I Need Help

[moose23]

hi guys i started my piranha tank this week, it has not yet cycled but i had no other choice but to put ym 4 6 inch piranhas in their new 70 gallon tank, i heard alot of rumours that you need extra filteration for the fish, which is fine, so i found myself a aqua clear 100 filter and a whisper tetra filter which combined moves 540 gallons per hour, is this enough for my new piranha tank,
the tank also is a bit cloudy, now will that clear up and the tank cycles? please respond

 

[dave_oddballs]

piranhas arent fish you should chuck into an uncycled tank! your new filters will not have any bacteria in them! they are very messy as you would know, your ammonia and nitrites will go sky high and your filters will not be able to cope and your fish will be swimming in their own p*ss and ****, i think cloudy water should be at the bottom of your list of worries!

David

Please watch your language!

 

[Curiosity101]

Please don't take this the wrong way as I'm just curious...
Why did you have no other choice than to put them into an un cycled tank?

 

[moose23]

Please don't take this the wrong way as I'm just curious...
Why did you have no other choice than to put them into an un cycled tank?

well to make a long story short they were in a bucket and showed up to my house as a birthday present while my sister thought i had the tank set up, i didnt, relaistically i brought my water in today to get it checked out and the only thing that was out of wack was the nitrite, which she then gave me some stuff to bring it down but other then that she said it was fine... the looked a little stressed out but over i thing there doing ok

 

[Curiosity101]

Ah, that was very unlucky for both you and the fish then!

Looking at your tank stats your filtration level and tank size (from various googling and reading etc), seems good
If you can take them back and wait till your tank cycles I'm sure you're aware that would be best.
But if you can't then...keep the water as clean as you possibly can until it is cycled.

Just to quote something I read.
It was suggested for a shoal you want to be moving 4x tank capacity an hour...you're moving just over 6x, so presuming you have plenty of filter SA n the such like

However I have never kept Piranha personally...so if anyone with more experience says otherwise I'd take their advice over mine.

 

[moose23]

Ah, that was very unlucky for both you and the fish then!

Looking at your tank stats your filtration level and tank size (from various googling and reading etc), seems good
If you can take them back and wait till your tank cycles I'm sure you're aware that would be best.
But if you can't then...keep the water as clean as you possibly can until it is cycled.

Just to quote something I read.
It was suggested for a shoal you want to be moving 4x tank capacity an hour...you're moving just over 6x, so presuming you have plenty of filter SA n the such like

However I have never kept Piranha personally...so if anyone with more experience says otherwise I'd take their advice over mine.

well a friend suggested i put a pleco in there with the murky water... he said it may help and being a begginer at this fish stuff, i went and got one, is this a bad thing for my tank

 

[Curiosity101]

You know full well you had an un cycled tank and thought 'I know lets add more fish...that'll solve the problem'
No...that will NEVER solve the problem.

Anyways you said murky water, not algae on the glass! They aren't filter feeders...

The only thing that will clear your water is time and perhaps water changes.
What is your substrate, was the tank cloudy before you put the fish in?
If it was already cloudy then just make sure you have plenty of fine filter media to filter out the tiny particles from the substrate.

If it's a bacterial bloom due to you putting the fish in then....I found this...

Bacterial Blossom - Often cloudy water doesn't appear the instant an aquarium is set up. Instead it appears days, weeks, or even months later. In these cases the cause is usually due to bacterial bloom. As the new aquarium goes through the initial break in cycle, it is not unusual for the water to become cloudy, or at least a little hazy. It will take several weeks to several months to establish bacterial colonies that are able to clear wastes from the water. Over time that cloudiness will resolve itself.

Decaying plants or excess food that remains uneaten can also cause the milky water seen in bacterial bloom. Regardless of the cause, don't panic over bacterial blooms. Keeping the aquarium very clean by removing debris such as decaying plants and uneaten food, vacuuming the gravel regularly, and performing partial water changes, will quickly resolve most cases of bacterial bloom. Cut back feeding to every second or third day, which will cut down on excess food decay.

If there are particles of debris in the water that you are unable to remove via water changes and vacuuming, a flocculent may be used to clear them away. Flocculates cause particles of debris to clump together so they can easily be removed by the filter (be sure to clean your filter so it's working at peak efficiency). Flocculates are generally marketed as water clarifiers, and may be found at your fish shop.

