Urgent Help/Advice needed: 29gallon + fish

[xcalibreplcp]

Hi,

I hope everyone is having a good week.

I recently planted and stocked a 29 gallon tank (30.25x12.5x18.75). It was an emergency.

Only cycled 24 hours (had two tanks break during our move).

I wont be able to get a 50 gallon for another 30 to 60 days.

I'm concerned my ammonia levels may spike.

Im running two filters:

1. Aqueon Quiet Flow 20
2. Fluval UI (Previously Precycled in a well established aquarium)

Tank is not heavily planted but planted enough to offer hiding spots to make half of the fish invisible.
Plant names: not sure but I have sword tails and some other low light varieties (all from other tanks).

The fish (no problems yet):

1 gold german ram cyclid
1 gold gourami (was concerned about agression but he/she is pretty tame ... no bullying... lived w other gouramis in my other tank)
2 dwarf gouramis
6 rasboras (getting one more)
5 neon tetras
5 sterbas corys
3 glofish danios (we are taking care of them for the next 2 weeks for my neighbor's kid... theyll be gone soon).

Tank is a steady 80 degrees
PH 7ish.... I want it around 6.8
HOW SCREWED AM I?

Should/Can I feed every other day to avoid an ammonia spike?

Daily 10% water change?

Will the plants help with ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?

Will chemicals?

Thanks in advance,

Mr. OhGodWhyMe


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[Colin_T]

feed the fish twice a week and do a 75% water change and a complete gravel clean 3-4 hours after feeding.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Monitor the ammonia and nitrite and if you get any readings do a 75% water change and gravel clean the tank.

10% water changes are useless and don't dilute anything.

don't try to alter your pH.

 

[seangee]

How long was the cycled filter turned off for? Did the media stay wet at all times?

 

[xcalibreplcp]

How long was the cycled filter turned off for? Did the media stay wet at all times?

the cycled filter had been running for a couple of months... i sort of figured having a cycled filter would come in handy... the media was always wet. filter may have been off for less that 1 hr during the move.

will the plants help?

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[Fin & Feather]

Allow some gravel unvaccuumed for beneficial bacteria development. Get a new filter pad and ask to leave it in a circulated, tank, filter of your local fish store or friend's established tank for a few days or at least rub the filter pad/cartridge in the floor medium of a healthy established tank and transport moist and warm in a plastic bag. And/or do this with some of your gravel in a another established tank or conversely borrow some of their gravel.
Purchase some viable Safe Start bacteria starter formulated by the scientist who discovered the bacteria, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite biofiltering tank cycle.
Reduce volume from your initial large emergency water change to less than 50% to allow for beneficial bacteria growth as a large portion of your "good", necessary bacteria is in your water and carried to your floor medium and tank walls by established water. You also have various types of cultures to assist in each step of detoxification.
Use Prime or Safe instant water conditioner. They are the same, Safe is the concentrated powdered base/origin of Prime. It (they) detoxify Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrites, Clorine, Cloramine pretty instantly and speed cycling. Must use daily until toxins spike is controlled. Happy to assist with any other questions. Best Wishes! Mont.

 

[Fin & Feather]

10-20% WC depending on tox readings 24 hrs after Safe/Prime use.

 

[xcalibreplcp]

Allow some gravel unvaccuumed for beneficial bacteria development. Get a new filter pad and ask to leave it in a circulated, tank, filter of your local fish store or friend's established tank for a few days or at least rub the filter pad/cartridge in the floor medium of a healthy established tank and transport moist and warm in a plastic bag. And/or do this with some of your gravel in a another established tank or conversely borrow some of their gravel.
Purchase some viable Safe Start bacteria starter formulated by the scientist who discovered the bacteria, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite biofiltering tank cycle.
Reduce volume from your initial large emergency water change to less than 50% to allow for beneficial bacteria growth as a large portion of your "good", necessary bacteria is in your water and carried to your floor medium and tank walls by established water. You also have various types of cultures to assist in each step of detoxification.
Use Prime or Safe instant water conditioner. They are the same, Safe is the concentrated powdered base/origin of Prime. It (they) detoxify Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrites, Clorine, Cloramine pretty instantly and speed cycling. Must use daily until toxins spike is controlled. Happy to assist with any other questions. Best Wishes! Mont.

