Question about Aquarium Mishap

They work - I still put my change water in a plastic trash can to match temperature and water parameters before it gets pumped into the tanks. If you have a lot of tanks (water changes, etc.), sodium thiosulphate does the same thing - removes both chlorine and chloramines, de-toxifies toxic metals, adds electrolyes and is a lot cheaper. You can find it with wine making supplys.

I thought Stress Coat was like NovAqua - slim coat protection and pH stabilizer. I have used both AmQuel and AquaSafe for the removal of chlorine and chloramines - haven't tried Stress Coat.

It is for jump starting a new tank, *if* you can not get bio-seeding from an established filter! As a matter of fact, both BioSpira and Cycle doesn't work as fast as adding the squeezings from an established filters media. Adding the product, or the squeezings every day doesn't speed-up a cycle eather, unless you increase the bio-load every day by adding fish or overfeeding! Dumping these products down the drain every day will do just as much for the cycle.

If its like NovAqua (slime coat protection and stimulate), it doesn't do anything different than a little salt in the tank does. I keep a little no hand to aid in the acclimation of new *soft* water fish - other wise, salt works fine.

At a pH of 7.0, a good part of the ammonia becomes non-toxic ammonium. The lower the pH, the more of a build-up of ammonium. A large water change useing a higher pH water will reconvert the ammonium to ammonia. Untill the cycle is over, you need to test for ammonia everyday. How long the Ammo Lock works depends on the amount of ammonia and the amount of Ammo Lock!

While a tank is being cycled, the fish within it are under a great deal of stress witch weakens their immune systems. To build immunity, fish need protein and energy. Not feeding them, surely is not helping the fish!

Depending on the plant, a 2 to 4 min. 3% bleach dip will not only kill the snails, but also kill any algaes on the plant. By adding a Hillstream Loach, it will also help in keeping the snails from over population, and being a cool water fish, on those hot summer days when the dissolved oxygen levels get low, will show respiratory distress long before the warm water fish.

Just add some established filter bio-media to your filter - cycle is over!

Like NetMax, I too have never heard of that high of ammonia levels in tap water. Still, a well established bio-filter would have no trouble at all with a 20% water change once or twice a week. After all, the other 80% tank water would dilute the ammonia within the tank to below .5, safe even for the smaller tetras.

That's good - most fish species will do great with that pH. Raising the pH is easy - a garden marble chip (small rock) or two in the filter box would raise the pH to the mid 7s. For the african reef lake cichlids, crushed sea shells or a marble chip substrate would raise the pH to 8.0 or so. Lowering the pH is a little more work, but easy enough. Peat, rain or RO water used for your weekly water changes would lower the pH to the mid 6s, and driftwood or bogwood would keep it there.

Sodium Thiosulfate - also called Hypo, used for developing B&W photos. Some of the film developing Hypo may have hardening agents in it, which you _don't_ want, so be sure to ask before buying. I use Hypo - looks like rock salt. One 'rock' per gal. for Chlorine removal. In chloramine there are two chloride ions bound to each ammonia molecule, so double the amount of Hypo (two per gal.). I don't know/think it de-toxifies ammonia - with *any* established bio-filter, ammonia and nitrites are the first removed, simply because they are the *easyest* form of pollution removed. Its the inorganic pollutants (phosphate and DOCs) that most filters can't handle without the right media, maintenance, and water changes. I would be willing to bet what you pay for dechlorinators in a pet shop, and use in one month, would buy enough Hypo to last over a year.

>I have been adding some sea salt

No, sea salt would harden the water, and cost to much. I use rock salt as a tonic/medication, dips/baths. Rock salt can also be used to recharge softening pillows, *but* you start to build up salt levels be useing them.

I would watch that - to much food at once. I feed 5 to 6 times a day, what they can consume in 1 or 2 mins........ Frank

You could also add some plants, preferably floaters, they will relish the NO4 from the water.

I was pretty much in shock over the ammonia in my tap water. My family is now drinking bottled water and I'm using bottled to make the morning coffee. I intend to check into why the high ammonia with our water company, I will be calling on them next Tuesday (day off) to check into that. The only reason I can use as an explanation at this point is that I live in South Carolina about 30 miles from the Atlantic Ocean in what is called the 'Low Country', our water table is very high. I was told by my neighbor I would hit water around 5-6 foot deep. Digging can turn up fossilized shark teeth as big and bigger that your hand. My son found one of the Megalodon shark teeth (4 - 5 inch) in a local small creek along with other smaller teeth. I met a gent a couple years ago that told me that he and a friend use to dive in Cooper River for sharks teeth and found dinner plate sized teeth there when they were kids. Hard telling what kind of nasties are in our ground water.

The test kit I was using was by Tetra called Tetratest. What test kits do you recommend? The salt I bought was 'Doc Wellfish's Aquarium Salt for freshwater fish', and says it's made from evaporated sea water. I added only two tablespoons to my 29 gal aquarium where doc's said 1 rounded tablespoon per 5 gallons -which seemed like a bit much for fresh water fish to me:- Do you all use salt in your tanks all the time or only when fish are under stress and what kind? I did do a couple more partials after adding the salt so there is probably not as much in there.

