Beginner saying hello and would like some advice.

HI Guys and Girls,

Just recently set up our new 48x20x15 tank, approx. 240 litre capacity. Tank has been set up for 8 days, after some poor advice from our local fish shop, I stocked the tank with 6 neon tetras, and 2 1-2cm koi angel fish, I realise now that ideally we should of completed the fish less cycle before stocking, Ive got a basic understanding of the nitrogen cycle.

The neons seem really happy and are shoaling together happily and eating fine, the two angels seem somewhat apprehensive, although as more time goes along they seem to be coming out of there shell a little, although one of them is spending most of its time tucked by the side of the filter, seems to be feeding a little now and again.

Water parameters are Ph is 7.5, KH is 3D, GH IS 7D, Ammonia is 0.5mg\l, Nitrite is 0.5mg/l, and Nitrate is 10mg/l. These are the same results for the last 2 days.

Do theses parameters look ok for this time period, Ive completed 1x25% water change two days ago.


The tank is fairly heavily planted

Does this all seem fairly normal, or is there anything inpaticular I should do or not. I do realise ive done my research the wrong way round and should of done it before stocking etc. Any advise would be appreciated.

Here's a couple of pics

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First and foremost. Welcome to the forums.
and now the questions.
What are you using to test the water?
Did you use a bacterial supplement like Seachem Stability or TSS+ or something similar?
When doing water changes are you using a water detoxifier?
What filter are you using?
How did you acclimate the fish into the new tank?

and finally gorgeous tank.

 

Welcome to the forum

Could you also test your water source for all 4 parameters - pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? This is just to see if any of those readings are from your water source which would or wouldn't indicate a progressing cycle. And what test kit are you using?

What kind of water conditioner do you use? A good one to have is Seachem Prime which also detoxifies ammonia/nitrite up to 1ppm for 24 hrs along with removing chlorine and chloramines. It wouldn't hurt to also pick up a bacteria supplement like Tetra SafeStart Plus (if available to you there) or Seachem Stability. Normal cycling w/o a bacteria supplement can take up to 12 weeks. Either of the products mentioned would help cycle in 2-3 weeks.

Just a note on your stocking - your neons prefer temps below 75 and your angels would require temps around 78. Your angels may also eat your neons as they get bigger so I think you will want to rehome either the angels or neons.

 

Welcome! Good for you for doing research, even if it is after the tank is started. I would consider searching for "fish in cycle" using either Seachem Stability or Tetra Safe Start. One is not better than the other, they are for different situations. With safe start you need a very lightly stocked tank (1-2 inches of fish per 10 us gallons) and do no water changes for 14 days. With Seachem Stability you (if I recall correctly) dose daily for a week and you can do water changes (which can be good if you don't have a super light bioload).

 

HI thanks for the welcomes, I'm using the liquid master test kit, (can't think of the name) I initially used a filter booster, I've been givin a tetra safe start, (it's out of date thou) so I haven't used it. I'm currently running two u1 fluval filters either end of the tank.

I'll have a look at seachem stability as I would like to keep up water changes, I've been using a detoxifier when changing water.

Also noted about the Angels eating neons, we were advised poorly that may be ok if we bought the Angels when they were small. The Angels seem more wary of the neons, I assume as they are quite quick.

Thanks guys

 

That tank has only been set up for 8 days??!! WOW, it is beautiful!! That looks like a very VERY well established tank. Nice job!!

And welcome to fishlore. You will get so much great advice and support on here!!

 

The neons will most likely get eaten when the angels grow up. And as also has been stated they are not compatible temperature wise with angels who should be at about 80 degrees. When picking out fishmates for angels look for peaceful fish that do not nip fins, and get big enough not to fit in the adults angelfish's mouth. Examples harlequin rasboras, black neons, cherry barbs, lambchop rasboras, rummy nose tetras, ect. That is a beautiful tank congrats. Welcome to the forum and glad you decided to join us. Alison

 

HI thanks for the welcomes, I'm using the liquid master test kit, (can't think of the name) I initially used a filter booster, I've been givin a tetra safe start, (it's out of date thou) so I haven't used it. I'm currently running two u1 fluval filters either end of the tank.

I'll have a look at seachem stability as I would like to keep up water changes, I've been using a detoxifier when changing water.

Also noted about the Angels eating neons, we were advised poorly that may be ok if we bought the Angels when they were small. The Angels seem more wary of the neons, I assume as they are quite quick.

Thanks guys

Two fluval U1 filters total 130 gph which would make your tank extremely underfiltered. For your tank size, you need at least 600 gph total filtration since recommended is 8-10x the tank size. Personally, I'd upgrade to a bigger filter or two.

 

I hadn't realised that, wow I'm stumped. I better look for another filter, just having a quick look there, and it seems the u4 would be suitable, says upto 250l. Would I just swap the internals from the u1 into a new filter.

Thanks everyone for the help and kind comments, only wish I'd joined 8 days ago.

 

Yes, two U4's would be good enough. I would transfer all the media you have from the current filters into the new ones.

 

I was thinking only 1 (I've still got a lot to learn) would I be better off with a external. There is local to me fluval 306 external. That looked to be sufficient enough. I'm probably wrong.

 

One U4 is still only 250gph. With a canister filter, you can get away with 5x the tank size so yes, the Fluval 306 which has 303 gph would be ok too.

 

Brilliant, thanks for your help, the guy mentioned the filter needs a propeller, the only think I see mentioned about propeller, is a impeller? Would that be right, and predictive txt has got him

 

Yes, probably meant impeller.

 

Thank you. Hopefully get it sorted as soon as possible.

On the plus side hiding Angel has been swimming about a little more tonight.

