Hi There! New! Name Is Chad

[CJH0825]

How much water change should i be doing? I've been told to do 25%, 50%, 60%, 90%. No one can seem to agree on how much i should be doing lol

 

[Mamashack]

That will depend on how high the test results are. It will be a case of trying to work out how much of a water change will reduce things to a safe level. Having said that some people think that smaller water changes done more frequently are better than doing one larger water change less frequently. That is probably why you are getting apparently conflicting advice. Whatever you decide to do, stick with it for the health of your fish.
You already have their welfare in mind by seeking help on here so hopefully you will eventually get your tank fully cycled and you'll be able to do weekly testing and water changes.
Try keeping a record of the results and the water change details. It may help a bit further down the line if you are asking for help.

 

[CJH0825]

I checked my levels 2 times today, both times they were the same. I'm going to let the water in the tank cycle for a day or 2, checking my levels 2 times a day, and see what happens. The levels have dropped a little since doing water changes. I think by me doing huge water changes, i'm removing alot of good things in the water.

 

[Supraman]

Hi, I have also had this same problem. My LFS told me to wait three weeks with the filter running and that after those three weeks it was cycled. They were totally wrong.

My tank was a 65 gal and the only way to fight this and get it stable is daily water changes. I personally chose to do 2 50% water changes a day for two weeks. Now my levels are extremely stable at

0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0nitrate

Wish you the best of luck and I'm glad to see you were able to get someone to look after the shark, a 55 is still way to small, I am building a 150gal to house 2 sharks.

 

[the_lock_man]

I checked my levels 2 times today, both times they were the same. I'm going to let the water in the tank cycle for a day or 2, checking my levels 2 times a day, and see what happens. The levels have dropped a little since doing water changes. I think by me doing huge water changes, i'm removing alot of good things in the water.

 
No, you're not.
 
Let's do a bit of maths. You have an ammonia level of 2.0ppm. You take away 20% of that, it leaves you with1.6ppm. That won't show up a great deal of difference on your colour chart, so you think you've not done anything. A 90% change is big enough to see a change in colour. Your original post said you were doing 90% changes twice a day. Trust me, mate, that is by far the best thing you can be doing.
 
Part of your problem is that you've got quite a high bioload in that tank. The common plec produces a high level of waste for its size anyway, even without the large amount of tankmates. Ammonia is building up quickly, meaning that you have lots and lots of work to do. It would be great if you could take that plec back to the shop, it should grow longer than your tank, so you need to move it eventually anyway, so do it now, before it becomes stunted. It will also give your fledgling bacteria a bit of a break. And because the ammonia levels won't build up quite so quickly, it will give your back a bit of a break too. Double whammy of bonuses for you.

 

[Supraman]

I have to agree with lock man, that pleco will become a huge monster if you had a tank big enough for it.

 

[CJH0825]

I let my tank cycle yesterday, with no water changes, Slowed the filter rate a little, Slowed the feeding, Checked my levels this morning, PH = 7.4, Ammonia = 1.0, Nitrite = 0 and Nitrate = 0. My ex wife is doing a complete filter change today ( don't know why, but it's her tank, her choice ) so i'm taking her old filter and putting it in my filter to help speed the process a little. Her filter has been in her tank steadily for about 6 months. Should have a good amount of bacteria on it.

 

[the_lock_man]

That's a darn fine idea. Good to see levels appear to be lowering, but still 1ppm is toxic - keep on top of those changes.

 

[CJH0825]

I'm waiting for the 1$ per gallon sale to begin again at petco, Then i'm buying a 55 gallon tank. I'll set that one up and let it cycle for about a week before transferring my fish over. When i do transfer my fish over, I'll also transfer my media from my current tank over. I've been thinking about doing a biowheel filter or maybe a out of tank filter on that one, but not sure which is better. I'll have to research them more.

 

[the_lock_man]

THere's no point "letting it cycle", it does nothing for the tank, it just wastes electricity.
 
I would definitely recommend an external filter, I don't particularly like the biowheel filters, personally. Just set the tank up, get the water up to temperature, wait for any cloudiness to disappear, transfer the filter media into the new filter housing, top it up with new stuff, switch it on, then transfer the fish.

 

[CJH0825]

What type of external filter would you go with?

 

[snazy]

I let my tank cycle yesterday, with no water changes, Slowed the filter rate a little, Slowed the feeding, Checked my levels this morning, PH = 7.4, Ammonia = 1.0, Nitrite = 0 and Nitrate = 0. My ex wife is doing a complete filter change today ( don't know why, but it's her tank, her choice ) so i'm taking her old filter and putting it in my filter to help speed the process a little. Her filter has been in her tank steadily for about 6 months. Should have a good amount of bacteria on it.

 
Don't slow down the rate of the filter, that reduces the efficiency. If the fish  survive in such toxic levels of ammonia for so long, then a disease outbreak can happen due to the stress and weakened immune system.  And it's not over yet as the nitrIte spike is yet to happen.
You need to do as many water changes as necessary to keep the levels down as close to 0 as possible.
I don't want to interfere, but tell you wife she's risking the health and life of her water pets if she is to remove the old filter totally, no matter how lucky she was in the first place. If she's really willing to help without jeopardizing the life of her fish, then maybe she can donate 1/3rd or her filter media to you. Or get matured/cycled media from somewhere else because your tank seems to be stocked to a point where a fish in cycle is almost not going to end well.
 
There are many brands of external filters. For a 20G tank you'd be looking for something rated 200G/H. The type of filter depends on your financies really. There are cheap ones that work well, they are better quality ones that cost 4-5 times more. See if you can reasearch about them and ask here to see opinions on their quality/performance/efficiency. From the top of my head as brands the most known are Eheim, Rena XP, JBL, Tetra, Fluval, SunSun/APS, and many others.
 
Good luck.