Bethany92
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Posts posted by Bethany92
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Hey there! I’m about to move in July about 3 hours away from where we currently are. I have 4 tanks to move and I never moved tanks from one house to another. This is a long post, I’m sorry. I just want to be sure I do this correctly and not lose my fishy friends. I already know to keep the filter media submerged in some of the old tank water using a bucket with a good sealing lid, and I’m assuming to keep each tank’s filter media separate in the corresponding tanks’ water. However, to move the tank, substrate, and all the livestock, I’m not sure what I’m doing. I wasn’t going to do this until we were ready to move the tanks and I would be a same day tear down and set back up, if possible.
Basic questions: Do I keep the substrate? Can I put all the live plants from all tanks into the same bucket of dechlorinated water?
Tank 1 is a 40gal with an axolotl and sand substrate. I’m planning on putting the axolotl into a plastic tub (6qt) with an air stone and ice packs in a cooler. I also have the tank chiller to move, which I was just going to empty the water out, run a few cycles of vinegar through it, let it dry out, ditch the existing hoses, and then hook it up with new hoses.
Tank 2 is a 40gal with 6 pea puffers and 6 cory cats with sand substrate and live plants. How much water do I need to transport the pea puffers and Cory cats? And I was planning on separating them into species only containers for the move. Would 6qt containers work for this? Battery powered air stone, or will they be okay for a three hour drive?
Tank 3 is a 20gal with 6 neon tetras, 4 Gertrude blue eyed rainbow fish, 6 cherry shrimp, and 2 mystery snails, live plants and a lava rock type substrate. I was honestly planning on getting a new 40gal tank for them and moving my betta into this 20gal after we move. I was going to just do mystery snails in one small container, cherry shrimp in another small container, then the fish all together in a 6qt container.
Tank 4 is a 5gal with my betta and live plants. I was just going to get a small cup to transport him in, kinda like the fish stores use to keep them in.
Then I was going to tightly pack the containers in a box to limit jostling in the car, but if they need an air stone running in every container, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do
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This is my pea puffer and Cory tank. There’s a window to the side that blinds and curtains are kept closed, but the window across the room, about 8ft away is usually open. I’ve been battling this brown algae for a while, and am going to be moving my tank to the other side of my living room where there’s no windows. Other than moving it after cleaning off the decorations and sifting the sand around, what else can I do to get rid of it and keep it gone? I even went almost three weeks without the plant light on, and that didn’t even work.
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Would I be able to put 6 cory cats into a 20 gal with a betta? So far that’ll be the only tank they could go in for a back up. I suppose the betta can either get upgraded to a 29 gal or I just take the betta out and put him by himself in a 5.5 gal 😂 he picks on one of my mystery snails, I have two and the betta only goes after my magenta snail. 🤦🏻♀️ That tank is heavily planted now, and it has seemed to decrease the betta’s obnoxious behavior, but he likes to snoop at the bottom of the tank when he can’t find the magenta snail on the glass, so I don’t want him to pester the Cory’s. Also, the snail is fine, the betta just puffs up and nips at the shell until the snail falls off the glass. The antennas haven’t been nipped and always the same size when I check on him.
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I have a 29 gallon tank that I’m wanting to have pea puffers in along with peppered Cory catfish. There’s mixed information about doing this. Does anyone had any personal experience with these two breeds being housed together?
Also, would I be able to do 6 pea puffers and 3 (or more) peppered Cory’s in a heavily planted 29 gallon tank?
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Oh! Thank you all!! It’s definitely a bladder snail. I found a website that said betta are likely to eat them to keep their population under control. I’ll keep an eye on it and go from there. They seem to be beneficial as long as they don’t overtake the tank.
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I bought plants from aquarium co-op and didn’t bother quarantining them. I don’t mind having snails. I have a betta and a mystery snail currently.
what kind of snail would it most likely be and will my betta try to eat it while it’s still tiny? I just want to know what kind it is in case it’s an asexual reproducer. 🫣 I like snails but not 30+
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How fragile is a cycled tank?