 

Right, looks like I'm getting the 306 tomorrow, any thing I should look out for when buying it, would it still work without the impeller or damaged one, just so I can test it.

Thank you

 

7.5 isn't that a little high for neons but that tank looks amazing

 

Yeah I think it is, we've got mod soft water too, I had been using the dip sticks, but they were unreliable, the liquid yet kit is 7.0-7.5.

 

If the impeller is totally damaged it wont't pull water. That is the mechanism that actually does the pumping. They are usually cheap. But depends on what he means by a damaged impeller. Some people think it's damaged when it just needs a good cleaning.

 

Right, looks like I'm getting the 306 tomorrow, any thing I should look out for when buying it, would it still work without the impeller or damaged one, just so I can test it.


Thank you

I'd think you need a working impeller. I'd look for a replacement part online. Hopefully someone with that filter can advise better.

7.5 isn't that a little high for neons but that tank looks amazing

Most fish can adapt to a wide range in pH. 7.5 isn't that high.

 

I'll have a look tomorrow, online replacement is about £15, so not to bad. I'll give it the once over. How would I go about transferring media. Not sure what the fitment will be like in the 306. He's says he already has some established media with th filter. Is this a good idea? Thanks again

 

Depends on whether he's had the tank running with fish in it. If he didn't have the filter running and the media kept wet, the beneficial bacteria would have died off. Also, if he's had sick fish recently while the filter was in the tank, I wouldn't use the media.

 

That's what I was thinking, if he's had the broken/damaged impeller in all likely hood, the filter would of been out of the water. And potentially any diseases would be transported to our tank. I'm learning. Sllloooowwwlllyyy

 

Well the fluval sale fell thru, the seller managed to snap the primer handle so it's a no go, at least he was honest enough to tell me, I've been looking at the all pond soloutions filter, undecided about which one to get, there's the 1000lph, or the 1400lph. Would the 1000 be sufficient enough, or is just worth buying the 1400 and have done with it.

 

I'd get the 1400lph. You don't want to be short of filtration.

 

That's what I've gone for, hopefully here Monday will the media from my current filters transfer somehow, can I just put my current pads with the aps pad tray?

 

They should fit. I'd take all of the sponges and bio media and fit them where you can in the trays.

 

Brilliant thanks for your help, I'll update once it's up and running.

 

New filter is all set up, been set up for 36 hours with no leaks etc. I placed a filter booster satchet in with the pads and ceramics, and forgot to was it out so its turned the water a little cloudy. Purchased some boesmanI rainbows over the weekend too. They are stunning, colours are coming out the more bloodworm I feed them. Thanks for your help guys and girls much appreciated.

 

From your first post, your numbers didn't indicate that you were cycled. You should have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and some nitrates. I wouldn't have added any new fish until you got these numbers.

Have you tested the parameters lately? How many rainbow fish did you get?

I still recommend rehoming the neons.

 

Hi, looks like I've received bad advice for the LFS again, I've been taking readings everyday. Readings have been steady at 0.5mg/l of ammonia, nitrite has been at 1.0mg/l and nitrates have been at 20-40mg/l I assume that they are good indication that the tank is getting cycled. We bought two boesmani, they were pretty dull in the LFS, but since we have had them (sat) there colour has come right out in force. The dark blue is appearing on the front of them and looks splendid.

 

I'd pick up a bottle of Seachem Stability which is a bacteria supplement and Seachem Prime which is a water conditioner that has the additional capability to detox ammonia and nitrite.

Follow the directions on the Stability which is a 7 day dosing schedule. Test daily and anytime your ammonia and nitrite get to 1 or above you'll want to do a 50% water change. If less then 1, dose Prime for the full volume of your tank size.

Rainbow fish are also schooling fish that need to be kept in groups of at least 6 but I wouldn't add any more until you're cycled.

 

Thank you, carrying out 25% water change every 2 days. I will order them today. We do plan on buying some more, I'll get the levels stabilized first thou. Thanks again

 

Just realised I have already been adding a bacterial supplement. So when using prime, will that not have a adverse effect on the good bacteria? Will I still get accurate test results? Thanks for your patience

 

What bacteria supplement are you using?

 

It's called bio mass, I've added a filter booster too with the new filter and the old filter pads.

 

I'm not familiar with that brand. What's the filter booster? I'm not sure how Prime would affect those supplements. I guess I would just read the instructions on both of those products to see if using a water conditioner or an ammonia binder will negatively affect it.

 

It's called Aqua care bio boost, seems to be a uk make. It doesn't seem to have any negative effect on a water conditioner etc. So I'll do a water change again tomorrow, and dose with primer hopefully when it arrives tomorrow.

 

HI again, Ive been adding prime and stability over the last 2 days, I've been carrying out 25% water changes every 2 days. I've consistently been getting 0.0-0.5 ammonia, 1.0-2.0mg of nitrite, and 20-40 nitrate. I know the levels of the nitrite arnt the best.

Would I be better if carrying out one big 50% water change every 2 days. I'm concerned about stressing the fish, although they seem happy with the 25% changes. All the fish seem happy, I've been watching for hours. Feeding well etc.

Am I also right in thinking the prime will be neutralising the the ammonia and nitrite, but still giving me accurate reading with the liquid tests? Thanks for you help so far.

 

Yes, you're right that the bigger water change will have a bigger impact in your numbers rather than a couple of smaller ones. I would probably think it's less stress on your fish as well. Do a big enough water change or at least a couple of back to back water changes of at least 50% to get those nitrites down below 1.

Yes, Prime will detoxify ammonia and nitrite up to 1ppm for 24 hrs but they will both show on the tests so you'll want to test daily and if they get above that, do the water change. If below, dose your Prime. And then of course, Stability every day.