First forum site I've ever been on

[Bubbles_n_worms]

This is the first form side I've ever used, I've been working on my tank for almost 2 months now. Done a lot of reading on the Internet about the fish that I keep and watch a ton of YouTube videos on the fish that I keep. I love it. I also have A dog and a cat three guinea pigs a lions head bunny. And now my tank . I think it's safe to assess am an animal lover.

 

[Bubbles_n_worms]

I was saying first forum site....

 

[xraycer]

Welcome to MFK, April!
Glad to hear you're doing research, and you came to the forum with pictures to share. You're off to a great start!

 

[Aquanero]

Welcome to MFK. Nice bgk, I really enjoy mine great fish.

 

[Bubbles_n_worms]

It all started with a complete 55G on the side of the road for free! Glass lids and all! Did a 1-2 week cycle with my Betta in a breeding cube. He stayed in there as I slowly added my fish perfect ph and all. After all the fish were in after a few weeks the Betta got out of the cube. He's the most peaceful fish in there! Has a bed at the top (live hammock) also have 3 feeder guppys my brown knife fish never ate lol two are prego! I was feeding everyone tadpoles from my pond, and 4 survided, they almost have legs, no one bothers them.so those are my oddballs! Then I have 4 Angels, mean buggers to each other,4 neon,5 assorted tetra ie. Silver tip. Fast enough to swim away if they need to. 1 Lazy Pleco ! A beefy rainbow shark who terrorizes my 3 corydoras. Then the brown ghost knife fish and a new black ghost knife-fish. Plenty of tubes, plants caves. More ordered too,on the way. I feed blood worms, shrimp pellets, trop. Flakes, beef heart flakes, algae wafers , and sinkers. Once a while the tadpoles, or live brine. Only problem I've had is after medicating for something I don't think I even need to medicate for. My pH which was always perfect seven drop down to six within two days. My brown ghost turned white and I rushed him to My LFS where they acclimated him, and bag Him. It was Furan 2 btw. My nitrates were up to 80 because I had moss in the tank that I thought was living but was dead, and my ammonia was at 1.0 after my first water change, which was done exactly a month after I started the tank, 25%. Now I do 15% a week my ammonia is at zero, nitrates are at .25 ppm, and my pH is at 6.4. I'd like to raise it up a little bit but I know the knife fish like a bit of acidity the other fish seem fine as well so I'm not too worried about it. Needless to say I took out all the moss and things are stable, I just bought a GH test kit which will be here on Monday, from Amazon. Other than that little bit of aquarium salt , some stress zime. We are good, a little cloudy today but I don't worry about cloudy happens from time to time, I worry about levels. I test every day. Or I have been at least until i'm stable for a week . If you have any tips for me or comments I'm really up to suggestion it's my first tank I'm learning a lot, but it's nice do you have insight on your own aquarium. Thanks for the reply





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[Bubbles_n_worms]

I forgot to mention my clown Loach (Pogo, the clown).

 

[xraycer]

You didn't mention nitrite. A tank is cycled once ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate starts rising.

First thing you need to do is stop adding more fish. It is a natural desire to want to keep adding fish, but this can be very detrimental to the health of your tank especially for someone who is inexperienced.

15% water change once a week is not enough unless you have plenty of plants. Plants will utilize nitrate, so without them the only practical way to remove nitrate is water changes. 15% w/c will not do much to lower your nitrate level with all the fish you have now, so it'll just keep rising. Ultimately, it will affect the health of your fish. I recommend at a minimum of 50% w/c once a week.

 

[ShadowP]

+1^^^ What he said til you get a good amount of live plants going with good lighting and please put the lights on a timer. Tank looking much better. You're on the right track, but cut back on the bloodworms a bit til all reading zeros 'cept the nitrate. Try and keep it at or under 20.