Preyhunter
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Posts posted by Preyhunter
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Ordered fish online Sunday so that they could be shipped early in the week. They shipped on Wednesday (WA to TX). Here it is Sunday again and my fish are sitting in a USPS facility somewhere.
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Did the water change, going to do more tests when I get a chance. I don't guess it really matters what that nitrite reading was since I will be testing again soon. I will dose ammonia after testing today, then test again tomorrow and maybe do a few more water changes over the coming days to handle the nitrates. I SHOULD be good to go soon I suspect.
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Ammonia: .25
Nitrites: see pic
Nitrates: 80+
Time for a water change. What does it look like the nitrites are in the pic?
I think I'm about there. Nitrates shot up way high in a short time. Need to see what happens after the water change.
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I'm at a conversion rate of 1ppm ammonia/day and have been for a couple of weeks. Nitrites always at 2ppm. I left ammonia at 0 for 24 hours and nitrites did not change. I thought my nitrite number would decrease after depleting ammonia, but it didn't. Ammonia conversion rate did not change when I started adding it back after leaving it at 0, still at 1ppm/day. Nitrates have slowly climbed over time but been at 20 for a while. I'll test all 3 params tomorrow to see where I'm sitting.
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On 1/18/2022 at 10:32 PM, Odd Duck said:
If you ammonia drops with a water change then goes back up you’ve got an entirely different issue.
All of the ammonia increases have been from me adding it. I expect ammonia to be at or near 0 when I test pre-change tomorrow. It was at 1ppm today.
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I didn't do a water change, but I did skip the ammonia dosing. The ammonia went to 0, nitrites have not moved from 2ppm no matter what I do. Haven't checked nitrates since Fri (been sick and had gout since the weekend so I've been a little lax). I'll check all params tomorrow. If I see 2ppm nitrites again tomorrow, I'm tempted to do a sizable water change just to see if that number changes at all. I'm sick of seeing 2ppm, it's the bane of my existence these days. I'm curious to see if the water change would drop it below 2ppm and then if it will go back to 2ppm after a day or two.
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Your discus tank is absolutely beautiful as others have said. Really makes me want to set up a discus tank at some point.
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29g aquarium
AquaClear 50 with prefilter, 2 foam sponges and bioballs
wave maker
Water params today with API Master Test Kit. I would normally add ammonia to bring it up to 1-2ppm range at this point. Today I will not do that and test again tomorrow to see if anything changes. Everything below has been steady for over a week except for ammonia. If no change, I will do a water change and go from there. Not really a question, just documenting what's going on.
Temp 78.0
pH 8.2
Ammonia .25
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate 20
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On 1/13/2022 at 11:40 AM, Guppysnail said:
Yes. Throw in a tiny smidge of fish food every other day or three.
Can I ask why not plants to start? They make fish keeping soooo much easier and safer for your fish.Here's the excuse I'm using...I've never done plants in the past and it seemed like a little too much for me getting back into the hobby after a long layoff, and they create more variables and less control as I'm trying to start this tank. I do plan to plant the tank once I get it up and running.
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I'm dosing the tank with ammonia to 2ppm every other day and the BB is processing it at a rate of about 1ppm/day. What's weird to me is that the nitrites don't budge from what I can tell is between 2 and 5ppm. They have been at that level for at least a week. That tells me that there is some conversion to nitrates (at about 20ppm last check) but the nitrites aren't dropping. Is this normal in a new cycling and I just need to be patient while the nitrite converting BB multiply or something? It's just strange to me that the level has remained the same for so long.
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Nice story. I always had red tail black sharks in the past myself. Cool looking fish in my opinion. I told myself that I wouldn't be going that route now that I'm back in the hobby, but I'm probably lying to myself. That's a lot of myselfs, I apologize.
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On 1/11/2022 at 10:23 AM, Chad said:
Conventional wisdom is that certain fish get big and you need a big tank for them. But aren't goldfish the outlier to this wisdom? Feel free to correct me, I'm more than willing to accept that I'm wrong here. I've never kept goldfish but I thought they're bred to be okay in smaller tanks? And no, I don't mean the mason jars you can win them at the fair in. But they've got to be the original aquarium fish and have been bred to be just that. I wonder if they're actually ok with being in a smaller tank as opposed to others that are sold in the hobby as little fish? I'm looking at you Bala Shark, oh I fell in love with that fish at first sight. Got over it after I went home and learned about them. Sorry, got off track there. Anyway, I recall aquarium science.org posting a story to the contrary of goldfish needing large tanks due to their unique biology and I'm only poorly parroting what I read a while back. So take this for the grain of salt it is, but it does make for an interesting discussion. At least I think so.
Orandas and Black Moors get pretty big when fully mature, they don't maneuver very well, and they are dirty fish. Larger tanks address all three of those concerns.
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Excellent info! I've never used live plants in an aquarium before but plan to in the near future. The plant info you provided in this post will help me to decide how I want to proceed when the time comes. Thanks!
