:DVery excited!

[Love Discus]

I am very excited to see I have nitrates forming in both my tanks.
I am absoulutly extatic. for the last week or so I have been stuggling because I whipped out all the beneficial biological matter contained in my house.

So I have a 55 gallon (little over 200ish L) -3 beautiful turqs, 6 cardinal tetras

also have a new bowfront 72. attempting fishless cycle.

latlely I have been chasing my tail majorly doing masive water changes in the 55 (changing about 300L daily in 55 alone) to keep amonia at a minimal level.

untill yesterday I had no access to any bio media that I could trust.

Sooo yesterday, I got a hold of 2 large filter cartridges, 1 1/2 months old, from an old buddie. his set up is a 45 gallon, with mix of about 30 neon/cardinals. once I got home with these nasty cardriges I immediatly popped one in the 55, and the other in the 72 after giving up my first fishless cycle. ( I gave up because the tanks started to stink like sulfer and I didnt see that problem getting better anytime soon.)

soo I drained the 72 whipped out all that slime, and started from scratch with aged and primed water, and bio filled cartridge.

tonight I am extatic to find that both tanks, are develping nitrates, with no detectable amonia or nitrites present. I couldnt be happier right now!

55 gallon peramiters,
- amonia 0!
- nitrite 0!
- nitrate 5
- ph 6.2-6.8
- gh 25!

so happy so happy.
thanks for all advice from people of discusforums!

sorry if this is in the wrong section! :D

[Love Discus]

The 72 gallon bowfronts peramiters are,
Amonia- 2.5 - 3.0
nitrite- 0!
nitrate- 15
ph- 7.5

Last night (24hrs) the perameters where,
Amonia- 4.0+
nitrite- 0
nitrate- 0
ph- 8.0+

looks like things are moving fast! I must have received a good load of bio matter! :D

I am just so happy I am like a kid at christmas.

Any ideas as to how long I should wait/ keep feeding the 72 untill I put the discus (3) and cardinals (6) in it? I will obviously wait untill the amonia is at zero, But should I feed it for a few more days? how much amonia should it process in 24hrs before it can handle 3 medium sized discus, and 6 cardinals?

[Hollowman]

Any ideas as to how long I should wait/ keep feeding the 72 untill I put the discus ?

6 to 8 weeks and dont rush it!!

[Love Discus]

Any ideas as to how long I should wait/ keep feeding the 72 untill I put the discus ?

6 to 8 weeks and dont rush it!!
What 6-8 weeks? Okay there's no way. I dont think I have that kind of patience. 8-)

Before there was any detectable bio filtration in the 55 my group of fish as decribed above were producing about .2PPM - .3PPM of ammonia daily.

Note: if my fish produce .5PPM of ammonia in a 55 gallon daily, they will only be producing .38PPM of ammonia in a 72 daily.

Okay so that being said, my plan as of now (Every bodys input is welcome!) is to wait untill the 72 is breaking down 2PPM of ammonia completley into nitrate daily. That is more than 5 times the amount of ammonia my fish produce daily, so that bio-coloney should be more than able to handle the ammonia my fish produce daily. Also, when I swap my fish from the 55 over to the 72 I will be swapping the filter from the 55 to the 72 as well, which will make the bio-coloney even larger.

Is my logic flawed here?

Hollowman, I will not be adding fish to the 72 untill the bio filter is handling atleast 2 full PPM ammonia daily. (Unless somone can give me feedback that changes my mind.) If that takes 4-6 weeks then so be it!

PLEASE, tell me if this right or wrong, just give me your honest opinion you will not offend me! I promise.

[swampy1972]

Any ideas as to how long I should wait/ keep feeding the 72 untill I put the discus ?

6 to 8 weeks and dont rush it!!

How ever long it takes... heed this advice! I made the mistake of allowing my eagerness (impatience) get the better of me and it nearly cost me my entire collection.

