lish839

Hi everyone,

so I had to move my 55g tank from the wall (painting project) and we wanted to drain it anyways because we have had a bad algae problem. (source sunlight of course, now fixed) Blackouts didn't work, and we thought it would be a good time to "semi start over"
I made sure all the media (filter, gravel, plants) stayed wet in order to preserve the bacteria, about 24 hours later our real tank is set up again and the levels read -

real tank - pH 8.0, nitrate - 0, ammonia 0, nitrite 0

the levels in our temp tank are -

temp tank - ph 8.2, nitrate - 5.0, ammonia 0, nitrite 0

I have been exchanging water between tanks (32oz at a time).

I know I can't move my fish over to the real tank until the nitrate levels go up, but in the mean time my fish look totally unhappy. my pelco hasn't moved to even eat. everyone is spazing out.

I'm wondering if I should add ammonia to the real tank? I'm surprised that my nitrate levels are so low. I have a sponge filter, a large filter, and all that gravel. I'm worried to keep my fish in this 10g temp tank for too long...

Any ideas? Thank you!

harpua2002

Your levels in the main tank are going to read zero at this point because you've essentially done a 100% water change and haven't introduced a bioload (source of ammonia). Without a bioload or other source of ammonia, the bacteria on your filter media will begin to die. I suggest adding the fish back into the main tank. You may experience a mini cycle, but assuming the tank had been cycled before, it shouldn't last long. There's no need to exchange water between the tanks. You're basically just adding dirty water to the main.

lish839

ok, i'm just nervous about killing my fish. but i'll give it a go