Starting A Classroom Aquarium!

HI everyone,

I was able to safely transfer my two tetras from my classroom to my house last week but now am a little concerned about one of them.

They were both acting different the first 2-3 days and neither ate very much. Then they seemed to snap out of it and were both swimming around very actively and eating. Just an hour or two ago I noticed one seems sluggish and wasn't darting for the food as usual.

I just tested the water. Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite all came out at 0 but the PH came out at 7.6. Is this two high for them?????

Any info. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

 

That pH should be fine for them. I am surprized that your nitrates are at zero though.

 

on the pH scale, 7 is neutral. Then the extremes are 0-really acidic (eg sulfuric acid) 10-really basic (Calcium hydroxide). The water we drink/freshwater occurring naturally in nature is a little above 7. Just a lil scale to keep in mind.

 

Thanks!! When I woke up this morning, he was completely back to normal.

I just retested my nitrates and they are still at 0. I'm not sure why. I just did some google searches and read that the test bottle needs to be shook since the solution sometimes solidifies. In the morning I will shake up the bottle, retest and see what happens.

When changing the filter, are there any precautions that need to be taken? I now know that a lot of the beneficial bacteria lives in there so I'm worried about pulling it out to change it for a new one. Thanks again everyone!!

 

DO NOT CHANGE YOUR FILTER MEDIA! (unless you want to cycle the tank again, that is). All you need to do is swish the filter in some used tank water to get the debris out. If your cartridge as carbon encapsulated inside, you may want to cut a slit in the cartridge and dump the carbon out since it stops working once it gets saturated with impurities (about 3-4 weeks). You can use your filter media until it falls apart.

Bottle #2 of the API nitrate test needs to be shaken and pounded (I pound it into the palm of my hand.) You need to get the crystals that clump up in the bottom of the bottle resuspended in the liquid.

 

DO NOT CHANGE YOUR FILTER MEDIA! (unless you want to cycle the tank again, that is). All you need to do is swish the filter in some used tank water to get the debris out. If your cartridge as carbon encapsulated inside, you may want to cut a slit in the cartridge and dump the carbon out since it stops working once it gets saturated with impurities (about 3-4 weeks). You can use your filter media until it falls apart. .

Thanks for this info!! I'll have to figure out the carbon thing because I've already had my filter for 2 months and so it is probably already saturated with impurities. Should I just assume it is impure and go ahead and cut a slit in it or is there some way to verify that this needs to be done?

I have a ton of other questions but I'm going to try and just ask a few at a time.

I purchased 2 more black skirt tetra a few days ago so I'm now up to 4 tetra. I have been reading online that they prefer to be in a school of 6 or more. I currently have them in a 10 gallon tank although n September if I'm able to, I will move them back to my classroom and they will return to the 16 gallon tank. In the meantime, given the size of the tank, is it better to keep just four or would it be healthier for them to be in a school of 6?? Thanks so much!!!!!

 

I would assume the carbon is saturated at this point, and just dump it.

It should be fine to fill out the school in the 10.