Many weeks and many thousands of litres of water and lots of $$ worth of Ammo lock, dechlorinator etc later while trying to take the load of my filter and keep the fish alive, my system finally stablised.

It may not take this long but please don't be in a rush to get them in.. :wink:

[Hollowman]

An old saying says 'fools rush in'

I was feeding pure ammonia to my sump before I hooked it up to my system at at least 4ppm. When after 6-8weeks I was not showing ammonia after a 24 hour period, I was happy to hook it up and had no problems. Small fish will not tolerate the high readings, possibly causing them to stunt. Do it right first time, never rush.

If you choose to ignore the advice given already, not just mine, be prepared for the worst. Not just in the short term, but seeing your fish stop growing because of initial conditions they were kept in will haunt you for a long time.

jmo,
H :wink:

[Love Discus]

Any ideas as to how long I should wait/ keep feeding the 72 untill I put the discus ?

6 to 8 weeks and dont rush it!!

How ever long it takes... heed this advice! I made the mistake of allowing my eagerness (impatience) get the better of me and it nearly cost me my entire collection.

Many weeks and many thousands of litres of water and lots of $$ worth of Ammo lock, dechlorinator etc later while trying to take the load of my filter and keep the fish alive, my system finally stablised.

It may not take this long but please don't be in a rush to get them in.. :wink:
Glad to hear you got things settled swampy, I knew that I was not the only experienced fish keeper this has ever happened to. I was excited about the new tank, and when I went to set it up I kind of tried to overhaul all of my aquariums, and over did it just a bit aparently. I am very excited to see that the 55 is now stable, ammonia is very low barely detectable, and so are nitrites. In my own experience this is when stocked tanks are the most beautiful and healthy. Plants and fish couldnt be happier in my opinion. BTW before sombody says anything about my fish living in nitrites and ammonia, I want you to know that I am using api test kits which are very sensitive. they are showing ammonia and nitrite levels below .25 ppm which in my experience is ideal because amonia and nitrites must be present in some form for the whole system (plants, and bio-filter) to work properly.


An old saying says 'fools rush in'

I was feeding pure ammonia to my sump before I hooked it up to my system at at least 4ppm. When after 6-8weeks I was not showing ammonia after a 24 hour period, I was happy to hook it up and had no problems. Small fish will not tolerate the high readings, possibly causing them to stunt. Do it right first time, never rush.

If you choose to ignore the advice given already, not just mine, be prepared for the worst. Not just in the short term, but seeing your fish stop growing because of initial conditions they were kept in will haunt you for a long time.

jmo,
H :wink:
Hollowman, everything in the 55 seems to be in order so as long as that tanks levels stay in order I am going to keep feeding the 72 for atleast 3 weeks to make sure that everything is staying consitent(sp?) and working properly.

Also i must mention what a beautiful sight it is to have CRYSTAL CLEAR water in all my tanks again! I mean when I look down the tanks the longway (about 5ft) I can see strait through to the other end of that tank with perfect clarity. Just awesome.

thanks for all input guys and galls. i really apreciate it. more comments welcome!

[BigDaddyAdo]

I must disagree with you mate. If your API test kit can detect the nitrite and ammonia then its a problem. They should be so low as to be undetectable when using liquid test kits.

[Hollowman]

I want you to know that I am using api test kits which are very sensitive. they are showing ammonia and nitrite levels below .25 ppm which in my experience is ideal because amonia and nitrites must be present in some form for the whole system (plants, and bio-filter) to work properly.


thanks for all input guys and galls. i really apreciate it. more comments welcome!

I am with Ado, this is still a worry if you believe the above. :shock: :shock: You should not have any detectable Ammonia or NitrIte. Don't be fooled by bad advice given at your LFS, if this is who is advising you. Even at 2ppm, this is going to hurt your fish, ZERO is the number you are looing for not 2 or 1 or even 0.5
I don't want to have to tell you how to suck eggs, but please do some research on the Nitrogen Cycle, or refresh your knowledge, it will save you a lot of hassles, and posts.

