yes the ammonia is good for cycling, read this:
http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/53
and the tetra aqua is probably to remove chlorine from water, it should say on bottle. If it doesn't go buy some, its very important to remove chlorine, or your tank won't cycle and your fish will die very quickly. Like Peter said, add it every time new water goes in, no matter how little the water amount.
totally new newb plz bare with me ty
16 posts • Page 2 of 2
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Peterkarig3210 - Posts: 1980
- Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am
You may have a couple products that dechlorinize water. The best dechlorinizing products dechlorinize, take out other harmful substances, and provide a slime coat for the fish. The diff between having an ammonia spike when you're first starting to cycle an aquarium, and a high ammonia level due to excess waste is hopefully explained in the article Spongbob provided. You still need to do frequent water changes. Your tank is not going to cycle until you provide enough biological filtration to process the waste. There is particulate filtration AND biological filtration. You need to have enough filter material to grow enough bacteria to cycle the waste and right now you don't have enough filtration. You can't get anywhere until you have an additional or a bigger filter. Go buy a nice big filter that filters up to 100 gallons, and your problems will quickly be resolved.
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silas313 - Posts: 8
- Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:23 am
thank you for help and answers. And i bought a new tank and next week will be a bigger filter for both of em. I bought a 55 which i will now cycle with that ammonia that u said was okay. And i got api test kit coming soon in mail. And i was jw about that stress coat if it really did take out chlorine good enuff because i know in life some shit says it does and it half azz the job of doing it so i was asking that too. Hopfully for the better lets see wat happens in my tank. any links to understanding a api test kit better ? or just common sense that i dont get for being newb?
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Snowboss4492 - Posts: 2098
- Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:24 pm
I would still double the filtration that is required - -get that 55 cycled asap and then split the load of fish between the 2 tanks - - don't get anymore fish until you have both tanks under control - -good luck
PS - -try to get away from the chemicals - they act like band-aids {cover the problem quickly, but don't fix the wound underneith} don't get me wrong, some meds are needed from time to time - - the goal here is to get to a point where the entire system through good maintenence and proper bio laoding {amout of fish,plants, matierials} takes care of itself through a natural balance - -your on the right track
PS - -try to get away from the chemicals - they act like band-aids {cover the problem quickly, but don't fix the wound underneith} don't get me wrong, some meds are needed from time to time - - the goal here is to get to a point where the entire system through good maintenence and proper bio laoding {amout of fish,plants, matierials} takes care of itself through a natural balance - -your on the right track
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silas313 - Posts: 8
- Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:23 am
I did 1/3 water change sunday plan on doing another 1/3 tues tomarrow.. and i added stress coat to it to take chlorine out. Also cleaned filter and rocks . Also i added some melafix to tank. How do i actually properlly use this medcine i hear this carbon come up is that the black stuff in filters? and i read they take medcine out of tanks.. so i added medcine to tank without filter in water then waited 10 minutes then put filter back up good or no? plz help with that i dont want to waste it and not get the fin fixed.. also i put air pump in tank with tube for bubbles the fish are now going way nuts sense then so i got a lil worried but i think there just happy for it.. atleast iam hoping:) But yea i plan on getting some stuff soon plus my taxes be coming:)
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Peterkarig3210 - Posts: 1980
- Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am
It sounds like you're on the right track. It's a bit of a contradiction with the Melafix to leave the charcoal in. The charcoal is helping to take toxic substances out of the water and it will also remove Melafix and other medications. I think at this point it's better to leave the charcoal in for what it does, and just add a little Melafix daily even if it won't be there long. I would put in as much charcoal as you can and still get the pads to fit into the filter, and then you can put fresh charcoal in whenever you clean your filter pads. Melafix is a very natural medication. It's made of Tea-tree oil, which is used by people as a topical antiseptic(diluted!)
As for the bubbles: As long as you're not wearing out your fish with too much current, bubbles won't hurt them. If you have fish with very large fins,(I forgot what you have), reduce the current, because they cannot maintain all that hard swimming with their large cumbersome fins.
You haven't indicated that any of your fish have died, so hopefully you're on the road to recovery, and with the extra tank and filter you shouldn't have this problem as long as you don't over feed, use products that remove chlorine for water changes, and do 30% water changes say every 2 weeks. Peter
As for the bubbles: As long as you're not wearing out your fish with too much current, bubbles won't hurt them. If you have fish with very large fins,(I forgot what you have), reduce the current, because they cannot maintain all that hard swimming with their large cumbersome fins.
You haven't indicated that any of your fish have died, so hopefully you're on the road to recovery, and with the extra tank and filter you shouldn't have this problem as long as you don't over feed, use products that remove chlorine for water changes, and do 30% water changes say every 2 weeks. Peter
