voiceless_kat

Hi Everyone, haven't posted for a while, just enjoying Neptune and marvelling at his curiosity and beauty!

It has been one month since his tank was filled and he has been with me about 18 days. I test water every second day - since I had that whole issue with difficulty getting the Bio Spira ( would be sent to Minnesota ( I would have to get over from Ontario to get it) - $40 shipping for my entire shipment -sent to a relatives, needs refrigeration, blah,blah, blah). So I decided to do water changes.

Anyway, all readings have been 0ppm, and I have only added treated water to account for evaporation - which made the bio wheel current a little stronger that Neptune and I wanted.

ANYWAY... this morning the ammonia tested in the .50-1.0 PPM range - just barely coloured. Time for a partial water change - correct? I just wondered how much to change, half or quarter? Should I siphon out the gravel as well?? Water is crystal clear.

I am standing by waiting to go....

Thanks for any help given.

tan.b

i'm no expert by any means...i'm cycling at the mo myself, but when i get 0.5 ammonia i do a 50% water change. this is usually twice a day for me :P, but my tank is fully stocked so plenty of ammonia production going on in there! i have nitrite as well now, so thats an added concern and stress for me and my fish! i guess you have a balance to meet. lots of water changes can slow down your cycle, but without the water changes, your ammonia will poison your fish. for me, i'd rather have healthy fish and a longer cycle.

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/water/ammonia.htm

this article i found is very informative. the gills on my fish are all red (except the tetras, but it may be the red colouring on them and the fact the are so small means i just cant see it) and my ammonia has never been higher than 1.0. some people have ammonia as high as 4 and dont seem to have any probs with their fish. pH may be a factor? i dont know! i'm just unlucky i guess!!! my fish are all alive and swimming as fast as usual and eating loads, so thats good. anyway, i'm rambling. hope someone can help you soon. i''d say if in doubt, do a water change. more harm may come if you dont than if you do if that makes sense!!
good luck
Tan

LZ Floyd

I'm no expert either, but I've heard it said that anything over 0.5 ppm ammonia calls for a water change. If you can do it with a siphon vac, all the better. How much (20%, 50%, whatever) water needs to be replaced will be depend on what's needed to bring the ammonia down to 0.25 or below.

Cycling with fish in the tank is a balance of trying to get the cycle going (something that needs greater ammonia levels) and trying to keep the fish from being poisoned (something that calls for lesser ammonia levels). Personally, I'd keep the ammonia level down as far as possible.

Good luck.

Mike

ETA: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

tan.b

yeah, the lower the ammonia and nitrite the better! ideally zero, but when cycling that is just not realisically gonna happen is it?!!

also, any airation in your tank will help as well as plants which will oxygenate too. the plants also are meant to use up some of the nitrite and nitrate which again, can only be a good thing! if the gills are getting damaged, the fish cant the oxgen from the water quite as well, so if the water is oxygen rich, this can only help the fish.

voiceless_kat

Thanks guys. I just finished a 50% water change, using the siphon thingee for the gravel. I actually was surprised to see the gunk in the pail. Anyway, one article I read said to wait 24 hrs before retesting the ammonia , so I will do it in the morning. Do yu guys agree?

I was amazed at how Neptune was so curious about my hand in there fixing a plant and had to do a bit of rearranging, since my grabber things proved virtually useless. I would have thought that freaked him out. So he is happily swimming around as usual now.

I can certainly see where Bio Spira is simpler and preferable, too bad it isn't easier to get!

Thanks for your help!

Val

tan.b

yeah, i wish i could get bio-spira! i dont think its available in the uk. i've never seen it anywhere anyway!!

chickadee

The problem with Canada and the UK is that anything of an aquarist nature needs to be quarantined except for a very few items and they are all mechanical in nature or books. No fish food, medications, liquid supplements, dechlorinating agents, testing equipment or supplies, or aquatic life at all can enter. Because the Bio-spira is kind of time sensitive this just would not work and I suppose if the words "Live Bacteria" were seen it would cause a panic.

I wish you all had easier access to it as well as it is wonderful.

Rose

tan.b

shame they dont set up a factory or whatever for it here! we can get the API test kits and ammolock and melafix etc, but as you said they will last quarantine without "going off" and its not a threat, whereas live cultures may be seen as a threat to handlers health or something daft! be some health a safety policy somewhere!!! red tape eh! one day eh!! wont be before my tank is cycled thats for sure!!! more water changes!! : even worse, the water changes have aggravated an old back injury of mine that hasnt bothered me for over 5yrs, so i'm in pain too now!! i will have to get hubby involved in fetching and carrying buckets of water! :

0morrokh

You probably don't want to vacuum the gravel while the tank is cycling. This is because some of the bacteria grows on the gravel and you don't want to risk disturbing it at this point. Other than that, everything sounds great.