Well it's Friday night time to go kick my feet up and tip a few err I mean relax

Not necessarily, there is at least one brand on the market that comes as test sticks (plastic stripes with a pad soaked in chemicals), which are simply dipped into the water. I got some specimens at an exhibition about 2 years ago, they are convenient but less precise than liquid tests. Probably a good option for those who have children at home.

Life plants might be the easiest way to control ammonia levels in that

Good point, but I did say 'liquid' kits ;~) You've brought up an important consideration though, the liquid test kits are definitely hazordous to children. Lock them away.

I think live plants would be one of the best approaches, but the OP said he had Goldfish :o( Maybe using a partition in the tank. I've seen this done before. One nice method is to silicone a sheet of glass along the back 1/3 of the tank, leaving a gap of 3/8 along the bottom. Then arrange your filtration to move water from one compartment into the other. It's neat to see fish who are 'lawnmowers' swimming back & forth in front of all those yummy plants.

Hi all I'm baaack <:0).

Well some time gone by and my older tank is still struggling But the new tank is kicking along great

I am thinking that I need to drain this tank and start over with full water change. The plants and fish in the bad tank are still doing okay. Plants appear to be growing and fish happy. Brown algae though:-

ammonia 2.0 mg/l (due for a partial) nitrite 0 nitrate 12.5 ph has dropped to 5?

I moved the 5 danios to the new tank last Saturday. I was using cycle in both tanks and the new tank is great across the board. I took the hour drive yesterday to get some of that bio-spira. ( that store had 5 tanks with bent spine fish - tetras, danios and even a rainbow, don't think I will be heading back there for any fish purchases but they had some awsome tank setups I wouldn't mind purchasing) Anyway I am going to attempt moving the rest of the fish temporarily to the new tank while I do a quick change of water and throw the bio-spira into it. I am going to add a undergravel filter while I am doing this. Now I know that undergravels are out and bio-wheels are in but back in the eighties I had the best luck using both UG and back power filters on my tanks with weekly partial changes. I have cut back feeding the little beggars to twice a day what is consumed in about 1 minute. When I move the fish back I will leave a couple of the cherry barbs in the new tank.

Do you all use a conditioner for your plants? I was recommended to use some at the LFS and bought Leaf Zone by aquarium pharmiceudicals, inc. Do you think this could be the cause of the big PH drop? If so why did it not bother the other tanks I put it in? This tank has me so perplexed the water is clear though it does have a small odor to it.

Well wish me luck - or yell real loud if you think I am making a bad mistake here. I will check in here before the big move tomarrow.

Diatoms - cause; excess nutrients (DOCs), silicate & silicic asid in tap water.

Is this 'older' tank cycled, or is it a mini spike?

Sounds like a classic example of the first stages of Old Tank Syndrome. 'Older' tank slowly consumed carbonate buffer (low kH), so the pH slowly drops. Toxic ammonia becomes non-toxic ammonium and builds up. Then, with a water change, the buffer is suddenly restored, ammonium reconverts back to it's toxic form and the fish die from ammonia poisoning. ..... Slowly add baking soda to raise the pH. Add a marble chip or two, to the filter box.

Okay - but what if something like amquel is added before adding fresh water ??

That would take care of the ammonia, but you shouldn't do a water change any larger than 10 to 15% more than what you have been changing. It's better to do two or three 20% water changes within a week, than one 40 to 60% change if your fish is only used to a 20% weekly water change. A build-up of DOCs (dissolved organic compounds) raises the osmotic pressure - a large water change would quickly lower the osmotic pressure too much, destroying the fishs gills... By adding that undergravel filter, *unless* you use your power filter as a pre-filter for the UG, or make it a RFUGFilter, your traping solid waste in the gravel, adding greatly to the DOC build-up (not good). If you remember (back in the 80s), those tanks filtered with UGFs did great for a few months, then - ever so slowly, fish died, one here, one there. Ammonia/nitrite kills quickly, where DOCs does it more subtle - getting there, the water quality slowly deteriorates, fish suffer from stress, chronic stress over time as the rising DOC level makes fish vulnerable to opportunistic bacteria, fungal infections, parasitic infectations, low oxygen levels... By the way, these DOCs are an endless supply of plant nutrients, most likely reason for the diatoms (brown algae). Sence a weekly 20% water change still leaves about 30 days of accumulated DOC pollutants in the tank, you have to do something else besides more water changes! Live plants could greatly help sence the DOCs are plant food - trouble is, you would need a fully planted tank, a high $ light system, then CO2 so the plants grow instead of green algae (from to much light), etc., or these DOCs can be filtered out...grin, didn't say it yet. A pre-filter, traping the solid waste can be cleaned every day or two, greatly cutting down on the DOCs. Now, if your were to have the right kind of filter...grin...to finish the job, the fish that are suppose to live 4 to 5 years, live 4 to 5 years...... Frank

Amazing constraint Frank ;o)

Bio- *cough* wheel