Proudmommy12

Ok, so my hubby and I just got into the fishkeeping hobby and we need some advice. We bought a 55 gallon tank off a lady from Craigslist, and she had 3 black skirt tetras, 3 corys, 1 pleco, and 2 mollys. She had a rena XP1 as the filter.

When we got it home I cleaned out the aquarium and set it all up, added the water conditioner and I also bought Bio-spira since I read that it was good with cycling tanks. I knew we'd have help from the media in the filter since it still had her bacteria in it. Well it's been four weeks, and our ammonia levels are still almost 1ppm. I've used ammo-lock and it says that it doesn't remove ammonia, just changes it to the non toxic form. So how do I know when my ammonia tests wont be reading the ammo lock anymore?? Everything else seemed ok, the ph was 7.6, nitrites were 0 and nitrates were 10 ppm.

After a lot of research I realized that the rena xp1 was advertised as up to 45 gallons. Could the problem be that this isn't a big enough filter for this tank?? Also sometimes the fish go to the surface and gulp air and I asked at my LFS and they said that we may need more oxygen exchange. They recommended a powerhead to move the water at the top of the surface since my rena doesn't have a moveable jet head. I tried the spray bar, but it doesn't have much power to push the water out quick enough.

As I was researching a powerhead, I discovered the eheim filters and think I'm going to get one. What would you think about using an Eheim 2028 for the Biological filtration and getting a Magnum 350 for the chemical and mechanical? I think that upping the size of the filter will help this tank. If i do that, I won't need a powerhead because I can adjust the eheim to spray towards the surface right??

Also, how often are you supposed to do a water change. And how much water do you remove?? I've done two since I got the tank, but the ammonia didn't seem to go down much each time. I used my baby's bathtub that tells the temp of the water to make sure I"m putting water back in with the same temp and I conditioned it prior to putting it back in the tank. Do you have to get every little piece of debris out?? It just seems like there's all kinds of crap floating around when I use the gravel vacumn, and I hardly get any of it. I'd be vacumning forever to get it all!!

Ok if you made it this far thanks so much for reading and for your help. I really want to do all this the right way and learn at the same time. I'm going to post this in the beginner forum too, since there's much more than just filters going on here!!

Thanks!!
Aly

ETA: I found the Eheim 2028 with media on Big ALs site for 219.99 and the magnum 350 on petsmarts site for 69.99 with free ship. Are those good prices or can i get them cheaper elsewhere? Thanks!

sjlchgo

Stop using the ammolock. Do 30% water changes every 2 days until the levels drop. I would only use stress coat and stress zyme together. I would recommend the Aquaclear 500.

Proudmommy12

Would you recommend the aquaclear over the eheim?? I've just read so much hype about the eheim I thought it was the best. Is the ammolock bad?

Tavel

wow, i think you're going a little headlong into this.

the 2028 is really a lot bigger than you need. I'd go with an eheim 2213-2215, or a 2026 if you're really intent on getting the professional line.

Also, only get ONE filter, either the magnum or the eheim. You don't need both. Not that you can over-filter, but you're just wasting money by overshooting on the filtration.

You can get a decent deal on the 2213 from dr. foster and smith...about $70 plus shipping.

All you need for aeration is an aerating power head. I have an eheim aquaball that i like very much...but any aerating power head will work just fine. You can also do up some ceramic air diffusers (but with cost of pump and diffusers, it's more expensive than a powerhead).

Once you get a little more air into the tank everything will turn around. the ammonia will go down and the fish will become healthy and active.

Proudmommy12

Oh ok, I guess I was going a little overboard!! But I've read that the magnum's were good for chemical and mechanical filtration, while the eheim's were good for the biological.

I think I'll get the powerhead, I really need the circulation. So when the oxygen level rises, the ammonia goes down?

Tavel

correct. the bacteria requires oxygen to do it's work, if it's starved of oxygen it will work slower. That's why ammonia builds up.