H

[Love Discus]

I want you to know that I am using api test kits which are very sensitive. they are showing ammonia and nitrite levels below .25 ppm which in my experience is ideal because amonia and nitrites must be present in some form for the whole system (plants, and bio-filter) to work properly.


thanks for all input guys and galls. i really apreciate it. more comments welcome!

I am with Ado, this is still a worry if you believe the above. :shock: :shock: You should not have any detectable Ammonia or NitrIte. Don't be fooled by bad advice given at your LFS, if this is who is advising you. Even at 2ppm, this is going to hurt your fish, ZERO is the number you are looing for not 2 or 1 or even 0.5
I don't want to have to tell you how to suck eggs, but please do some research on the Nitrogen Cycle, or refresh your knowledge, it will save you a lot of hassles, and posts.

H
First of all they were noth sitting at .15ish. less than .25 for sure.
The LFS didnt tell me any of that. I havn't taken advice from my LFS since I was about 14. Every time I would come to them with a problem, they would try to sell me some chemical!

Well thanks for the replies about the nitrite and ammonia. Today the 55 has no detectable ammonia, but nitrites are sitting at maybe .05-.10ppm. I am going to change about a third or so of the water.

Does that sound like a good plan to you all?

and thanks alot for correcting me about the nitrite and ammonia, I trust you guys about that. I was just going off of my own logic there, nobody told me that nitrite, and ammonia should be detectable.

Thanks again guys. Im sure glad I found discusforums!

[swampy1972]

Today the 55 has no detectable ammonia, but nitrites are sitting at maybe .05-.10ppm. I am going to change about a third or so of the water.

Does that sound like a good plan to you all?

If you're doing a fishless cycle why don't leave it and monitor the period your filter is taking to convert this to Nitrate?

Remember that your waste is converted from Ammonia to Nitrite to Nitrate so you should see a corresponding rise in Nitrate for reduction in Nitrite. Planted tanks will help with further consumtion of the Nitrate as well.

If there's no concern about fish then it's beneficial to know how long the whole process is taking to give an indication of the filters' maturity.

All the best ;)

[Hollowman]

It's all about learning, observation and understanding your water.

A wise man once told me: 'look after your water, and the fish will look after themselves' and it's true.

Keep observing your readings and good luck :wink:

[Love Discus]

Today the 55 has no detectable ammonia, but nitrites are sitting at maybe .05-.10ppm. I am going to change about a third or so of the water.

Does that sound like a good plan to you all?

If you're doing a fishless cycle why don't leave it and monitor the period your filter is taking to convert this to Nitrate?

Remember that your waste is converted from Ammonia to Nitrite to Nitrate so you should see a corresponding rise in Nitrate for reduction in Nitrite. Planted tanks will help with further consumtion of the Nitrate as well.

If there's no concern about fish then it's beneficial to know how long the whole process is taking to give an indication of the filters' maturity.

All the best ;)
Sorry for the confusion swampy, I was talking about the 55 gallon which my discus are living in. That is the tank my water change question was regarding. I am doing a fishless cycle on the 72, and yeah Im just watching it. Right now its eating over a tablespoon (20 ml I think) of ammonia daily, tuning it completly into nitrate.

So I think I have everything under control for the most part, but one last question, is it okay if my api nitrite test is detecting just a TINY bit of nitrite? Id guess around .02-.07 ppm nitrite. I know its not ideal, but is it okay to leave it for tonight? The only reason I dont want to change any water is because my water has only been sitting for about 18 hours with a 400 Lph power head going. I use prime conditioner.

Sorry for all the questions, but you guys and gals are really alot of help.

[Love Discus]

It's all about learning, observation and understanding your water.

A wise man once told me: 'look after your water, and the fish will look after themselves' and it's true.

Keep observing your readings and good luck :wink:
Thanks hollowman, I have been trying to do just that! The discus seem really happy, their stress bars are not showing at all and they are eating like pigs!