Would this be safe to use as a dipper?

[gale]

I just did a water test and my ammonia is up. It's past 2 am here so my hubby is in bed and can't help me. I can get the water out and dumped and the bucket refilled, but I can't hold the full bucket up to the tank to pour it and have any control. I always get water all over everywhere except in the tank. The only thing I have handy to dip water is an empty vinegar bottle, which I could cut the bottom off to form a huge cup and then rinse it well. Would it be safe?

 

[yvez9]

Can't you use large glasses of water or bowls to pour water in the tank?

 

[gale]

Can't you use large glasses of water or bowls to pour water in the tank?

I can but all of my dishes go through the dishwasher. I was afraid there might be a residue on them.

 

[yvez9]

I've been doing that for over a month and have had no problems. My fish are just fine.

Dish soap is not as corrosive as stronger detergents. I think the problem with soap is the soap you use to wash floors for example is very strong so that might cause a problem.

Dish soap can't be that bad since you eat out of the plates you clean with it!

I wouldn't know if that is preferred or not though, but I've had no problems so far.

The vinegar bottle, if rinsed thoroughly, should work too though. Dip it in very hot water for 10 or 15 minutes just to be sure.

I've hatched baby brine shrimp in an orange crush 2l bottle that I just rinsed like that.

I've also read here that some people clean the inside of their tanks with water and vinegar...

 

[gale]

Well I did it. I did a 25% water change on my 20g by myself. I don't think I'll try that again though-even with the dipper I ended up all wet.

 

[yvez9]

hehe
I used to get all wet when I was doing my first water changes but I managed to get the hang of it after a few time!

at least it's done, though this early in the morning is quite odd for a water change! lol

 

[gale]

at least it's done, though this early in the morning is quite odd for a water change! lol

That's very true. One of my cory cats seems to be missing his barbels. I'm sure I would have noticed if he looked like that earlier (he's fairly new). So I did a search and someone suggested high nitrates. My nitrates are fine but I figured I would do a full set of tests since it had been a few days and the ammonia was high. I didn't think I could sleep knowing my fish were swimming in ammonia all night.

 

[yvez9]

Has your tank cycled yet?
you shouldn't be getting any ammonia spikes unless your tank is either overstocked or has not cycled.

How long has your tank been running?

 

[gale]

I think it might be going through a mini cycle for a variety of reasons:

added 5 fish in 2 nights because of lfs screwup plus my 10g was leaking so I had to put those fish in the 20g too.

did a gravel vacuum and filter change at the same time (dumb, I know)

had a LOT of dead plant matter from my hornwort for some reason. I ended up taking all of the plant out-I didn't like it anyway. So I had to do a light gravel vacuum to get that junk out.

This was all in the space of a week or less I think so I am sure it contributed. Since then I've been doing daily water changes (except the 2 days up to thanksgiving until now, during that time the tests were ok). Hopefully it'll pass quickly with no fish deaths but I'm debating buying some bio spira (online of course, no lfs near me has it) to help it along.

 

[yvez9]

if you changed filters without keeping any of the media and did a gravel vac at the same, you probably wiped out the bacteria in your tank and will have to cycle it again. Plus adding many fish at once will overlad the little bacteria you had left

I hope none of your fish will suffer from this.

 

[gale]

Yeah I'm kicking myself over it. So far the fish have been fine-it was about a week ago. I posted about it here. After that 2nd day with ammonia up, I had one more day of .25 ammonia in which I did another 25% water change, and then 2 straight days with zero on ammonia and nitrites and 10 for nitrates. Then on thanksgiving and the day after I didn't test it and then I tested it tonight. (sat night).

eta: I posted here about the sudden stocking of fish. I wasn't planning on putting any fish in my 20g at the time but with the lfs giving me the wrong fish and then the tank leaking I had no choice. Admittedly I didn't have to get the 2 other glo lites but I thought they were schooling fish and one looked way too lonely. Luckily they are tiny and hopefully not too messy.

 

[yvez9]

lfs are good at giving bad advice sadly

but don,t blame yourself for anything because you were misinformed by others

the important thing is to learn from your mistakes

 

[gale]

Ammonia is back down today! Plus I exchanged my leaky tank so now I can get the new one set up, put the filter media back in (which is in the filter thing of my big tank) and some gravel in a sock, then put some fish in and relieve some of the load of the other tank. I'm going to order some bio spira tonight and by the time it gets here the tank should be ready-hopefully that will help it along.

as far as bad lfs advice, I have gotten enough to last me a lifetime. Someday I'll list it and it'll take up a whole page. lol

 

[yvez9]

Sounds good

Hope your fish will be happy when they've all settled in their tanks.
I can't wait to have fully stocked my 20 gallon

I'll be keeping around 6 fish in there.

Then one day, I'll buy a 225 gallon tank and keep sharks!!!

 

[smithrc]

we used to put the ironing board up and put the bucket on that - then syphon the water back into the tank with the gravel syphon

we now have a python and its SOOO much easier