Your current Fish tank Setups!

[Ace Modder]

How long has the tank been running with fish? Setup the tank on 27th December, added fish around 7 days later.
What fish are in there? Ermmmm, no idea what they are called lol
How much water % do you normally change per week? Been changing about 15% every 10 days or so
What dechlorinator are you using? I used a kit from Petsathome, with a day 1, day 14 and day 21 pouch.
Do you have access to Seachem Prime or Seachem Safe? I assume that is a product I can buy?
Have you checked for rotting food inside the filter? Yes, filter was run under the tap to clean it last week - since found out that is a bad move.

In your situation, I would...
Syphon some of the existing water into a fish-safe bucket (so bucket is less than ~25% full)
Net fish into bucket
Syphon rotting food from tank floor
Remove rotting food from filter with care (i.e. don't rinse media to death to lose what few beneficial bacteria it might contain) using some extracted tank water

If you normally change at least ~20% of the water weekly (in my opinion ~50% is far better, especially with small tanks <100 litres, where the tank water can turn very toxic very quickly)...
Remove all but the final ~10% water of overall tank volume
Refill tank with fresh dechlorinated water (Seachem products can be safely overdosed following their instruction to safely detoxify some ammonia and nitrite)
Use some airline to drip new tank water into the bucket containing fish until bucket is at least ~75%, or add ~150ml to the bucket using a cup every ~5mins
Net fish back into tank
Top up tank with fresh dechlorinated water

How much fresh dechlorinated water you introduce in a short space of time to fish that are used to toxic conditions can be lethal, google "old tank syndrome." In such situations, you should add no more than ~15% of the current tank water volume of fresh dechlorinated water each day, to prevent the fish dying of shock.

Did a 50% water change and I have bought these.

 

[Ace Modder]

well I'm happier now... The ammonia is much lower.

from this

to this.... (still someway to go though)

 

[Spook187]

Lots of fish keepers use ATM Colony to kick start their tanks, worth it if your struggling with high levels.

http://charterhouse-aquatics.com/sh...lony-nitrifying-bacteria-freshwater-118ml-4oz

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I did my last water-change 3 months ago. This was just down to a re-model of the tank. I usually don't do one till the tank get's dirty, and it very rarely does now. Mostly its dead leaf matter from plants that makes me do a quick clean after quite some time. Not unusual to go 6 months for me.

Reading this thread made me dig out the kit for the first time in ages. Never really had any problems with water quality, and only check periodically.

I am big on low maintenance with floating plants, low stock, and overfiltration.

Here are my results:

PH is higher than expected, not quite sure whats going on there, as I have a lot of bogwood, which is known for dropping PH. The chem levels are all low and within tolerance. 7.8 is not catastrophic for PH, but i will test my tap water when I can be bothered, and see whats going on there.

 

[arc@css]

^^ Great reading on the nitrates.

 

[fredwi]

Mine always sits at 20ppm

 

[Ace Modder]

Well today I tested my levels, the ammonia has dropped right down, but the nitrite is still high. The additive to remove the ammonia is work, but do I need to allow time for the nitrite to lower down on it's own accord?

 

[NoobCannon]

Did you test your tap water like i suggested?

Also adding chemicals to change levels usually just causes problems somewhere else

And fyi that pure stuff you bought is just overpriced carbon

 

[Haggisman]

I need some help with (I think) cyano/blue green algae.

It's a fluval M90 (set up as tropical) and has been set up for about 10 months, was fine until just before Christmas, when my beta and Molly started showing camallanus worms - treated them with bloodworms soaked in panacur, following some instructions I found online - the worms are all gone, but I think I may have overfed slightly on the bloodworms, and now there is a lot of algae growth all over the gravel and plants. Tank has a lot of Java fern growing in it, along with some floating watersprite. I completely took all the plants and gravel out last weekend and washed it all off, so it was totally clear. I've tried reducing the lighting to only 4 hours during the day, but it's looks like it's still growing over everything, any tips to get rid?

 

[NoobCannon]

I need some help with (I think) cyano/blue green algae.

It's a fluval M90 (set up as tropical) and has been set up for about 10 months, was fine until just before Christmas, when my beta and Molly started showing camallanus worms - treated them with bloodworms soaked in panacur, following some instructions I found online - the worms are all gone, but I think I may have overfed slightly on the bloodworms, and now there is a lot of algae growth all over the gravel and plants. Tank has a lot of Java fern growing in it, along with some floating watersprite. I completely took all the plants and gravel out last weekend and washed it all off, so it was totally clear. I've tried reducing the lighting to only 4 hours during the day, but it's looks like it's still growing over everything, any tips to get rid?

Needs pics to see what type of algee it is tbh

 

[Ace Modder]

Did you test your tap water like i suggested?

Sorry I missed that, test tap water before I add anything to it? Which tests?

Also adding chemicals to change levels usually just causes problems somewhere else

I was suggested to sort the levels quickly by adding the ammonia remover. Because there are fish in the tank.

 

[fredwi]

Sorry I missed that, test tap water before I add anything to it? Which tests?


I was suggested to sort the levels quickly by adding the ammonia remover. Because there are fish in the tank.

You could have removed it your self quickly by water changes lots of them.

Until the tank has cycled keep doing water changes lots of them you will know when the tank is cycled when you test the water and ammonia and nitrite is at 0.

In short test water and water change until you reach that stage and still carry on testing the water every day

 

[NoobCannon]

Sorry I missed that, test tap water before I add anything to it? Which tests?


I was suggested to sort the levels quickly by adding the ammonia remover. Because there are fish in the tank.

Test your tap water soon as u get a chance with the same tests you use for your tank. Obviously make sure the vials are clean

Could very well likley contain nitrates and ammonia non harmfull to us in small numbers but can compound problems if your doing water changes with it.

 

[Ace Modder]

I will test the tap water in the morning, i have done two 15% water changes today already.

And do a further 15% water change.

 

[Haggisman]

Needs pics to see what type of algee it is tbh

I'll post some pics when I get home

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I'll post some pics when I get home

I found that a 7 day blackout after a good clean is great at killing off the algae resurgance whatever type it is.

Fix the cause (the extra gunk) then do a blackout.

No light at all for 7 days (I think it was 7 days, check it out online). I put a blanket over mine when I did them many years ago.



I also tested my tap water pH and found it came in at 7.6- to 7.8. So that explain my higher then I expected pH.

 

[Ace Modder]

I found that a 7 day blackout after a good clean is great at killing off the algae resurgance whatever type it is.

Fix the cause (the extra gunk) then do a blackout.

No light at all for 7 days (I think it was 7 days, check it out online). I put a blanket over mine when I did them many years ago.



I also tested my tap water pH and found it came in at 7.6- to 7.8. So that explain my higher then I expected pH.

how do you feed them? do you just wait till it is dark?

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

how do you feed them? do you just wait till it is dark?

It's been a while but I don't think I fed during that time. Are you feeding daily? Sometimes I leave mine a week between feedings.

 

[robfosters]

Always worth having a bottle of Seachem Prime on hand for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate problems. Prime doesn't remove them, but detoxifies them so they can't harm the fish while your filter is removing them. A dosing every 3 days while also dosing with Seachem Stability would have been a good idea.

 

[Ace Modder]

It's been a while but I don't think I fed during that time. Are you feeding daily? Sometimes I leave mine a week between feedings.

I'm feeding every 2 days. Is that too often?