I had a really great ecosystem starting in my 5.5gal tank. I have a betta (Milo) and a blue mystery snail (Blukey) along with lots of little substrate worms that Milo loves to snack on, from what I've read it's the harmless worms that eat fish waste and help out the biological filter. I added three live plants today but made a huge mistake. The big mistake I made with it was having to adjust and move the existing plants around and add more substrate to plant the new ones. It got incredibly cloudy as I put in the rest of the Fluval substrate I had on hand. I didn't rinse it long enough and apparently forgot the nightmare it created when I first set up this tank a couple months ago because I repeated said nightmare again today. I capped the substrate with smooth river stones and then I did two cycles of vacuuming off the river stones and adding fresh water to the tank, it was about 50% change the first time and then 75% the last time. Milo and Blukey were in a 2.5gal tank with old tank water and a sponge filter while I did all of this, took me about 4 hours as I tried to wait as long as possible to let as much sediment to settle as possible. I didn't want to keep them in the small tank overnight since I don't trust the small heater I have for it to not cook them, so which is why I did the water changes. I add Seachem Prime and Seachem StressGuard to tap water every water change. After the two cycles of sucking up the settled sediment and adding clean water, it was obviously a full water change. However, I did not rinse off anything that was in the tank prior to this - so all the river rock and decorations along with the substrate that had been in there since the first set up and tank cycle were placed back into the tank. I did have to rinse the sponge filter off as it had a ton of sediment on it.
Will I have to cycle my tank again?
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I have two questions - I cleaned the tank about 2 weeks ago and this is what it looked like today. I checked water parameters 2 weeks ago and again today… and the tank has been cycled for about a month now and everything is good, just high pH which I read could be related to the algae overgrowth. I cleaned the tank today, removed about 30% water trying to get as much algae as possible, and then noticed a detritus worm. So I assume that also means the tank ecosystem is thriving now. 😂
I looked at the articles on Aquarium Co-Op about algae and I had turned the light down from 8 hours to 6 hours about a month ago, the plants are all medium to low light plants. I am going to leave it off for a few days until I can add algae eaters. I have plans to get 2 zebra nerilite snails for a tank companion for my black orchid betta, but now I’m wondering if I would need more than 2 snails. Or 2 snails and one of those bottom dwellers. How do you decide how many algae eaters to get for your tank?
It’s a 5.5gal tank, I don’t add fertilizer. When I started the tank about 2 months ago - I used fluval substrate under River stones in the areas I put plants, root tabs and some liquid fertilizer. But I haven’t added anything since then. How long would it take for all that fertilization to be used up and no longer a contributor to algae overgrowth?
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Milo is much better today! I did a small water change, maybe 15%, yesterday and only put in Prime (used tap water for the change) and Stress Guard. Left the Indian almond leaf in the tank. The water parameters have all been consistent, aside from the ammonia which was about 0.5ppm yesterday. Today, ammonia was below 0.25ppm and the nitrites are at 0ppm. Added a second dose of Stress Guard per instructions, and this is Milo about 3 hours later. His color is definitely coming back and his fins are starting to relax! 🥰 Now, it’s just a matter of convincing him he can’t eat just freeze dried brine shrimp and daphnia. Thank you all for helping me figure out how to help Milo and get my tank cycled properly!
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On 2/24/2022 at 11:36 AM, JoeQ said:
In mine I won't do over 50% unless its an emergency. 30%~35% is my normal change. And on my 10g ill siphon the fresh water in with an airhose so im now shocking the inhabitants.
Im also pretty sure beth can use this equation to figure out how much shes diluting her ammona concentration.
Xppm-(Xppm*water change size%)
I’m just now learning the siphon method for putting fresh water into a tank. Before I used to put the fish in a separate tank while I did the water change with a rather strong gravel vacuum thing, then wait 2 hours for the temp to regulate in the tank before putting the fish back in. And that was a lot of going back and forth between the kitchen and the fish tank to refill it and messing up my tank decor. Now that I’ve discovered the siphon method and how much gentler it is on the tank and the fish, I’ll just prepare the freshwater, put a heater in it and once the temperatures are equal, I siphon the water into the tank. I got a Python (the lower cost one, not the fancy spill free one) and that’s much gentler than the other gravel cleaner I had so I’m more comfortable with the fish staying in the tank for both cleaning and filling.
