stevieg20

Okay, about a week ago I had all but one of my fish die. Wether the aquarium hadn't cycled yet or not, I'm not sure. It had been going for about 2-3 weeks. Anyway, thats beside the point. I have a 20 gallon aquarium, undergravel filter, one leopard danio left. (she is VERY lonely) Even better, my little sister broke my heater so she is not allowed anywhere near my room for a long time. I purchased a water test kit and the readings as of today (9/24/2006) are Ammonia: 1, NitrIte: .25, and NitrAte: a little above 0. These readings were about 1 hour after I did a 50% water change. I also ordered the Aquaclear 50 Power Filter to add to the tank. Now my questions are, any suggestions on a heater? How much longer until my tank has cycled? Should I add more fish? Will the Power Filter do all three forms of filtration? (soon I will be posting a picture of my tank just so you can have an idea of the setup.) Also my ph is very high [about 7.6-7.8] will new fish be able to adapt to that?

THANKS FOR EVERYONES HELP!!!
Steve

stevieg20

Here is my tank, its pretty sad right now as I've had three live plants all of which have died... this is very stressful but I know it'll be very rewarding at the end.

Attached Images

tank92406.jpg (152.5 KB, 23 views)

Gunnie

Yep. Your tank is cycling. You could add 2 more danios, but that would be it until the tank is cycled. Do not let the ammonia or nitrite level get higher than 1. If it does, do at least a 50% water change until it gets below that. Your ph is fine. Don't change it. Just acclimate your new fish slowly to your tank by adding tablespoonfuls of tank water to the bag while it's floating to make sure the ph is adjusted and they are acclimated before adding the new fish to the tank. Add the tablespoonful of tank water about every 15 minutes for a couple of hours, and then when you add the fish, net them out of the water in the bag. Do not add the bagged water to the tank, just pour it out in the sink or outside.

I normally don't recommend you add fish to cycle a tank, but you already have a fish in there, and 3 danios are what I cycled my first tank which was a 20 gallon also. Ideally, you should try and get the store and cycle your tank by using pure ammonia instead. If you start a new tank, this is the way you should cycle it. You can also borrow some filter media from your cycled tank to help cycle the new one, or your can run an extra filter for a few weeks on your cycled tank, and then just move it over to the new tank when you are ready to add fish.

stevieg20

Yeah, I knew most of that, but that doesn't answer a lot of the questions I had. Thats good advice and I've heard most of it before, shows you know what you're talking about! Thanks!

Isabella

Yes, 50% daily water changes, until ammonia and nitrite both = 0, as I've told you before. It's good that you ordered that Aqua Clear 50 power filter - will be great for your 20 gallon tank. Remember though what I told you on how to get the new filter mature (cycled) and when to remove the old UG filter (if you decide to remove it).

As for a heater, I think a 100W submersible heater would be great. In my 10 gallon tank I have a 50W heater and in my 30 gallon tank I have a 150W heater (both submersible), so I figure that for a 20 gallon tank a heater of 100W will be OK. Hagen's Tronic submersible heaters are great and they come with thermostats - these are the heaters I have. There are also many other brands of submersible heaters but I have no experience with them so I cannot comment on them. But I am sure there are many good ones out there.