Ill call my aquarium store tomorrow to see if they can give me one thats been cycled. I also have gravel from ome of the broken tanks... no broken glass in the media.... still in about 2 inches of water that hasnt moved in 3 or 4 days.... is it still useable?

prime: got it

and what about water changes?

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[Colin_T]

the cycled filter had been running for a couple of months... i sort of figured having a cycled filter would come in handy... the media was always wet. filter may have been off for less that 1 hr during the move.

If that is the case then you should be fine. Just monitor ammonia & nitrite levels and do a big water change if you get a reading. But keep feeding down to bare minimum for a few weeks until you know the filters are working properly.

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Don't use filters, gravel or gunk from a shop tank. They are riddled with microscopic organisms (mostly protozoans) and most of the organisms are not the good bacteria that you want.

If your filter has been running continuously for 2 months and it has not been left to dry out, the filter bacteria should be fine.

 

[xcalibreplcp]

10-20% WC depending on tox readings 24 hrs after Safe/Prime use.

wow Fin thank you so much!



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[xcalibreplcp]

If that is the case then you should be fine. Just monitor ammonia & nitrite levels and do a big water change if you get a reading. But keep feeding down to bare minimum for a few weeks until you know the filters are working properly.

How long does it take for filter media to die if a filter is turned off? Asking for future.

Do plants have any major benefit? I have one ugly sword tail or whatever its called ... it has some algea on it. i assume media that helps keep ammonia down may like to live in algea... is my assumption right? and yeah i risk having algea in the tank but all i care about are the little guys making it atm...

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[xcalibreplcp]

If that is the case then you should be fine. Just monitor ammonia & nitrite levels and do a big water change if you get a reading. But keep feeding down to bare minimum for a few weeks until you know the filters are working properly.

------------------------
Don't use filters, gravel or gunk from a shop tank. They are riddled with microscopic organisms (mostly protozoans) and most of the organisms are not the good bacteria that you want.

If your filter has been running continuously for 2 months and it has not been left to dry out, the filter bacteria should be fine.

ok got it. no shop filters.

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[seangee]

As Colin said - your cycled filter should be fine. But do keep checking your ammonia / nitrite evels for a few weeks. The reason for suggesting plants is that plants us ammonia as a source of food. So if you have enough plants they will absorb all the ammonia even if you don't have enough BB. Fast growing plants eat more so something like frogbit or water sprite floating in the tank is a great idea.

 

[Colin_T]

Beneficial filter bacteria live on hard or solid surfaces where oxygen rich water is moving over those surfaces. The good filter bacteria does not live in plants or algae, but it will live on plant stems and leaves. But lots of other microscopic organism live their too. So most beneficial filter bacteria live in or on filter materials like sponges that have lots of little holes (that provides lots of surface area) for the bacteria to live on.

If you have a power filter and the power goes off, the bacteria will start to suffocate after a couple of hours. But it is fine for a few hours before this happens. In cooler water the bacteria don't use as much oxygen and lasts longer without water moving over them compared to warm water (28-30C). In water below 20C, the beneficial bacteria can last for 12 hours or more without water moving over it. If the water gets too cold (below 5C) the bacteria go dormant and don't use oxygen, ammonia or nitrite.

Bacteria living in Hang on Back (HOB) style filters last longer than those living in external canister filters because air can get to the water and help keep oxygen levels high enough for the beneficial bacteria. In an external canister filter, the air cannot come in contact with the water in the filter and the bacteria will suffocate sooner.

