Well i was not sure where this actually belongs because its not an emergency yet still important yet deals with water quality.

i'll start with the red box from the other sub-forum

Test Results for the Following:
Ammonia Level? 0 ppm
Nitrite Level? 0 ppm
Nitrate level? 5 ppm
Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)? ph- 8.4 kh and gh unavailable (hard time locating test kit) chloramines- don't think there are any
Ph Level out of the Tap? 7.6
Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 45 gal, since columbus day weekend plus a month or two
What is the name and size of the filter/s? Fluval 304, whisper 60
How often do you change the water and how much? every other day...a gal or two to feed the plantss and then weekly 10 gals
How many fish in the tank and their size? 2- 2 inches each about
What kind of water additives or conditioners? Prime When adding water, baking soda when doing a major water change
Any medications added to the tank? none
Add any new fish to the tank? none
What do you feed your fish? Pro Gold, Hikari Lionhead, Oranda
Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt",
bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? none although every once and a while elongated poops
Any unusual behavior like staying
at the bottom, not eating, ect..? nope

Another thing when i added the fluval i kinda changed the filter pads on the whisper (stupid me!) sooo the cycle must've restarted and i'm experiancing a loonnng bacteria blooom (has been going on for a few weeks)

One further note, foam on the water, most likely due to elevated levels of DOC's. DOC's coming from dissolved uneaten food that is stuck in the filter? I kno with marine tanks we use a protein skimmer to remove DOC's but they don't work well in freshwater do they?
This would be the 2nd time it has happened in this tank although before the inhabitants were koi and the foam would have to be cleaned off the surface as it reached 3 inch peaks and back then the only filter was the whisper

ok one more note, the lights are on daily for about 14 hrs, except 1 day during the week to make things more natural.... *trying to slowly cut back on the # of daylight hours*

if mods feel this should be moved goo ahead

any help or advice about clearing the foam and cloudy water would be muchly appreciated

pic of the tank right now:

o yes i forgot something

water quality history: (I kno i should chek it more often but i've got a bad memory lol)

Date pH Ammonia NH3/NH4 Nitrite NO2 Nitrate NO3
Oct 30, 2005 7.8 0 ppm .25 ppm 160 ppm
Nov 18, 2005 8 0 ppm .25 ppm 30 ppm
Nov 26, 2005 7.8 .125 ppm 0 ppm 5 ppm
Dec 4, 2005 8.4 0 ppm 0 ppm 5 ppm


Tests start on the arrival of the master test kit

the foam has begun to rise, and turn a tinted brownish/tanish color

Anybody know anything about this?

well i had to take the tank down because it was leaking...So i attempted to re-seal it which didn't work and i'm attempting again...I'm using GE Silicone 100% II.

Gezz Hun I'm so sorry I have been gone for such a while and no one seen your post I'm so sorry that there want anyone to help, I'm very embarrassed....

As to your problem even though the tank is down,

This looks like the tank was trying to cycle its self by looking at your readings this looked like a normal thing. As for the foam this mostly was caused by the Prime in the tank, nothing much to worry about it would have gone away.....

Again so sorry nobody helped you and it shouldn't happen again.

thanks Koko, the tank is back up now and cloudiness has returned, shall wait for the cycle to finish, hopefully it will not take long.

Does amquel have the same effect? If I switch to using Amquel will there be foam still?

thanks

I know when I use amquel I dont get any foam in my tanks even in new ones.....You could try doing a water change and adding that to the tank.... How long have you had it up now hun?

Ok i will try that as soon as i get home, which won't be till friday

I'd have to check my logs @ home for the exact date but it hasn't been up again for anymore than a week or so, also i moved my HOB filter to the aquarium where the fish were moved so the bacteria there wouldn't die completely, my canister filter, probably all the bacteria has died.

I would hook up the canister to the tank that has the good bugs for a week then hook it up to the new tank, Try to have a filter on the new tank that has been running for a while this way the tank will cycle much faster

thanks KoKo will try to get parents to take a visit to petco to get amquel 2morrow

well we weren't able to go out today to buy amquel because of the snow.

i did a water change about 15% because i had a feeling that over the week i was away my parameters got bad. After adding prime and waiting a few hours i tested the water and here are the results:

pH 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrate 160 ppm

the nitrate is really really bad, should i do more water changes?

