Topic: A new tank. What to put in it?

[ruthcatrin]

I've never had peppered corys, but the albino's I own have proved quite tolerant of all kinds of tank permaneter changes.  Definetly keep an eye on them, and keep testing the water.  Have you tried a nice big water change?  If the amonia spikes again after the water change brings it down then there's something in the tank out of whack, how out of whack though only time will tell.

[wendyjo]

Maybe try adding some filter squeezings from one of your cycled tanks to help this one out a bit.

My endlers do most of their eating off the bottom of the tank and they do also hang out at the top as much as they do anywhere else - they are just all over the place.

[Boven]

When I set the tank up, I added some squeezings from my 38 gallon's canister filter to it along with some of the ceramic media.

What has me puzzled is the constant reading on ammonia and nitrates.  If the cycle was successful, the ammonia should read zero.  If it wasn't, then what would cause readable NitrAte levels?  I don't think I was overfeeding, since I only put in a bit of flake food or one sinking pellet per feeding.

At the moment, it's just the corys in there.  By Sunday morning, only two of the endlers were still alive and one of those was hiding behind the driftwood.  I gave in and netted them and moved them to the 20 gallon.  I had to go to the stables, so I didn't acclimate them as long as I'd have liked.  They only got about 30 minutes of drip before being let loose among the platys.  When I got home in the evening the larger one who'd been hiding earlier had died.  The one remaining endler seems okay and actually hangs around with two of the platys.  I guess he likes big women.

I dunno what it is about this tank.  Granted, I've only cycled two tanks before, but this one just seems to be messed up somehow.  I really want to get it stable.  I feel bad about the endlers dying and want to make it a good home for the corys and some new residents.

[ShieldWolf]

Yah there shouldn't be any ammonia readings in a fully cyled tank. Usual suspects are too many fish & overfeeding but you've ruled out those 2.

Having NitrAte in a cycled tank is normal as long as the reading isn't 20ppm+. Prolonged exposure to anything above that is harmful. Of course water changes or adding plants alleviate that.

btw you did mean NitrIte as oppossed to mitrAte? if have ammonia readings you're due to have NitrIte also.

On very rare occasions I've had mature fully cycled tanks go through a mini-cycle for various reasons some of which were unknown. Anyway goodluck with your setup.

[bgssamson]

Few questions for you! sorry if this was mentioned earlier.

1. What conditioner do you use when changing the water?
2. Are you disturbing the gravel everytime you change the water?
3. Are you checking any dead fish? this can cause the spike
4. Are you using same temp water when changing?
5. Any other additives you adding in this tank?

I am local to you so if you need help or advice you are always welcome to ask me via pm or we can meet. I can also give you some plants that is suitable for your tank. I live in Springfield, VA.

-Brian

[Boven]

Well, as of last night, it looks like whatever weirdness was going on seems to settled down.  Ammonia and NitrIte both read zero and NitrAte was at about 10ppm. 

Yah there shouldn't be any ammonia readings in a fully cyled tank. Usual suspects are too many fish & overfeeding but you've ruled out those 2.

Having NitrAte in a cycled tank is normal as long as the reading isn't 20ppm+. Prolonged exposure to anything above that is harmful. Of course water changes or adding plants alleviate that.

btw you did mean NitrIte as oppossed to mitrAte? if have ammonia readings yo're dure to have NitrIte also.

On very rare occasions I've had mature fully cycled tanks go through a mini-cycle for various reasons some of which were unknown. Anyway goodluck with your setup.

NitrAte. That's what was really throwing me.  When I started the tank out, I was adding pure ammonia to get things going, so the ammonia reading was insanely high.  As things started going, the ammonia began to drop and I was getting NitrIte readings.  I kept feeding it with ammonia and soon the NitrIte dropped and NitrAte shot up.  A couple days later I added the fish.  After that, the ammonia went up again, NitrIte stayed at zero, and NitrAte shot up.   I've really no clue what the heck was going on.  I guess it's possible that the ammonia->NitrIte bacteria somehow got killed off and the cycle had to reestablish itself, but I've no clue how that could've happened.

Anyway, I figure I'll watch it for a few days with just the corys in it, to make sure it stays stable before adding other fish.

 

[Boven]

I think it's time to give up on this tank.  After nearly two weeks of appearing to be stable, I was finally able to work out a day I could take off in order to wait for fish to be delivered.  The plan was I'd order 'em today and wait for 'em to arrive tomorrow.  I did the weekly water change which was about 25 or 30% yesterday afternoon.  A few hours later I did the weekly water test.  The stupid thing is reading ammonia (I think it was .5ppm or whatever the lowest non-zero level was on the color chart), zero nitIte, and some NitrAte.

I'm not going to risk adding fish for fear of it being messed up again somehow.

Tonight, I think I'll move the cories out of the tank and into the 20 gallon, then empty this one out and shut it down.  Maybe I'll try again with it at this point, but after all this time it's really become nothing but a huge frustration and I have to wonder if it's just jinxed or something.

[ruthcatrin]

I assume you're not having any troubles with your other tanks, but have you tried testing your tap water directly?  And what are you using for water conditioner

[Boven]

I assume you're not having any troubles with your other tanks, but have you tried testing your tap water directly?  And what are you using for water conditioner

I haven't tested the tap water directly.  My other tanks give expected results:  zero ammonia, zero NitrIte, and some level of NitrAte.

I use API's water conditioner. I use it for all the tanks and the bettas.

I'm pretty much at my wits end with this tank.  Something seems to make it unstable and whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be related to water or filter media changes.  I don't think I'm overfeeding the cories.  They get one sinking pellet in the morning and one in the evening which they pretty much devour.  They seem to be happy and active.

I'd had such hopes for the tank, but now I'm wondering if it's a lost cause.

[LittlePuff]

You need to give it more than 2 weeks to get stable. How many fish did you add right away? If it was too much all at once, that can also cause it to read more ammonia.