Ammonia Level: .25

Tank size(How many Gals): 10 and How long has it been running?: 2mo.

Nitrite Level?: 0.0

How often do you change the water and how much? : 20% week

Nitrate Level?: 0.0

Filtration? : PennPlax hang-on filter sized for 20 gal.

Ph Level : 6.5

Ph of tap water:: 6.5

Water additives/conditioners?: "Cycle", weekly one capful; Ammo-Lock as needed, perhaps one a week at first, now infrequently

What do you feed your fish?: Peas, mashed and Omega One pellets, pre-soaked. Once a day. Vacuum out remains as much as is feasible.

Medications add to the tank? : None

How many fish in the tank and there size?: One, about 2.5"

Any new fish added to the tank? : No

Any unusual findings on the fish? : A recent period of reduced activity, followed by prodigious pooping, then more activity. Fish looks healthy, is swimming around a good bit, eating something off the air tubes and tank decorations. Voracious consumption of the last batch of peas!

Here's the situation:

"Swimmy" was carny. After a day at home here in a fish bowl, I read this forum and outfitted a 10 gallon tank. There is aeration via a Rena pump and two air stones. A PennPlax Cascade 100 filter hangs on the back. I have an Eheim Ecco waiting to go in.

We check the water chemistry on a regular basis. Ammonia spiked quickly, and I used Ammo Lock to control it. Although the Ammonia seems to be controlling itself (in the last week), we have not seen the nitrite/nitrates rise at all.

Early on, the tank was a bit cloudy. I realized that the filter was leaking (really poor construction/design) and repaired it. Within a couple of days, the tank cleared. Now, over the past four days, the tank has become progressively more cloudy. I just changed the filter element, we'll see if that helps.

The fish seems happy, but the tank is very cloudy. I did two water changes in the past two days, amounting to about 50% of the volume. Should I wait and see if the new filter element helps, or do I need to take more drastic action?

Thanks, folks.

OK, I just rechecked the Ammonia and it was up to 2.0! That's a sharp increase over two days ago. I added 5ml of Ammo Lock and retested at .25

I guess I need to be monitoring on a daily basis.

Shouldn't this tank have begun to cycle by itself? It has been 2 months, an the nirite/nitrates have not budged off 0.0

Any ideas?

Thanks

Hi and welcome.

And to answer your question yes the tank should be cycling. And that is probably what the cloudiness is. A bacterial bloom. Don't worry about the cloudiness. As a tank cycles it will do this.
Unfortunetly when you changed out the filter you probably killed what good bugs you had growing. The filter is where they primarily live. So I would not recommend changing that at all at this point. If it gets all full of gunk you can rinse it in tank water that you remove during your changes.

Have you read up on cycling? You want to have the ammonia get no higher than .25, so keeping it there will keep the tank cycling but will hopefully be tolerable to the fish.
With ammo-lock that product doesn't remove ammonia it only non toxifys it. So that means when you test you will still see it, but it won't be toxic to the fish.

It may take a while to get this completed, so hang in there. But leave the filter media alone, let it do it's thing.
I know it is frustrating this cloudiness. Mine got so cloudy I couldn't see the fish!!!

penplax cascade 100? i think mines a penplax caascade 400 and thats only just doing the job in my 20 gal.. ok i looked at the webbie for it: http://www.pennplax.com/Pages/Aqua.pages..../Aqua20F.html
and there is no 100.. oh i just realise dyou have a HOB.. sorry, im confused

Laurie, Thank you. I feel btter now.

Yes, I've read everything that I can find about the cycling process, but nobody ever mentions cloudiness. So, if this is normal, OK!

I did change the filter media, but not the "bio sponge" that sits downstream of the filter. That's the item that is supposed to provide a good home to the nitrifying bacteria. Also, I didn't throw out the old filter media, I rinsed it and set it aside, maybe I'll put it back in?

Also, I did install the Eheim Ecco filter this morning, so now I have two filters going. I did this partly out of desperation, and partly because I'm thinking about starting up a larger tank once this one settles down. I thought that moving an existing filter to the new tank might speed things up a it. nd, no, it did not clarify the tank at all.

Again, thanks.