Bacteria living inside Internal power filters will last longer than bacteria in other types of filter because they are in the aquarium with a larger water volume with more oxygen in it.

If there is a lot of gunk in the filter materials, the micro-organisms that don't help with filtration will use oxygen along with the beneficial bacteria, and all the organisms including filter bacteria, die sooner. Cleaning filter materials regularly helps minimise unhelpful bacteria due to less gunk in the filter, leaving more room and oxygen for the beneficial filter bacteria.

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To keep filter bacteria alive during a power failure, you can simply add water from the tank to a HOB filter every hour, and let it overflow back into the tank. This refreshes the water and adds oxygen for the bacteria.

With an external canister filter you take the outlet hose and put it in a bucket next to the filter. Allow the bucket to fill up and then put the outlet hose back in the tank. Pour the bucket of water into the aquarium. Do this about once an hour.

Internal filters are usually fine but you can use a battery air pump or just blow air thru some airline into the tank for a few minutes to create surface turbulence and that helps with water movement and keeping oxygen levels high.

If you are moving house or moving the tank and the filters will be off for more than a few hours, clean the filter & filter materials a day or two before you do the move. Then on the day of the move, put the filter materials into a bucket of aquarium water and have an airstone bubbling away in the water. It doesn't have to be too vigorous, just something to create a bit of surface turbulence and water movement. The filter bacteria can live like this for days or even weeks, altho after a few days without food they start to go dormant.

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Healthy aquatic plants that are receiving light, will use ammonia from the water. Floating plants use more ammonia because their roots are suspended in the water. Plants growing in the substrate use less because they don't have as much ammonia getting to their roots because they are in the gravel. They do absorb a small amount through the leaves but most nutrients are taken up through the roots.

If the plants have algae on their leaves, the algae will inhibit the plant's ability to photosynthesise and use nutrients in the water. However, single celled algae in the water, and healthy algae growing on ornaments and glass, will use ammonia too. But they need to be getting light to do this. When it is dark at night (when the lights are out), plants will not photosynthesise or use nutrients in the water. And they use oxygen and release carbon dioxide.

 

[Fin & Feather]

Yes well shop filters depending on the hygiene of your fish store. Ours have individual tanks not systemic water with impeccable care and knowledge. They don't have systemic water system. Never gotten a sick fish in 40 plus years with them. Usually use jump starts with filters from my among my own tanks.
As for using your old media yes, do use the media but not the remaining water. As oxygen deprived water degenerates and developes toxins as little as in 24 hours depending on air temperature. However there can be surviving anaerobic bacteria that require little or no oxygen. As there different beneficial bacteria cultures in a healthy functioning tank. Some require more oxygen and flow.
Agreed with plants. Another very fast growing plant that will serve as an attractive floating plant and/or rooted in media is Water Wisteria. As a floating plant it's roots draw the Ammonia and nitrates directly from the water and in turn releases oxygen. It's lacy foilage allows light to plants below and allows fish to reach floating food. An added bonus the fish seem to enjoy playing, sheltering, feeding and resting in it.
As too water changes others have addresses that and many people have different answers. After initial large water change usually 75 to 50% IF water reading toxin levels are high. Subsequent water changes can be small amounts daily or slightly more 20% every other day, the duration of which is not dependant on any length of time but rather on amount and size of fish stock and toxicity levels and cars devoted during this crucial time. Again additional seeding can speed up cycling. Micro organisms will be present on the fish and in the water no matter where you got the fish from. The key is in water quality, which is key to the fish remaining healthy as they will not manifest any illness that is carried in the water. Also Safe Start is a bottled cultured but natural bacteria/bacteria starter that can increase your good bacteria volume and cycling speed greatly on both counts.

 

[Fin & Feather]

As to Safe Start, it is dormant bacteria that is activated when added to aquarium water. Some aquaria outlets keep it refrigerated. I have refrigerated unused portions. I can enquire further from the company if the initial sealed bottle requires cooling or extends viability life.