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Looking for some sage advice after falling into the Pets At Home trap

Almac said:
Great! I’m using a siphon and a couple of 25 litre Jerry cans. I’m not vacing the gravel as assume this will suck up what bacteria is sitting on the substrate?
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The beneficial bacteria adhere to surfaces in the tank (mainly the filter media in a newer tank; as the tank matures, the BB will colonize on all hard surfaces within the tank), so there's no danger in losing BB when vacuuming the substrate.

If using vessels to refill the tank (not sure what a "jerry can" is, lol), then use enough Prime to treat the vessel amount only; if using a hose to refill the tank, use enough conditioner to treat the entire tank volume.
 
Haha! I didn't realise "Jerry Cans" was a UK term... just to be clear the Jerry Cans i'm using for the tank have never had any petrol in them ;)
 
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It's not just fish we learn about on here, but also terms that don't cross the Atlantic :)
 
That's a spelling difference like centre/center or flavour/flavor :) But some words have different meanings. I remember a discussion about kitchen equipment used for cooking - I used the word hob to mean the top of a cooker where pans are heated and American members had never heard that term. Someone will now ask what a pan used for cooking is :lol:
 
Virtually all the time in fish keeping, gallons are American gallons. But there is one instance I'm aware of where it's Imperial gallons - King British products. That's why I prefer to use litres as they are the same all over the world (just spelled differently)
 
Essjay said:
That's a spelling difference like centre/center or flavour/flavor :) But some words have different meanings. I remember a discussion about kitchen equipment used for cooking - I used the word hob to mean the top of a cooker where pans are heated and American members had never heard that term. Someone will now ask what a pan used for cooking is :lol:
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I tried to make a joke about the metric system. But I don't think it landed.
 
Sad news the one remaining platy passed away last night. He managed to jump into the pump compartment last week and since then hasn’t really been the same, spending lots of time by the filter outlet, and yesterday he was visibly gasping.

Water parameters have been stable since the report I posted above. Ammonia 0.25 with one spike to 0.5, Nitrite always Zero, nitrate 20-30. I’ve been managing around 5 50% water changes a week dosing with prime.

I assume for the platy it was a delayed reaction to the toxicity in the last tank but who knows. The two Armano and Nerite seem to be doing well.

Questions on next steps:

1) Is there anything I can do to help the cycle, it seems the nitrite to nitrate bacteria are well established and carried over from the last tank. But the ammonia eating bacteria are taking a while to establish? I’ve kept the tank quite cool at 22 for the variatus platy, but could potentially increase this a bit?

2) Will the loss of the platy slow the cycle further? Is it worth adding a few fish / shrimp to keep the ammonia factory going?

3) Minior point I am seeing brown algae (diatom I assume) starting to appear. Should I leave it to help with the cycle or remove?

Thanks all in advance! Feeling a little deflated at this stage and looking forward to the days of a healthy ecosystem!
 
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Slight edit to the above, today is the first day that I'm seeing 0 Ammonia. Nitrites still at 0, Nitrates somwhere between 20-30
 
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