This past weekend I had guests in and vaguely noticed my fish weren't acting quite right but it never REALLY registered for a couple days. When I finally checked my water chemistry because something was obviously very wrong, fish were either flashing or sitting, my ammonia was at 8 ppm! Can you believe that?! I panicked, did several water changes, and today, just 3 days later, everything is back to 0. Very weird, IMO.

My tank is severely overstocked because I had to move quickly to an apartment and leave my pond behind. In short, I have 3 fish in a 10 gallon. What types of things can cause this? My filter is a penguin 150 and I have to change the cartridge VERY regularly because just cleaning it is not enough. I figured with the biowheel I would be protected from losing my colony so easily... I guess I need to keep in mind with 3 fish in such a small tank, water quality can fly out of whack quickly.

I do have plans for a larger tank. I even have one. Unfortunately, the homemade stand that came with it is too unstable for me to use with a 3 yr old daughter in the house. So I am stuck at the moment with no cash for a stand. So, go easy on me. I love my fish, these are just circumstances beyond my control for now.

If you hear of a cheap stand for a 55 gallon let me know....

Did you recently add in the three fish? Perhaps the colony was used to a lesser amount of amonia and with the addition of the fish waste plus the greater possibility of excess food the levels got temporarily out of whack?

That did happen in the beginning but everything leveled out. I was expecting that one. But this surprised me. The ammonia literally shot up. But then in 10 gallons with 3 medium fish, I guess if it happens that's how it's gonna go.

BTW, when I referred to cleaning I meant the cartridge, not the filter itself. The filter has not needed to be cleaned and I am avoiding that, hoping to use it to seed the larger tank when I get a stand. I intend to run it alongside a Penguin 350 in the new tank.

Did you say cheap stand?

http://petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?R=6356&...=0&Ntt=55+stand

I sell these all the time, and have never had one returned.

Three medium/large fish in a 10 galon tank could push the ammonia up skyhigh in a day or two. If, for some reason, the filter slowed or stopped filtering efficiantly, the beneficial bacteria would have less contact with the ammonia in the water, less chance to process it, and the ammonia could easy get out of hand. If, for some reason the oxygen available to the beneficial bacteria was reduced, the same thing could happen.

Keep the tank cool.

The Penguin 150 is a great filter for amounts of water going through - 150 in a 10 gallon tank should be ok, even for a dramatically overstocked tank. The problem is the cycling bacteria. If I remember correctly, that particular Penguin relys completely on the bio-wheel to hold your beneficial bacteria. When you change out the cartridge, you have thrown away anything that might be on that, leaving only the bio-wheel.

I like bio-wheels. I use them in almost all my tanks. They are a good place for the cycling bacteria to colonize. BUT....they are really not the best places. They have limited surface area - and can hold only so much bacteria. In a tank that is overstocked and needs the maximum amount of beneficial bacteria to process the excess ammonia, that wheel is, sadly, simply not up to the job.

There are a couple of things you can do.....

First, do not throw away that cartridge! You can either slit the top of the cartridge and bang out all the carbon chips into your garbage. Then, buy some ceramic rings, lava rock, sintered glass or other biomedia that is sold for filters. Poke that into the slit of the filter cartridge, filling up your cartridge with biomedia. The floss will still filter out the majority of the large waste, as it is meant to, but the bio-media will support a huge colony of beneficial bacteria - a nice backup to the bio-wheel. When you wish to clean this filter, just bang it around in a tub of old fish water, and/or, pour out the media, blast the floss clean in the sink and pour the media back in.

SEcond, if you want to make a "permanent" bio-media cartridge, You can make a netting bag or even use a stocking. Peel/cut all the blue floss off the cartridge frame and stick it in the netting bag. Fill it with bio-media.... This can fit behind the standard cartridge in the filter - it takes a bit of finagaling, but it fits - and will hold your bio-cycle no matter what happens to the wheel or the cartridge.

Upping the surface area will up your colony's population of beneficial bacteria. The more bacteria, exposed to the ammonia in the presence of sufficiant oxygen , will result in the maximum amount of ammonia to be processed.

If you have gravel in the tank, removing that will not affect your cycle (gravel holds little beneficial bacteria - only the very surface really holds much at all - so you will not lose too much), and having the gravel gone will give your fish all the more water volume to live in.

This, in combination with major and frequent water changes should allow you to keep those fish alive in a 10 until you are realy to upgraded.

If you have a 55 gallon tank, all you need it is a level, supportive surface that can support 450-500 pounds of weight. A stack of carefully placed cinder blocks will raise the tank up sufficiantly that your syphon should work well. A lid/hood, with the lid taped down should be fine. A 3 year old is too young to be running without supervision anyway, so there should not be too much problem. You could also use the basement, a spare room with a door, or even block the area off with carefully placed furniture, boxes or whatever.

Another great post, daryl, but I would like to say that 3 year olds are very very quick and it would take only a split second for something horrible to happen if the stand isn't very sturdy. You can't watch them 100% of the time--mother nature calls, the doorbell rings, etc. It's recommended that you anchor any large furniture like entertainment centers and dressers to the walls when they are infants/toddlers so they are unable to pull them down. (I wonder if those wall anchors would work on a tank stand?)


Just a thought from the mother of a 3 1/2 year old daughter and 2 year old son.

I have looked and looked for the wall anchors and finally decided even anchoring the stand still could tip the tank because they do have a small bit of slack. At least the other ones I used before she was born did. The cinder block idea sounds promising. The tank is a tall tank. Not exactly what I wanted but I found it cheap and it's tons better than the 10 gallon.

You are right about supervision, daryl, but that is not always possible. The thing that convinced me NOT to fill it on that stand was the day I turned to wash my hands with my daughter in the bathroom and in that minute or so she had walked in my room and climbed on the shelf of the stand. Scary, but it is impossible to be there every second no matter how hard you try.

You know daryl, I am just not thinking clearly. I used to keep extra bio media in my tank to use for my betta tank when needed or just to have handy. Since my move, my brain is gone. Thank you so much. I can see how this will work.

Magickzzl- I have seen that stand. They have been out every time I have been there. I need to measure because my tank is a 50 gallon tall. If the size would fit, I wonder if a 30 gallon stand would support the weight? I have a lot to think about....

Glad to hear you are aware of the anchors and their drawbacks. I haven't ever used them--I was not aware that there is some slack to them. Definately not an option with a tank on top!!

I agree with you and daryl--the cinder block idea sounds pretty good.

Good luck with whatever you decide!! Keep that daughter and fishies of yours safe!