When the sleeper wakes...

[JazzyV]

okay I’ll leave lol

 

[FishHobby99]

You're correct in that I'm not done cycling, though some would say that as I'd used old filter media and planted a significant amount of plants, my tank should be effectively 'cycled' and I could put fish in straight away.

I don't think so.

Try this super Fritz Zyme 7! Miracle worker!

 

[Myraan]

or squeeze a sponge from the first tanks filter into the new tank filter.... can't hurt, even if it dont work

haha - we all have less patience abt cycling your tank than you do

 

[FishHobby99]

Picture a room, with a dark brown, wooden table in the middle of it. There are chairs all around it.
Under the table am I...rocking to and fro, sucking hard on a thumb and giggling...quietly...

Poor Bruce!

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

or squeeze a sponge from the first tanks filter into the new tank filter.... can't hurt, even if it dont work

haha - we all have less patience abt cycling your tank than you do

A bactericide wasn't applied to the tank, so my BB should be okay, once it got fed again...which would have started to happen as soon as the Ammonia 'killer' was diluted away.
I could use Fritzyme, but I'd have to buy some and my Microbe-Lift products seem good enough for now.
My tests have shown that there's some ammonia in the tank, so we'll see what my testing tomorrow morning shows.
G'night all.

 

[FishHobby99]

Sweet dreams

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Ammonia at 0mg/l
GH 60mg/l
KH 40mg/l
pH 7.0
NO2 Nitrite <0mg/l
NO3 Nitrate 0mg/l
Temperature 26°C

NOTE that ammonia, nitrites and nitrates have fallen to zero! Happy times, although I'm well aware that just as you can have an ammonia 'spike', you can also have the opposite.

No...I'm NOT going to rush off to buy my Cherry Barbs just yet. I'll sit and test again tomorrow and Friday, in the hope that the conditions my water has today will repeat itself in subsequent tests.

 

[FishHobby99]

You’re doing great on that setup! Great chems, or params as you fish ppl say

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

A slight hint of a bacterial bloom today.
More plants added.

 

[FishHobby99]

Not having great luck with some of my plants. The goldfish ate the nice ones, cost me $5-10 a pop too (the plants from the pet shop, not the fish)

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Not having great luck with some of my plants. The goldfish ate the nice ones, cost me $5-10 a pop too (the plants from the pet shop, not the fish)

Aaaaah...one of the many difficulties of coldwater fish...they're nearly all vegetarians and even those that ain't like to rummage about in the substrate. They're programmed to know that the best food is to be found around the bases and roots of plants.

 

[FishHobby99]

They even nibble on the fake plants in there! Maybe I toss in some of the chopped spinach we just had for dinner?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

They even nibble on the fake plants in there! Maybe I toss in some of the chopped spinach we just had for dinner?

They demonstrate what they want...although throwing some spinach in BEFORE you make your own dinner might be an idea.

 

[FishHobby99]

They like raw spinach? May be fun to watch them nibble!

 

[FishHobby99]

Never, EVER, let a friend tinker with your tank!

I very nearly lost a friend today...

Having made a long journey to see me in my new home and eager to see my new tanks, "Bill"* arrived and both 'ooooh-ed' and 'ahhhhh-ed' at my established tank and I went off to make brews, as you do.
On my return, he told me that he had 'sorted' my ammonia problem in my new tank and showed me his bottle of Love Fish Ammonia Remover, having dosed my tank!
You can go and get some fish now,' he said, with a big smile on his face.
Aargh!

Bill is a child of the 90s and has only ever known the gadget and chemical-rich environment of Pets at Home fishkeeping. Over the years, we've had many a discussion and I'd seriously thought I'd brought him round to a more natural approach, based upon my own experiences.
It appeared that he'd recently visited a Pets at Home and asked, theoretically, of course, what the Ammonia Remover did. All info then gleaned sold it as a wonder product, especially designed to remove ammonia and allow fish to be added to a tank...certainly one of the most enjoyable aspects of fishkeeping.

Over coffee, we discussed the Nitrogen Cycle, at some length...and the penny gradually dropped.
Fortunately, ammonia removers don't actually kill the beneficial bacteria, they just remove their food and effectively starve them.
Many water changes did then occur, practically removing 90% of the tanks water.
I took the opportunity to do some more planting and fresh, conditioned water was then added back into the tank.

At this point, Bill told me that he'd been led to believe that the bacteria lived in the water...so another myth, legend, half-truth was effectively dispelled.

So the water's back to where it was and, hopefully, there'll be enough organic matter decaying in the tank to replace the missing ammonia. I'll test later.

Bill does have his own well-established tanks, that we set up together many, many years ago and he'd simply forgotten the basics, just because he hadn't had to set up new tanks in quite a while. He's now been sent a bunch of potentially useful links and encouraged to use his laptop.
On learning the lessons, he's now been looking on-line for hair shirts. We're going out later, where I'll point him at furze bushes, for some well-deserved self-flagellation!

Next topic for discussion will be the ethics of messing with someone else's tank...

*Not his real name and he never does forums.

Wow! I’d sic the dogs on one so bold as to touch my tanks without permission