shaolin95

Hi !
I got a 55 gallon freshwater tank.
I have been getting 0 on ammonia, nitrate(5 actually) and nitrite.
This is a Tank that was previously running from a previous owner and I kept the same media with water on the filter when I brought it home plus about 10 gallons of the old water inside the Tank.

After 5 days checking the Ammonia I noticed that it was no longer completely yellow but had a small greenish tint to it.
Not green like the .25 mark on the API master testing kit but not quite yellow so I changed 10 gallons of water but still got the same thing.

I have no idea what media is inside the filter and after reading the Manual this is VERY complicated.
Some people say not to use Ammonia Remover media because I am removing the Bacteria food but then again I am getting a bit of Ammonia levels so if I remove the Ammonia Remover media (if it is even in there) isn't that going to cause a spike and kill my fish?
Not sure what to do.
Thanks!



BTW I am getting a Hydor Koralia Power heard Level 1 this week and a heater to keep things nice there.

iloveengl

Hello! Welcome to FishLore.

I'm not 100% certain I understand your post. Can you please re-list your current water params. & fill out your tank info (under "My Settings"). Do you have ammonia (any amount at all)? Do you have nitrIte? Anything for nitrAte?

I don't particularly care for ammonia-removing filter fiber because it slicks chemicals into the water that looks gross and freaks me out. Can you use regular filter fiber? I'm not familiar with canisters, so I can't be more specific than that....

If you do have ammonia, a better, cheaper option would be a bottle of Prime and regular water changes until the ammonia and nitrites = 0 and nitrAtes = less than 20.

Adding a cap full of Prime to the tank water will neutralize the ammonia so that it doesn't hurt your fish, but it keeps it in the water so that the bacteria can feed off it and allow your tank to re-cycle. Regular partial water changes will keep the water healthy for the fish while the tank re-cycles.

It's great that you kept the cycled media and the water in there to keep the media wet. The tank water in itself won't carry the bacteria, though. My concern is that if the bacteria went more than 48 hours with something to feed it (fish waste, fish food, etc.), it dies off and then that tank needs to be re-cycled. Hopefully, you're just experiencing a mini-cycle from the addition of new fish. Either way, a bottle of Prime is the cheaper and, imo, healthier option.

Best of luck and I hope all of that made sense. LoL

shaolin95

Thankfully I've been reading enough for this to make sense now! lol

Ammonia it was 0 for the first 5 days then I got a slightly greenish tint to the water. It was not at the .25 green mark on the API Master test kit but it was not completely yellow like it was before.
I changed 10 gallons (treated the water with API Stress Coat before adding) but I still have the same slightly greenish look to it.
So I added API Zyme to the water and now it is back to Yellow.
From what I have been reading this could be not such a good fix because someone claims this makes the cycle longer because this bottled bacteria is not the same as the regular one...not sure.

BTW I bought AMMO Lock but it seems this PRIME you mentioned is a much better alternative.
I think I am going to stop using the Zyme (I was supposed to add it on the 1st, 7th and 14th day) and use Prime instead since it keeps the Ammonia as food for the bacteria to grow.
BTW we had the tank running again in about 3 hours after I bought it from the previous owner.
Thanks!

Regal

Welcome to FishLore!

It sounds like you are just having a mini cycle. I had the same thing after moving my aquarium from one room to the other. I kept the filter media wet just like you did and probably took about the same amount of time to move things as you did.

I had the same slightly green color in my test kit test tube about two weeks after the move. I know just what you mean it's not yellow but not really at the .25 green level either. My tanks never have any ammonia so it seemed something just got out of whack when I moved the tank. I just kept up my regular weekly water changes and the teeny ammonia spike went away quickly. I think it was back to yellow in about a week.

I try to avoid adding chemicals to my tank. I would use the stress coat (that's all I use) or a similar product to treat your tap water at water changes and keep a close eye on the ammonia levels. My stress coat bottle says it neutralizes ammonia. Bi-weekly water changes for a couple weeks might be a good idea to keep the ammonia levels down.

shaolin95

Will.
So you guys recommend I leave my filter the way it is then?
I do not even know what it has in there since it has like 6 chambers to put stuff in.
I wish I could get a digital ammonia reader...hate guessing colors! lol

iloveengl

I can't even tell you all the different methods I've used to try to figure out those color shades.

Yeah I google imaged search your filter... it looks quite a bit more complicated than my HOB. Hmmmm, double-check if there is a replaceable filter that should be removed every couple weeks (HOB filters are like that). My only concern is if there is a replaceable and it's not replaced, gross stuff can leach back into the water and cause another min-cycle.

EDIT: Check this out...

Fluval 305 media question

I pasted "fluval 305" into the forum search and that was the first thing (besides your thread) that I found. There were other links, but that one looked promising. You could always PM CoffeeBean for more advice too.

FlintyDoughy

I have the 305 and use 3 sections of biomax and 3 sections of carbon. I change the biomax every 6 months (but not all at once) and the carbon every month. I also rinse out the foam in aquarium water when i change the carbon

shaolin95

So 3 of biomax and 3 with carbon..any order preferences for example the top 3 biomax or so?
Do you need one bag per container?
Thanks :-)

gmen4life

well i noticed when i use carbon that i have to do my canister media once a month and i could wait like 2 months so now i use no carbon....in one canister i use coarse media on the bottom then bio max in the middle then bio in the top with fine floss on top .....the second canister has one coarse on the bottom with fine floss in the rest to make my water crystal clear....if i were to feel the need for carbon i would put it in my hob AC 70 i like carbon less personally because i dont have to worry about anything leaching back into my tank. i do weekly pwc also so this works for me testing perfect anytime....also seems that you hve a mini cycle do daily pwc for like a week maybe 2 so the ba teria can multiply and catch up

aspects

unless you are dosing meds, you dont need the carbon. your best bet is to fill all the chambers with bio-max (or other bio media, like ceramic rings, etc), and top it with a filter pad.
i would remove the ammonia pad as well. once established, the bacteria in your bio-media will remove all the ammonia for you.