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I would say 20g is the minimum for one, a 29g would be better. I'd go with 10g more for each additional, so a 40g (or larger) would be ideal for the fish. Those are for the fish to grow into. While they are small, smaller tanks are ok with plans to upgrade.
I had a red cap once upon a time. He was my favorite. He was in a 10g at the time that I lost him in a tank stand mishap. I was so bummed. I plan to have another in the near future.
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I think the Bolivian Ram (also South American) suggestion is a good one and you have me considering a few Apistogramma when I stock my tank. The Bolivians are supposedly hardier than GBR, but those GBR are some beautiful fish. If I wasn't just getting back into the hobby I'd be tempted to go GBR. Rams are supposedly pretty peaceful, I guess it would depend on the Apistogramma.
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If I recall correctly, it was a college neighbor of mine that got me interested. He had a few tanks, the only one I really remember had a big orange oranda in it. That was his prized fish. I believe he gave me a 10g tank with filter and air pump to get me started. Somewhere along the way I think I added a 2nd 10g and that's how I rode for a while. I eventually gave one of the 10g tanks to my brother-in-law and inherited a 26ish gallon tank from my sister that was like a Coralife, I don't remember what it was but I don't think they make them anymore (had built in wet/dry filtration). It developed a leak over time then the lighting in the built in hood deteriorated and stopped working so I gave the fish up to a LFS and left the hobby. Now I'm back.
Looking back now, there is a bunch of stuff I don't remember. My memory is terrible.-
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On 1/10/2022 at 4:48 PM, Chad said:
Well you're right, that's pretty high. How big and what frequency are the water changes?
Sorry, @Preyhunter, I don't mean to hijack your thread but I can't help my curiosity.
Haha, no worries. I've already dosed the ammonia and have a good idea of how to finish this cycle. Thanks everyone!
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Ok, so consensus appears to be dose with an ammonia source and keep waiting. I've already waited this long, I can keep it up. I gotta have fish in this thing by Superbowl though. It was empty when people were here NYE and asking why there weren't any fish in the tank, knowing that I had set it up at Thanksgiving.
On 1/10/2022 at 3:49 PM, Chad said:I'd say you're almost there. I'm not a pro here but have done this a few times so with that said, I'd keep dosing daily (ammonia or fish food but I think ammonia is cleaner) until the nitrites are at zero. .25ppm ammonia wouldn't bother me too much, just something to watch for in case it rises. Get the nitrates to 20ppm or lower via a water change and you're ready for fish! What are you thinking of adding?
Clown loaches and Bolivian rams. I had the clowns in the past and really loved them. Rams will be new to me.
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On 1/10/2022 at 3:53 PM, Odd Duck said:
What area of Texas? There are some active associations and clubs, especially in and around the more populous areas. Swap meets, expos, etc. I’m in the DFW Metroplex and happy to help however I can.
I'm in the far north Fort Worth/Keller area.
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I recently built this one for the 29g. It's just a 2x4 frame and covered in 5mm underlayment plywood. Doors are 1x2 with underlayment inserts. Casing to trim top and bottom and corner trim on front edges. Stained with dark walnut color and polyed. All cheap stuff from Home Depot, no exotic or expensive woods. Material costs were <$100, buying one like this premade probably would've cost at least a few hundred.
I had a cheap black one already, but was informed that "it doesn't go with anything in our living room".
Planning to make a matching canopy next.
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Testing done with API Master.
I'm doing a new unplanted (for now) 29g tank setup and am at around week 6. Dosed with ammonia to start and it was somewhere between 4 and 8ppm and daily Stability. Took a long time (expected) for nitrites to show up, but went to about 2ppm and have stayed in that range. Today I'm showing .25ppm ammonia and somewhere between 2 and 5ppm nitrites and somewhere between 20 and 40ppm nitrates. I know that ammonia going down and nitrates going up is a good thing. It seems this thing is almost done cycling, but info for the end of cycle seems hard to come by. My questions:
Do I just keep waiting until nitrites eventually come down, then do water changes to get the nitrates down?
If I keep waiting, will I starve/kill off my ammonia BB? Do I need to dose with ammonia? If so, what's best, use pure ammonia or use fish food?
This is a painful wait. Before, I'd have dechlorinated the tap water, dumped it in the tank, and thrown fish in. Now I know better, but it doesn't remove that desire for instant gratification. Anyway, thanks for any input on how I should proceed.
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Back in the hobby after a long hiatus (15+ years) and trying to do all things right this time! I didn't test water and things like that before and wondered why I always lost fish in the beginning or why different things were happening to my fish. I've done a lot of research since then and am ready to be a well-rounded (in more ways than one! haha) fishkeeper now. Currently trying to wrap up a fishless tank cycle, which is why I joined this forum today. If interested I will be posting that question over in the general discussion area shortly. Thanks!
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How to get Clear Water
in General Discussion
Posted
Mine does this as well after a water change, though maybe not as bad. Mine clears after about 3 days with a floss pad in the HOB that stays there. I was just noticing that mine had haze yesterday and is crystal now.