I understand you are a beginner but just remember NEVER buy fish without research. And apply a bit of common sense, you mentioned your tank was uncycled when you put the fish in, which implies you known that this is harmful for the fish. So adding more fish will clearly increase the problem.

 

[always4lora]

Pleco would make it worse as they produce alot of waste therefore making more amonia etc. Get rid of the pleco if you can .

 

[bitteraspects]

your filter is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY to small for your tank.
an AquaClear100 (now known as an AquaClear20), is rated for a 20g tank.

 

[Curiosity101]

your filter is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY to small for your tank.
an AquaClear100 (now known as an AquaClear20), is rated for a 20g tank.

The OP said they had 2 filters, not one. With a combined rate of 540 gallons per hour. Did you miss this when reading? Or is that in your opinion still no enough?

I'm not trying to second guess you, but you said 'filter' as in singular. So just thought I'd point it out incase you missed it.

 

[always4lora]

aqua clear 100 filter and a whisper tetra filter <-- has two filters, the 540 gallon turning over maybe 6x but they might get clogged putting the flow rate down.

 

[bitteraspects]

aqua clear 100 filter and a whisper tetra filter <-- has two filters, the 540 gallon turning over maybe 6x but they might get clogged putting the flow rate down.

if the ac20 is a reflection of the other filter, (which you never mentioned a model), its safe to assume its too small. also, as the ac20 (or ac100, as the older model is called) only moves 100gph, that means you believe your whisper moves 440gph? and whisper doesnt make such a filter.

your filter is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY to small for your tank.
an AquaClear100 (now known as an AquaClear20), is rated for a 20g tank.

The OP said they had 2 filters, not one. With a combined rate of 540 gallons per hour. Did you miss this when reading? Or is that in your opinion still no enough?

I'm not trying to second guess you, but you said 'filter' as in singular. So just thought I'd point it out incase you missed it.

no, i saw it. i just know it to be a misunderstanding of the equipment he actually has. there is no possibility of having 540gph with the 2 filters mentioned, and thats without even knowing what model the whisper is.

 

[moose23]

aqua clear 100 filter and a whisper tetra filter <-- has two filters, the 540 gallon turning over maybe 6x but they might get clogged putting the flow rate down.

if the ac20 is a reflection of the other filter, (which you never mentioned a model), its safe to assume its too small. also, as the ac20 (or ac100, as the older model is called) only moves 100gph, that means you believe your whisper moves 440gph? and whisper doesnt make such a filter.

your filter is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY to small for your tank.
an AquaClear100 (now known as an AquaClear20), is rated for a 20g tank.

The OP said they had 2 filters, not one. With a combined rate of 540 gallons per hour. Did you miss this when reading? Or is that in your opinion still no enough?

I'm not trying to second guess you, but you said 'filter' as in singular. So just thought I'd point it out incase you missed it.

no, i saw it. i just know it to be a misunderstanding of the equipment he actually has. there is no possibility of having 540gph with the 2 filters mentioned, and thats without even knowing what model the whisper is.

im sorry i have an aqua clear 300, and a whisper tetra 45, the aqua clear moves 300 gph and the whisper 45 moves 240 which brings it to 540 on my math, and i am taking the pleco out

 

[Davo86]

Get yourself a test kit ASAP and do a 50% water change now,

You have no bacteria to nutrify the ammonia being produced, this is being shown by the the cloudy water which is a clear sign of new tank syndrome, If you don't keep the ammonia and nitrite levels as low as possible i.e. not much higher than 0 then you are going to lose them.

 

[moose23]

Get yourself a test kit ASAP and do a 50% water change now,

You have no bacteria to nutrify the ammonia being produced, this is being shown by the the cloudy water which is a clear sign of new tank syndrome, If you don't keep the ammonia and nitrite levels as low as possible i.e. not much higher than 0 then you are going to lose them.

ok i will do that now but for everyones info, the tank is clearing up quite emensly. the pleco is out and the piranhas are just swimming around. they dont look sick nor stressed any more. i just did a nitrite ammonia nitrate killer chemical dose in the water, should i still change it