I’ve seen a method of putting a tube into a knot to slowly drip water into a new fish’s cup/bag to slowly acclimate them to the tank. Like incredibly slow drip. I assume I could do something similar with putting the fresh water into the tank instead of waiting for it to heat up, so the temperature on the tank doesn’t drop. But I will wait until I can experiment with it so I don’t temperature shock my fish.
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On 2/24/2022 at 10:52 AM, JoeQ said:
I haven't used prime to cycle, l haven't done research on use of prime in the cycle. In my eyes its a chemical and IMO should only be used in emergency situations (Such as not being able to do a water change that day). If anything I now just see it as an extra step, adding prime to put the water change off for a day or two.
That makes sense. With needing small water changes to keep ammonia levels low, what level of ammonia would you do a water change and what percentage of water would you change in a 5gal tank for that level of ammonia?
Is it correct to assume you don’t want to do daily water changes? Or would 10% daily changes be more beneficial than waiting x amount of days in between larger water changes (like a 25% water change)?
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On 2/24/2022 at 10:33 AM, AndreaW said:
Prime will NOT affect your nitrogen cycle. In fact, it will help protect your fish from the toxic ammonia and nitrites. When using Prime, the ammonia is still there and you still need to do a water change to keep it low. Prime is a safe way to keep the ammonia there for the beneficial bacteria to develop without hurting your fish.
This is from Seachem's website: "Prime® may be used during tank cycling to alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity. It contains a binder which renders ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate non-toxic, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. It will also detoxify any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels. Use at start-up and whenever adding or replacing water."
It only binds temporarily (24-48 hours) so you still need to be testing frequently.
I didn’t even think to look at Seachem’s website, but that’s reassuring! I assumed it wouldn’t stop it but I wanted to double and triple check before just going with my assumption. I’ll make notes on the information you provided earlier in the thread about Prime and it should be mostly smooth sailing until it’s fully cycled now.
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On 2/24/2022 at 10:03 AM, JoeQ said:
I would not dose prime because of what you stated, I'd do water changes. Blue is most likely stressed from all the changes resulting in color loss and clamped fins. I'd concentrate on 1 thing, the nitrogen cycle. Aquariums take paitents, doing too many things at once is counter productive IMO. Also on the almond leaves, this will affect water parameters (i believe) this might be something you want to research. For me fish/plant keeping became much easier once I saw it as keeping water that just so happens to be favorable to the aquatic life I want to keep. Think keeping water, not keeping plants/fish.
I know the leaves affect the pH, so I’m also testing that daily. Since it’s actually at 7.4, I decided it shouldn’t tank the pH and may help the fish more with the stress and hopefully help him fend off any disease.
From what I’ve seen about Prime is it just “locks up” the ammonia for 24-48 hours so it’s not harming the fish during tank cycling, and it’s used during the fish in cycling. There’s two different ways for fish in cycling - water changes or Prime to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels from harming the fish, but I don’t think Prime stops the cycling process from what I’ve been finding. https://fishlab.com/fish-in-cycle/#seachem-prime-fish-in-cycleI will try to be more patient. I’m getting panicky about losing Milo or having him get sick because of this prolonged stress and uncycled tank. I’ll keep focused on water parameters and taking it day by day and not make anymore changes.
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On 2/23/2022 at 2:34 PM, AndreaW said:
That's great news, he looks better and hope it continues!
I've heard the strips are convenient, but not as accurate as the liquid tests. I'm glad you have better results now. Keep up with testing. I think I mentioned above that if you use Seachem Prime, it binds up the Ammonia and Nitrites and temporarily detoxifies them so it won't harm your fish in the tank while cycling (as well as regular water changes). It's great peace of mind when first starting out as you will get (and ultimately want to see at some point, although in very low numbers) ammonia and nitrites which will stress your fish. It's one of my *Must-have* products when doing a fish-in cycle.