I would do another water change today if you can.... 30-40%

alrite i did a 40% water change a few hours ago, i will retest water params in a few minutes and i'll post back

thanks again for your help koko

well i forgot to test the water so i did it this morning

pH 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 30 ppm

looks better =) yay =)

since there aren't any nitrites or ammonia does that mean the cycle is done or is it just because of the water change.

I would test the water in 24 hours to make sure it wasnt the water change if it stays normal like this your good as gold

thanks koko i'll do that

it was just the water change

pH-7.8
Ammonia-0ppm
Nitrite-.25ppm
Nitrate-80ppm

I would let the tank sit for another 24-48 hours then do another 40% water change and then test again after 24 hours.

Also do a test on the water that you use for a water change

ok i'll go test the source water soon

and do the changes 2morrow
and then test again thursday night

Your the testing man

hehe yupp

i don't need the directions anymore lol

i forgot to do the testing yesteday so here are the results, no real difference

pH 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrate 30 ppm

i haven't had time to test the tap yet,

i have a question, when doing a water change, do you add dechlor before or after your done changing, i've been adding 1/2 before and 1/2 in the middle. I hope that with the water changes i haven't been killing off my bacteria!
O yea i'm not sure if my water actually has chlorine in it, with my koi stock tanks, i few times i've completely changed the water and forgot to add dechlor and the koi were fine, soo either i don't have or have very little chlorine in my water or koi are more tolerant.

I think your doing good I think the last bit of the Nitrite will go away in a few days....Adding the water conditioner any way is fine, some people like it before and some after I always do it after. but in the middle is a more wiser choice

Koi are very hardy fish and will take allot before they will show you there is something wrong hun

thanks koko, and when the nitrite goes away the cloudiness should go away too rite?

thats interesting about the koi being more hardy than goldfish, another really interesting thing is that supposedly the butterfly koi are more hardy than regular, something to do with where the butterfly carp came from.

It should.....

Let take another look into your filter and your tank size and how many fish in there

yeah interesting on how koi and different kois can handle more than others and the fact that koi are allot stronger than goldfish, but the main thing is that Koi are more directly related to the wild Carp than the fancy goldfish

ok here we go,

Filters:

Fluval 304
Whisper 60

Air:
1 Small Air Stone
1 Large Bubble Bar thingy

Fish:

1 Oranda
1 Ryukin
1 Fantail (i think its a fantail, quite small and old fantail)
*in about 3 weeks 2 fish come out of QT and will be introduced (hopefully)*


OOOO i see now about why koi are more hardier than GF, thanks for that info

Whats the tank volume again hun

o yea haha i forgot that lol

45 gal

So we got great filtration for this tank we are looking at 13 times an hour that is wonderful....

So I would let this tank run the way it is now for at least a month with out doing anything to it, then if you add the other fish which I wouldn't do since your not going to have enough room when they get older, I would only add one in every 2 weeks this way the filtration will catch it self back up again

ok that sounds great, i'll save the QT fish for a new tank that i'm currently in search for, a pretty large one so that the QT fish and the oranda and ryukin can live together, and the rest of my fish can have a home all to themselves (45 gal)

i'm glad that hopefully this recycle and cloudiness is almost over.

thanks for all the help Koko, they're muchly appreciated by everyone over here, including the goldfish lol

have a good end of the weekend!

you to hun,

anytime you need help you know were to come

thanks koko, its nice to kno that theres somewhere that i can rely on if my goldfish need help

here are the params i just took:

pH 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite .25 ppm
Nitrate 60 ppm


Tap Water
pH 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm

hopefully things will go down soon, i'm feeding now much less than before.

Recently i've noticed alot of chasing in my tank, i don't think its anything though. <<< May have been caused by my unpluging the heater for a while and the tank getting cold (65-68) and then plugging back in and it being around 72-74
My parents refuse to turn the heat higher than 64

it's been awhile since i posted an update soo here i go,

pH 7.8
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm YAY!!!
Nitrate 160 ppm

i think i'm gonna go do a 50% water change right now,

the cloudiness is still there hopefully it willl dissipate in a few days

thanks for your help through the recycling koko

hmmmm after the water change the water was clear, and then i turned my HOB filter on and the water went cloudy!!!

idk what to do, do you have any ideas?

the cloudiness is now gone!!! yay!!!

thanks for the help,

we shall see how long the clear water lasts
keep your fingers crosse!!