Lucy:
http://www.pennplax.com/Pages/Aqua.pages..../Aqua18F.html

It looks like they make a couple of different filters with the Cascade moniker.

Dan

Dan it is fine to start the new filter, with both running it will give the new one a chance to get a bed of the good bugs in before you remove them from the old filter.

How did you rinse the other filter media? In tap water? If so it isn't any good, the tap will kill the bacteria. And if it has been left out of water any length of time that too will kill the bacteria.

I would run the levels again and post them, let's see where you are.

Rinsed in well water, no chlorine. But I think that the sponge, which I did not change, is holding most of the beneficial bacteria.

I've kept the old filter media wet "just in case". I guess this is "case"

Interesting point for those of you on city water: Whole house carbon filters are not very expensive, relatively easy to install, and you will be SO happy to not be taking chlorine showers anymore. In fact, when I was renting and moving every couple of years, I used to move my carbon filters with me. The best water is good well water, but filters will remove most of the chlorine.

Laurie, I guess I have to get ready for a nitrite/nitrate spike?

-Dan

Hmmm, what are the params, and how long have they been that way?
Cycling is as tricky as can be. Some people's take a few weeks, mine took 12 weeks. So it is hard to say.

But once the nitrites pop on seen your job becomes harder fast.

This is a ten gallon tank with just the one little fish. Been about two months now.

Ok, what are the readings again?

You should be seeing a nitrite spike, but with the cleaning of the filters, you probably set it back some. Patience is a great virture to have during cycling.

70° water temp
Ammonia 2.0 ppm
pH 7.0
Nitrite 0.0 (but looks like it is moving up, a bit purple on the test)
Nitrate 0.0

I'm using Cycle once a week, and Ammo Lock as needed to control Ammonia.

Have you tried a product called Fritz-Zyme?
http://www.fritzpet.com/fritzzyme7_main.html

Thanks again

Dan

Ok, the fritzpet I haven't heard of but it looks to be pretty much just a water conditioner. And you have that in the ammo lock you are using.
So I don't think you have to use both, would be a waste of money.

Now, with ammonia that high make sure you use the ammo lock when doing changes. But I will tell you, I don't particularly like that product, for you really don't know where your ammonia levels are because it gives "false" readings. It binds the ammonia to non toxic state but it still shows up on the test.
If you can I would recommend switching to Prime as your water conditioner. This will take care of ammonia yet doesn't give that result.

So with it being that high I would do changes to bring it down to around 0.25. No lower right now though. That way the ammonia is still there to kick into the nitrite phase.

If you are able to find a product called Biospira that will help you add the bacteria you need to the tank.

Ok, off to the store tommorrow, I'll post back as things evolve!

alrighty, I will check in with you tomorrow. Good luck.

Date: 12-26
pH: 6.6
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite 2.0-5.0
Nitrate 5.0-10.0

Alrighty, I added the Bio-Spira (the ENTIRE package, good for 30 gallons, into a 10 gallon tank) and started seeing results within a day. The Bio-Spira info clearly states that A) you can not overdose the tamk with to much culture, and some ammonia-reducing chemicals, like the Ammo-Lock that I had been using, is detrimental to the nitrifying bacteria. So, I did a 50% water change before dosing with the Bio-Spira .

Here we are, a week later and the ammonia is still high (4.0) but the nitrite is between 2.0 and 5.0, and the nitrate is between 5.0 and 10.0 and rising fast.
I did a gravel vac to try to get the crap out and lower the ammonia a bit. I cleaned the first (rough) pad on the Eheim filter and flushed a good bit of flotsom out. I've reduced feeding to once a day, in much smaller quantities. Sometimes, I'll skip a day. The cloudiness has reduced substantially. There is still a haze, but not the thick fog that obscured everything in the tank. I couldn't even tell if there was a fish in there, before.

I think I'm on the way now.

Thanks.

Folo:

Ph 6.6
Ammonia: .50
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

"Swimmy" is MUCH more active, actually comes to the front of the tank when I get close. Water cleared completely, now there is a good bit of algae growth. I used some Zeolite in the Eheim Ecco filter to drop the ammonia, but, really, I have no idea if it helped, or if the nitrifying bacteria took over.

Next step: 55 gallon tank. This fish is growing!