I found a chart that's floating around online for cycling a tank using Seachem Prime, that has this basic info:
While it can be useful, I don't follow it as law. For instance, I *think* a planted tank can be "cycled" with 0ppm Nitrates. And I don't think it take into account Nitrite/Nitrate levels when you add fertilizers or certain substrates. I use this chart as a general guide.
Also, I won't do a 50% water change unless I'm moving a tank or something drastic like that. I'd rather do a couple smaller water changes so I don't overly stress the fish. I usually won't do more than 25% water change. That's just me though. I know others have different opinions. As long as you are adding Prime, the fish *should* be okay with a little Ammonia and Nitrites while you are establishing your beneficial bacterias.
I don't think I caught your Betta's name?
His name is Milo, my three year old wanted to name him “blue clue” so his full name is Milo Blue Clue as a compromise 😅
The ammonia was increased to 0.25 this morning, so I dosed the tank with 0.5mL of Prime (I went with the 5mL per 50 gallons dose which was 1mL per 10 gallons, equating to about 0.5mL for 5gal). He’s also back to pale with clamped fins, though still swimming around and eating. I had added an Indian almond leaf last night, so hopefully as that starts disintegrating, it helps him with the stress and prevents any disease from starting.
Question about Prime and the nitrogen cycle - if I have increased ammonia in the tank and that affects the fish, but nitrates and nitrites test at 0ppm, would dosing Prime to help the fish interrupt the nitrogen cycle or would the ammonia still be available for the bacteria but not harm the fish?
From what I understand now of the ammonia cycle - an ammonia increase is the beginning of the cycle, then it progresses as one type of bacteria starts changing ammonia into nitrites that feed the second type of bacteria which turns nitrites into nitrates until both types of bacteria are at high enough levels to essentially detoxify the tank of ammonia and nitrites. And the tank is considered cycled when there are low levels of nitrates and 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrites while feeding the fish normally for a week or two - which indicates there’s enough beneficial bacteria to sustain the current bio load of the fish. -
On 2/23/2022 at 12:12 PM, Patrick_G said:
I just read through your thread. Don’t panic about the tank not being cycled, but keep an eye on the parameters. I’m guessing you’ve now done some research into the nitrogen cycle and are going to continue with the fish in cycle. It can be safe and easy with one small fish in a 5 gallon. Just make sure your toxins stay low by doing water changes and in about a month (more or less🙂) you’ll be cycled and can add more fish if you want. One thing to keep in mind is that fertilizer will raise Nitrates so the key parameter you’ll be watching out for is your Nitrites falling to zero and staying there.
I didn’t know the fertilizer increased nitrates but that explains the increase almost immediately after setting up the tank, thank you for letting me know! I’ll invest in a nitrite chemical test for better accuracy over the strips.
I’ve seen mixed advice on the water changes - would you recommend about 1/3 of the tank when nitrites and ammonia are increasing?
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On 2/23/2022 at 11:28 AM, AndreaW said:
@Bethany92 ~ I keep thinking about your Betta. In reading back through the thread:
I'm curious where you are in your nitrogen cycle if you had nitrites and nitrates, but now have none? Sunday's 1ppm Nitrites would be a big stress to a Betta and could be the problem with his clamped fins and loss of color. However, yesterday you had no Ammonia, Nitrites or Nitrates, which would indicate you had no nitrogen cycle going yet, but would be fine for your Betta. Any idea what made the difference in those numbers?
A rapidly shifting pH could also cause stress, so I'm thinking about that as well, but I know very little about altering pH, KH & GH. I wish I knew more so I could help your little guy. I'd love to see him with color and flowing fins.
