Need tank advice

[GuppyLover23]

Hello Everyone,

It's been a while since I've had a tank and since setting up the one I have now I'm having some issues with it. First I have a 29gal tank, one little plastic plant and my fish include 2 guppies, 2 platties, and 3 swords. Over the past week and a half the ammonia keeps skyrocketting. I've done one huge water change and that seemed to help for a couple days and now it's back up again. I've been very careful to not overfeed as well. As far as the other readings go, the ph is still a little high as well, but the bacteria levels are fine. Any suggestions as to what's causing the rise in ammonia? Should I do daily water changes until it goes away? (I add plenty of cycle bacteria after doing a water change as well) Please help!

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Firstly how long have you had this present tank set-up? Perhaps it is still in the cycling stage.

You could try making the fish fast for a couple of days, and you could also try something called Ammo-Lock, haven't used that particular product myself but I've heard good things about it.

 

[GuppyLover23]

We set it up a couple days before christmas, so I know it's still cycling.......and I've used plenty of ammo-lock already. We were told by our LFS that we could start our tank out with some goldfish for a few days to get it started, but now I'm wondering if that did more harm than good...we dont have the goldies any longer. One other thing, could the brand of fish food be adding to the problem? (we are using tetramin fish flakes at the moment)

 

[kittyuk]

I am also starting up fishkeeping again after a break of twenty years!

When I set up a tank back then, it was a case of filling it with water, adding water conditioner and adding the fish the next day! That was the way my friends did it and it worked for us.

This time around, I found out that you have to let the tank cycle.

I filled my tank up, added some murky, mucky water from the lfs's tank and let it run with the underground filter and heater on for a week, then added six leopard danios.
Apparently the amonia peaks after a couple of weeks then reduces saftely enough for you to add more fish, a few at a time. My second addition was mollies, because the lfs said they were quite tough. (I could have used platties)
I didn't do a water change for six weeks because I didn't know you had to!

When you did a huge water change, I guess the amonia caused by the new water has to peak again, then settle down.

When I part change my water, I only do a couple of buckets each time and add stress coat to the fresh water to counteract the chlorine in the tap water.

I don't know if having real plants in the tank help.

I am no expert, but have learnt everything I know from the lovely people here

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Having real plants won't have an effect on Ammonia, but it will help reduce the NitrAtes.

 

[kittyuk]

Thanks creamcheeseandlox, I thought they were useful for something

 

[semper fi]

the basics of cycling and what is the benefit of it is the following.

first the new water has no ammonia (hopefully) or nitrates present. good habit to get inot is to test your tap water every time that you add to the tank. the cycling of the tank is the creation of the biological filter which contains the bacteria that will feed on the ammonia and nitrates to remove them from the aquarium. the first step is the ammonia. to create ammonia in the water you have two choices. a fishless or fish cycle. the fish create ammonia in the tank through the waste disposal of food and food and/or debris decomposing so to speak in the tank. this is not meant to suggest that you overfeed. when the tank is cycled you will want to remove all food that is left over from feeding. in a fishless cycle you can either let the tank set and perform small water changes or add ammonia to the water. you want to make sure that you get pure ammonia. if it bubbles when shaken it has additives. ie color, perfumes etc... the recipe for this is one drop of pure ammonia for every five gallons of water. when the ammonia levels have spiked or increased noticeabley from testing, you have acheived the first stage.

second stage is when the ammonia is broken down to nitrites. nitrites are just as toxic as ammonia but not as concentrated. you will notice the levels of ammonia decreasing and the nitrites increasing. bacteria is then created in the gravel bed, filter, powerheads and what not to remove the nitrites. this is called the nitrifiying bacteria. when the nitrites and ammonia has gone to zero levels the nitrates will increase this is the third stage of the removal of the toxins from the water. nitrates are the least harmful of the three. you will still want to ensure that there levels are zero though. plants help to remove the nitrates from the water. plants feed on the nitrates in the water. the faster growing plants such as the swords require more nitrate than the slower growing plants. once the tank water reads zero levels the tank is considered cycled.

the reason you want a cycle tank is to remove the toxins and create the bacteria to assist in this. over stocked tanks require larger amounts of the bacteria. it is a good idea to add the fish slowly one or tow at a time to allow the bacteria to grow and increase to handle the load of the tank. large amounts of fish added at one time will cause the biological filter to "crash" and can result in fish loss.

a tank cycled with fish is faster than a fishless cycle. you will want to use some of the cheaper and hardier fish for this. it can cause a strain on the fish and result in fish loss. the ammonia method will give you a cycled tank in about two weeks. a fishless cycle will give you a cycled tank in about 6 weeks. while you are doing the cycling of the tank you will still want to do water changes of about 10 % no matter which method you decide to go with. when using the ammonia method, if you are planning on adding plants to the tank it is a good idea to add the plants after the ammonia and nitrites have zeroed out.

another wayt to jump start a tank is to use used equipment and water. most lfs will give you some of their water to jumpstart your tank. water changes and testing are required.

hth

maggie

 

[FRY]

KITTYUK

Well i dont fell to bad now of starting again after34 years ,all we did then is water in conditioner and next day fish never had hardly any problem,today its a hole new thing to learn over again filters,conditioners and what not, buts its realaxing again

thanks Fry