 ppm. Not good.
10. today moved the dwarf pleco and the cory from 5 gallon to stay in 10 gallon per OK from LFS employee.
So, what should I do regarding the high levels? LFS worker says to wait until a week has gone by since the last changes and then do less than 50%. He also wants me to add Bio-Boost (beneficial bacteria) with each change. He wants me to do this weekly and test water again in two weeks. He thinks the 5-gallon could be ready for guppies in 3-4 weeks even if I leave the large goldfish in there until then (but not sure we understood each other correctly on that).
Can I move the comets from the 5 gallon to the 10 sooner than 3-4 wks, and how soon? The 10 has better filtration and more space for them, but it will be a bit crowded. Do you think too crowded? Total goldfish size of all four is approx. 9 in. (Sometime daughter will let me give them to LFS, I think, as she wants tropicals too and knows the goldfish will outgrow the tank eventually)
How much time before I can put in guppies after goldfish are moved out? (5 gallon)
Sorry this is so long. Thanks for any advice!!!
I am a busy mom and my children and I are enjoying learning about fishkeeping. I need some advice regarding water changes.
We have two tanks, a 5 gal and a 10 gal. So far, between the two tanks, we have 4 regular goldfish, 3 corydora catfish, and 2 dwarf plecos. But we want to move everyone out of the 5 and get it ready for 3 guppies--our first real go at tropicals, yay!
Until today, this was the set-up:
5-gal had: 2 comets, 1 cory, 1 dwarf pleco. The comets we've had since a July 4th party where the kids got them free. Pulled from the pool.
They are too large for the 5-gal now but doing ok.10-ga had: 2 plain goldfish (not fancy but fancier than comets), 2 cories, 1 dwarf pleco. Again, had the goldfish since 7/4/07. All doing well, but pleco doesn't come out of hiding and ignores algae completely, so it got to be bad. I cleaned most of it this week with a scrubber.
I made some newbie mistakes in past two weeks regarding filter changes and water changes and now the levels have spiked, whereas in February they were good (I don't have test kits, I take water samples to LFS):
My 5-gal has a simple filter system (Whisper) which, according to the instructions, you're "supposed to" completely change to new every month (the bag and the carbon). Now I see that's not so good because it gets rid of so much good bacteria. But I did just that 2 weeks ago, and did a 20% water change while siphoning the gravel. Before that it had been several months, yet water test at LFS was good in February. Then, ten days later, just a few days ago, I did a 50% water change and gravel cleaning because water was cloudy. It started to clear up and today I got water tested: Ammonia very high (3 ppm); Nitrites very high (200 ppm) and Nitrites between 3-5 ppm. Also high. The LFS employee who tested my water discouraged me from doing any more water changes until a week had gone by, and then only 25% whereas the test result literature says to do daily water changes. He sold me some Bio-Boost to add good bacteria. What would you do?
OK, on to the 10 gallon:
This one is my 9yo daughter's and with our busy schedules I've pretty much ignored cleaning it. It is all glass and came with a wimpy filter which by accident ran dry for a few hours soon after we got it in July 2007. I think that made it worse. But the fish have all survived despite our blundering. Anyway, I wanted to get this tank ready for all the fish from the 5-gallon so I bought a better filter, one that filters 100 gal/hour. Newbie mistake: I removed old filter, put in new, voila! Oops, didn't understand about keeping filter media. This is what I did this week after this tank had been ignored for months. It has been sparsely decorated due to a low pet budget but we're slowly improving it.
:1. changed to new filter
2. removed one algae-covered plant (fake) to clean it
2. scrubbed 3 walls clean of algae, leaving fourth for pleco
3. installed a heater for the cories and plecos since water was about 68 degrees F and it is warmer in the 5 gal.
4. siphoned gravel in some areas, yuck it was bad
5. while siphoning removed 50% of water
6. removed another algae-covered decoration to clean it, churning up more gunk
7. let aquarium rest a day or two
8. yesterday had daughter add back one plant (cleaned) plus add several new rocks, churning up more old gunk
9. got water tested today: Ammonia: 0 yay! Nitrates 200 ppm and Nitrites 3 ppm. Not good.
10. today moved the dwarf pleco and the cory from 5 gallon to stay in 10 gallon per OK from LFS employee.
So, what should I do regarding the high levels? LFS worker says to wait until a week has gone by since the last changes and then do less than 50%. He also wants me to add Bio-Boost (beneficial bacteria) with each change. He wants me to do this weekly and test water again in two weeks. He thinks the 5-gallon could be ready for guppies in 3-4 weeks even if I leave the large goldfish in there until then (but not sure we understood each other correctly on that).
Can I move the comets from the 5 gallon to the 10 sooner than 3-4 wks, and how soon? The 10 has better filtration and more space for them, but it will be a bit crowded. Do you think too crowded? Total goldfish size of all four is approx. 9 in. (Sometime daughter will let me give them to LFS, I think, as she wants tropicals too and knows the goldfish will outgrow the tank eventually)
How much time before I can put in guppies after goldfish are moved out? (5 gallon)
Sorry this is so long. Thanks for any advice!!!
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I will do water changes starting today.