Here’s the timeline: set up the tank on the 17th with no fish and had fertilizer and the fluval substrate for the plants in the tank. By the 18th (next day) nitrates were 10ppm and nitrites were at 0ppm. I added the betta on the 19th, acclimated him to temperature first then slowly increased his water from the cup with equal amount tank water over 1 hour before he was let loose in the tank. On the 20th is when the nitrites increased to 1ppm. I had been using the strip tests. On the 21st, I noticed changes in the ammonia level (chemical test) to 0.25ppm and that’s when we woke up to him being pale with clamped fins. Because of the ammonia change and the change in my betta, I did a 25% water change using bottled purified water, and adding in API stress+ and bottled bacteria.
Today I received the chemical tests for pH. The strips kept reading around 6.4-6.5 (light orange but not dark enough to be considered 6.8). About an hour ago I tested the pH again with the chemical tests. Used both pH and high range pH. It’s actually 7.4 which I suspected something was up with the strips as purified water didn’t even register a pH higher than 6.4. I took pictures of the 3 tests I took from the tank water at the exact same time. So now I’m curious if the nitrates and nitrite levels are even accurate on the strips. I did the KH and GH chemical tests as well and the KH is 53ppm and the GH is 107.4ppm.
He’s gotten a bit of color back today, but still no flowing fins. He’s still very curious and eating, swims right up to me while I’m at the tank and tries to explore the syringe when I’m pulling water for tests. Always swimming around the top of the tank, plays with the bubbles from the sponge filter.
On 2/23/2022 at 1:33 PM, anewbie said:Just a size note - amazon swords are way too large for a 5 gallon; the red flame is border line maxium you want in a 5. This is of course when the plants mature. The red flame is not a bad plant but it is also very slow growing and can be a pit picky. I have one that is nearly 4 years old and it really hasn't grown much in 4 years; the amazon sword - if they like your environment will easily reach 20+ inches in height and 12 to 18 inch in width. They are not small plants. I have 2 in my 120 that take up most of the right third of the aquairum.
Oh I’m okay with the red melon being a slow grower. I didn’t know they’d get that tall but definitely too big when they’re mature. I guess I’ll replace the Amazon swords with different plants when they’re starting to outgrow my tank. Would they survive a transplant into a different tank by that point?? Thank you for letting me know!
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I’m not quite sure what to do besides wait and monitor the water parameters. His fins are clamped still, but he’s active with an appetite (will only eat brine shrimp, won’t even give the pellets his time).
right now the KH is 53 and GH is 125 (I started using the chemical tests versus strips). The pH on the strips is maybe 6.5 (I have a chemical test for pH coming tomorrow). Nitrates are 0ppm and nitrites are 0ppm. Ammonia is 0ppm. I did a 25% water change yesterday and used API stress+ for a water conditioner and added bottled bacteria yesterday after the change and again this morning.
Here’s pictures of him today. I’m slightly concerned about his fins. I don’t know if they just look like that from the new environment stress or if now there’s potential fin rot happening. He’s very responsive still, just not as flowing and vibrant as he was at the store Saturday. And he was all black with shimmering blue-green in the light.
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Thank you!! I’m an American as well, just have more comfort with liters because of my profession. Anything else, I can’t do metric either. 😆 I put him in a 1.5 gal tank with a small heater and the thermometer while I do the tank change. It may have ended up being roughly 50% because I wanted to get as much of the silt off the decor, plants, and rocks from my learning experience with the plant substrate. He’s actually been in the smaller tank for about 30-40 minutes and his black color appears to be coming back though his top fin is still clamped. He’s been curious the entire time, not even trying to hide from me. I used the water from the tank before starting the change, so hopefully he’s just overwhelmed by the 5.5gal versus that small cup he was in. Just waiting on the temperature to come back up before putting him back in.
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Okay. It’s a 5.5gal tank, I have about 2L of purified water warming up now with an air stone in it since that’s the biggest container I have for the clean water. About 25% would be 5.5L, would that be enough? Seems the ammonia level is now between 0-0.25 ppm (not quite yellow but not quite green) while the nitrites are still at 1ppm.
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On 2/21/2022 at 10:44 AM, H.K.Luterman said:
Have you tested the water parameters in the tank? It might be a good idea just to see what the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are.
