First Fish Tank

[drobbyb]

I'm not sure about the Petsmart where you live, but the ones where I live only test with strips. Even though your results show the presence of ammonia and nitrite, we really have no idea what they really are. I agree a 75% waterchange is in order.

 

[dohntaut]

alright i did a 75 % change and my angel fish seems much better, as for the decorations i think i will leave it on since i already spent money on it, i feel like it would have been wasted if i didnt use it, and the fish dont seem too scared. i will continue to check the water at petsmart since its free i also wanted to make a little hiding spot, ive seen some people make a small cave out of a coconut, but i wonder if the coconut will dirty the water or rot or anything that may be bad for the water or fish.

 

[drobbyb]

Checking it at petsmart may be free, but the results aren't accurate. This is worse than not testing at all. You really need your own liquid reagent based test kit. They aren't that expensive, and with as much testing as needs to be done, you could have bought one with the gas you are going to burn going back and forth to petsmart every day.

 

[dohntaut]

yeah i noticed that the girl used test strips rather than a liquid testing kit, what do you guys think about some of the kits on ebay, that should be fine right, some are advertised to be used a few times, but it seems like they will be ok. i also wonder if there was a way to test for chlorine in my tap water, is there usually? or just some? i have been using a water conditioner thats supposed to remove the chlorine and chloramine, but is there a chance that i may not have been putting enough and the chlorine has been killing bacteria. i do about a cap full.

sorry for me being stubborn and cheap about this test kit, just that in the fish stores they're about $35-40 for a kit. Its just how we poor college students do things, gotta try and save as much as we can, then again getting a fish tank may not have been in the best interest for my wallet.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, Robby has found it out. If its strips its worse than useless, it could cause you to take wrong actions.

As I will soon begin receiving large bills from one of those respected institutions of higher learning I have the greatest of respect for a son or daughter who tries to keep their budget down!

Yes, it is true you've chosen a hobby that can get a bit expensive but its really not bad if you take a hard look at entertainment and other hobbies these days. I'll just say that my jumpstart to you is that unfortunately the little area you're trying to save money in right now is not worth it and my advice is to search the web and find the cheapest kit price of the API Freshwater Master Test Kit and a small bottle of Seachem Prime. Dose the prime at 1.5x or 2x but not more than 2x what the instructions say. Unless the tank is big, the amount of Prime needed will be small (like bottom thread of the cap.) Keep whatever other conditioner you've already got on the back shelf in case you need it in an emergency some day. Keep your fish numbers low and that will save you money and help keep them healthy and you will find they are still fascinating to watch. Choose inexpensive plants if you can and that might help save too. Since you can learn here on TFF that water changes and conditioner are really your main long term tools, you will have already perhaps saved money over buying other extras.

~~waterdrop~~
ps. Getting a testing kit and learning all about the "biofilter" -now-, -hands-on-, will pay you back big time throughout your years in the hobby -- what this experience is all about in our beginner subforum is learning, much more so than just setting up a tank for your first time.

 

[dohntaut]

thanks for the tips, ill go hunt down a test kit. i came back today and i found my betta making a bubble nest, its the fist time ive seen it, quite interesting how he chases all the other fish out of the area. should i be careful to not destroy his nest when doing waterchanges, or is it ok? i also find it kinda hard to feed my tetras because they swim around the middle to bottom of the tank, and when i put flakes in the other fish get to it first, they sometimes catch the small bits the sink, same thing happens when i use bloodworms, its like my angel can smell it and just eats it all.

 

[waterdrop]

After you've put one or two tiny pinches on the surface and some of the surface eaters are busy with it, grind a third pinch between your thumb and finger but below the water surface and release it. These flakes should disperse in water circulation and the middle and lower swimmers will have some food to chase down (hopefully you've got some circulation..)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[dohntaut]

k so i finally got my test kit in the mail today
my results are

nitrite 5ppm
ammonia .25 ppm
nitrate 20 ppm
ph 7.8

so how much of a water change does this mean i should do? 75%?
also should i be using my amquel +to treat the water, i do use novaqua for removing chlorines, but do i need to remove nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia if im trying to build my filter up to do that??

 

[waterdrop]

Congratulations on getting your kit (what type?) Its the second good action (after finding this forum!) that you've taken. OK, let's work on your water changing technique: last I remember, Amquel+ was a very good conditioner - just check that its one that removes chlorine and chloramines, that's the important part. Most of these conditioners also say the remove ammonia but what they reall mean is that they convert it to ammonium, which tastes just as good to the bacteria we want to grow. So after you deep clean the gravel as you siphon out the water, the return water not only needs to be dosed (dose at 1.5x what they recommend) with the conditioner but you also need to roughly temperature match to your tank water (your hand is good enough for this.)

The reason you need good technique is that yes, you're going to need at -least- a 75% change and probably multiples (you can change water again as soon as an hour after the previous, just to let things settle.) In Fish-In cycling your goal is to be a bit of a detective and figure out what percentage and frequency of water change will put your ammonia and nitrite(NO2) levels so close down at zero ppm that they will stay below 0.25ppm (usually the first color match on the test kit) until you've had time to get home and test again and potentially change water again. It may take several large changes and a lot of work at first but usually it will settle down into an easier routine after that. Its going to seem crazy at first but you really want both ammonia and nitrite(NO2) to stay below 0.25ppm and usually people set up their testing times to be 12 hours apart, morning and night. Let us know how you're doing...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[dohntaut]

its an API fresh water master test kit. thanks for the advice, ill try to test regularly and post the results on here more

Heres the test for 2/4/2010
nitrate 10 ppm
nitrite 1.0 ppm
ammonia 0ppm

 

[OldMan47]

You are getting closer to decent water now Dohntaut. A simple 75% water change should get you at or under 0.25 ppm of nitrites. The nitrate is fine at 10 ppm but will move lower with your next water change.

 

[dohntaut]

alright cool, so to continue my log heres another test
02/05/10
nitrite 1.0 ppm
nitrate 20ppm
ammonia .25 ppm
and im doing another 75% change

 

[OldMan47]

That 75% change should be about right. You want to maintain both nitrites and ammonia at less than 0.25 ppm at all times.

 

[dohntaut]

k well i wasnt actually able to do that last 75% change so this morning i test it again and it came up with

2/6/10
nitrite 1.0ppm
nitrate 10ppm
ammonia 0ppm
ph 7.6

im doing a 75% change for today, however since the ammonia dropped does that mean im starting to see some progress,

 

[waterdrop]

Nitrite(NO2) hitting 1.0ppm means that you still have not established a pattern of size and frequency in your water changes to get into a contolled "fish-in cycle" and keep your fish safe from nerve damage. Unfortunately your pattern continues to indicate that you're got rather too large a bioload in the 15g to make the fish-in cycle easy, its telling you its one of the hard ones that needs a ton of water changing (with gravel-cleaning!)

Also unfortunately, to answer your question, because of all the water changing its very, very hard to see any actual feed-back in your tests that really tells you about progress. You just have try to keep your fish safe and trust us that the the bacteria will be growing all this time -- it will!

~~waterdrop~~