Established Tank. Big Problems

[rdp50734]

Ive just found out that i need to go away from next wednesday for about 5 days and theres no way the wife will be able to change 60 ltrs of water a day so am a little stuck. I might ask a nieghbours son to help out with water changes with my wife supervising.


phoned a few lfs today and no help with the media.

its a bit shortsighted of them i think as i love these fish and once the filter is cycled i will get a rio400 i saw and add other fish over time and of course another larger filter and now i wont be using the shops who cant be bothered to help out a newcomer to the hobby.

do you happen to know anyone with a tropical tank that could care for the fish until the cycle is complete?

 

[nyx2k]

we only moved into the area a few months ago and its a small hamlet of around 20 houses.
im sure the wife can follow some instructions and supervise the water changes once a day and do the tests.

 

[Littlemonkey]

Like other posters on here, good on you, I re-homed some fish recently and they now have a lovely new home and are both doing well. I had to smile when I read that you are already contemplating a larger tank and more fish, it's addictive isn't it. I'm already on the road to multi tank syndrome.

 

[nyx2k]

we have 2 dogs and 2 female runner ducks so i thought that a few fish wouldnt hurt.

my wife used to keep fish about 4 yrs ago but had an accident so we sold them as she couldnt do the care needed.

she was a member of pfk forum so she knows the importance of cycleing etc.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I am located near horsham, might be able to help you with seeded filter media if you still need it?

 

[nyx2k]

that would be great as it would vastly speed up the process.
horsham is only about 30 miles from here.
let me know what type of media it is and i can replace it with the new equivalent

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

that would be great as it would vastly speed up the process.
horsham is only about 30 miles from here.
let me know what type of media it is and i can replace it with the new equivalent

I have varying types, some stuff is in my Fluval 205, so i can whip a few bits out from the sections inside, or I have a little fluval powerhead type which I had running in my main tank to keep the media alive.

So, i could snip out a load of the foam media in that if you would prefer? Although, I am only going to be here till Sunday!

 

[nyx2k]

i have a 205 so anything i can place in the basskets would be great. even foam and noodles or any mixture would be perfect
i can come anytime day or night, whatever is best for you.
if i got some media i could relax a little bit as i know id be going in the right direction.

 

[danthefishman88]

You do water changes accordingly with respect to how high your ammonia and/or nitrite levels are.

This means you could be doing up to 90% water changes.

Remember a 50% water change cut the reading in half, and so forth.

-FHM

I had the same problem and realistically depending on the types of fish, I found only the harder fish survived. I worked so hard to keep them going but just wasn't to be RIP

Do you not have another tank you can take some of the media out of and squeeze into the new tank??

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

i have a 205 so anything i can place in the basskets would be great. even foam and noodles or any mixture would be perfect
i can come anytime day or night, whatever is best for you.
if i got some media i could relax a little bit as i know id be going in the right direction.

Seeing as you have a 205, I have added 2 bits of sponge into my powerhead filter, so they will be nicely cultivated in short order.

You will just need to add these two bits to two of the stages in the 205 with the other media, and this should help get everything kick started

I will be in tommorow morning from about 9-12. But i do need to be out of the door by 12 as I have places to be!

If i have not heard from you by midnight tonight on here, or my e-mail (cs_mental(a)hotmail.com), we will have to re-arrange for some-time on Sunday.

 

[nyx2k]

sat morn is no problem.
will send you an email so ican get the postcode.
thanks so much

nick

 

[GrubbyGirl]

Well done Malt, I was going to say I am in Eastbourne on 23rd and I could bring some meadi, but that's the closest and soonest I could do

 

[nyx2k]

thanks so much for the media.
ive placed it in the middle basket so it should start to seed the other noodles and foam.

in the bootom basket is noodles and in the middle looks like a combination of charcoal and zeolite will this be ok where it is or should i get some more noodles. in the top basket is 1 inch of foam topped off by filter wool. and in the vertcal area is the standard foams.

does this sound ok

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

No worries, glad to be of assistance.

I run noodles in all my sections I think, apart from the main foam parts.

Zeolite removes ammonia, right? Well the the tank is going to need some ammonia for the bacteria to process, so if the ammonia levels are high, do a water change to bring it down to a decent level and this should give the filter a chance to get going. I would then remove the Zeolite, and any other odd bits.

Im not a real expert, but thats how I would deal with it

Oh, and if you are still struggling after a while, let me know. I can lend you my mature powerhead canister filter as a whole unit, its only running in my main tank to keep the media going really.

 

[nyx2k]

i changed 60 ltrs late last night and the ammo is now showing 0 and the nitrite is at 0.1mg/l. so it looks like the zeolite/carbon filter is removing the ammonia.
but if the zeolite removes the ammonia then the filter bacteria wont multiply as there is no food for them.

so it looks like i need to remove the zeolite bags and carry on with big water changes.