I did 2 hours ago and then about 30 minutes ago. Nitrites are 1ppm and ammonia is around 0-0.25ppm. Nitrates are 25ppm.
I’m currently getting bottled purified water ready (heated and oxygenated) for a small water change. I usually use tap water but I’ve been getting the KH and pH to slowly increase with crushed coral. The pH is now 6.8 (very slow increase over 4 days) and the KH is 40ppm. Would Indian almond leaves tank the pH?
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I brought home a new male black orchid betta 2 days ago. This morning he’s now a pale grey color instead of black. There aren’t any extreme water changes from yesterday to today. I have actually been testing the water twice a day, temperature is stable at 78. He doesn’t appear stressed. He’s swimming around, interactive with us when we’re close to the tank, and eating. I just don’t know why he’s now a rather pale grey when he was really black. I can’t get a decent picture of him this morning. The small spot missing in his back tail was there when I bought him, I’m keeping an eye on that, but he isn’t acting sick at all. I actually chose him because he was the most lively and curious one. I’ve fed him hikari brine shrimp and betta pellets.
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I ended up getting my betta yesterday, I spent about 1.5 hours acclimating him even though the water in his cup and the tank water weren’t very different aside from temperature. He’s adjusted well, good appetite and energy. I’m trying to decide if I need to do a water change tomorrow since it’s a newly planted tank, a new fish, and I’m now seeing progress with the KH and pH. The first test this afternoon showed a slight change in nitrites at about a 1ppm but not quite there. Since I noticed a change, I tested the ammonia and that was at 0ppm. Nitrates were around 25ppm. The test tonight showed nitrates have increased and the nitrite was definitely at 1ppm. And the KH is now in the 40-80 ppm range and the pH is finally looking closer to 6.8, which I’m excited about. Would a 10% water change still be necessary with nitrites at a 1, even with the ammonia level at 0? I’m afraid of zonking the pH and KH now that it’s finally showing progress on day 4 and then also shocking the new fish and plants. Isn’t the danger with rising nitrites causing rising ammonia or is there more to it than that?
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On 2/19/2022 at 4:01 PM, JoeQ said:
Kh is linked to ph, as your kh rises so will the ph. I think when my kh was on the lower end of 40, my ph was still about 6.8~7.0
okay, and KH will slowly increase due to the crushed coral therefore increasing the pH slowly. I’m excited seeing the tank at least starting to cycle and showing nitrates. Now it’s just a slow and steady for the KH and pH. Would a realistic expectation for a rise in KH and pH from just the crushed coral show over the course of 2+ weeks?
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On 2/19/2022 at 11:32 AM, JoeQ said:
I did not say add snails now, I said you can start thinking of adding snails/ottos when you see algea start to grow. As for your kh/ph, if you want to speed things up (and since you have no live stock) you might consider sprinkling a SMALL amount of baking soda in the water. This will dissolve quickly in the water buffering your tank as you wait for the crush coral to dissolve.
Right, I understood what you meant about waiting on the snails. They need food and their food is algae. I didn’t take into account the pH though, so if the pH is still too low for snails after algae starts growing, I’d still need to figure out the pH and if it’s even an accurate result on the strips.
The KH is starting to slowly elevate, so I’m giving it a week before I start any buffers. With the little experience that I have, I’m afraid of destroying the plants by adding anything else right now. There’s 1 Amazon sword with a leaf that looks like it’s starting to melt and my red melon sword and Anubia also have leaves that may be melting too.
Moving help
in General Discussion
Posted
I was ditching tubing because they’ve got stuff in them but I’ll keep now, I thought it was meant to be cleaned every month so it wouldn’t get obstructed and I haven’t gotten a brush long enough to clean them out. Is the cleaning every month meant to just be the inside of the chiller? This is my first time having a chiller and it was from Amazon so instruction manual wasn’t as helpful for someone that barely knows anything about chillers haha
I was just using ice packs with the axolotl, it needs temps to stay around 65F. The other fish would definitely be fine without.
would they be fine without air holes? I assume so since I’ve had fish mailed to me in bags before