Errr Mature Media Amyone

[martin1605]

Hi folks, Just started up new tank following all LFS advice (unfortunately before I found this site), anyway to cut a long story short I now have a new tank, with fish !, and plenty of ammonia (safe start doesn't work grrrrr), am keeping on top a ammonia levels with lots of water changes, yet to exceed 0.25 ppm. The way forward appears to be either continue with back breaking water changes or to seed filter with some mature media. Have tried the mature donation link but appear to be unable to PM anybody, probably me doing something wrong. Would any kind soul be able to donate any media, I live in the east midlands and would more than willing to travel to collect. Incidentally I have a 180l tank with a juwel bioflow 6 and a tetratec 1200. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
Martin

 

[BlackWidow]

Hi folks, Just started up new tank following all LFS advice (unfortunately before I found this site), anyway to cut a long story short I now have a new tank, with fish !, and plenty of ammonia (safe start doesn't work grrrrr), am keeping on top a ammonia levels with lots of water changes, yet to exceed 0.25 ppm. The way forward appears to be either continue with back breaking water changes or to seed filter with some mature media. Have tried the mature donation link but appear to be unable to PM anybody, probably me doing something wrong. Would any kind soul be able to donate any media, I live in the east midlands and would more than willing to travel to collect. Incidentally I have a 180l tank with a juwel bioflow 6 and a tetratec 1200. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
Martin

Is your tank tropical or saltwater? If its tropical then Patience is worth while as it will only take 7 days for your filter to mature provided you bought some bacteria from your Your LFS? If not buy a bottle and dump it all in trust me . If your tank is saltwater then youll be waiting upto a month for filter to mature!!! Btw its not ammonia you should be worried about its nItrItes that are a real threat. Try keep em low

 

[martin1605]

Sorry, my fault for not supplying enough information, it's a tropical tank and has been running now with fish for 3 weeks, so am assuming that 'safe start' was in-effective. All I want now is to provide a suitable environment for my fish in the quickest possible time in order to alleviate any possible stress due to thhe toxic level of the water. As a result I am very sceptical as to adding any additional 'safe start'. Also as I've yet to get any nitrite readings there appears to be a very long time to go before the tank is cycled, and I don't think that this is fair on the fish. This leaves only with 2 real options either to try to re-home the fish or try seeding my filters, providing I can get hold of some mature media.