Bderick67;4671400; said:
I would think its not directed at me, cause a bachlors degree and water licence say I do better than most
Are my Arowanas gonna be okay??
- Thread starter josephjeon
- Start date
I would think its not directed at me, cause a bachlors degree and water licence say I do better than most
Reread his first post and you will get the answer.dee_nice83;4671300; said:
I would not take advice from this guy. He "says" he is in school but he did not bother to read your first post to find what filter you use.fono15200;4671389; said:
We know what kind of grades students get when you do not bother to read before they post or know what they are talking about before they give advice.
Oh and it was directed at you, anyone can get a degree. It does not mean jack.
I hope all is well with your aro's. I would do 50% water changes daily not when ever you get the chance to help take down the ammonia.
bomber;4671700; said:Reread his first post and you will get the answer.
I would not take advice from this guy. He "says" he is in school but he did not bother to read your first post to find what filter you use.
We know what kind of grades students get when you do not bother to read before they post or know what they are talking about before they give advice.
Oh and it was directed at you, anyone can get a degree. It does not mean jack.
I hope all is well with your aro's. I would do 50% water changes daily not when ever you get the chance to help take down the ammonia.
Think about it, even in theory, constant water changes is not a good idea. You are taken chorline and flouride treated water (assuming you use tap water that you use chemicals on) and pour it into a tank that doesnt have built up bacteria already in it. Your canister filter im assuming has the little bio rings in it (mine does also) Which is great, it helps cycle the tank, once they have bacteria built on them. The previous advice would be good if you had a solidly established tank.
Yeah what youre seeing there is a tank in the later stages of a cycle. If the lfs gave you some established bacteria of some sort, it looks like it may not have been enough to handle the Aros yet. The little bit of nitrites indicates that there is some ammonia being consumed, and the nitrates indicate that some nitrites have been consumed. Some fish can handle the high ammonia for short periods of time, but when that 4ppm of ammonia gets converted to nitrite those fish are going to be in a world of hurt. Doing water changes will help in a pinch, but having to do lots of water changes before the tank has established a full cycle will slow the cycle process.
In the future what is ideal is to setup the tank and filter, and add pure ammonia (no addatives or fragrance) up to around 5ppm and let it run. Initial water tests will show:
5ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrite
0ppm nitrate
Test the water every few days, and eventually you will start to see the ammonia levels drop and the nitrite levels rise sharply. This can take days to weeks. Warmer water may cycle faster.
2ppm ammonia
2ppm nitrite
0ppm nitrate
Continue to test the water every few days and eventually you will see no ammonia and LOTS of nitrites but still no nitrates.
0ppm ammonia
5ppm nitrite
0ppm nitrate
At this point you can continue to add small doses of ammonia, up to 2ppm to keep the ammonia feeding bacteria alive. Keep up the process untill you have:
0ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrite
40-200ppm nitrate
At this point the tank is cycled. Do a large water change (maybe 75%) and add fish. Cycling in this way makes your bio base plentiful and you should be able to add a full stock of fish right away. This whole process can take 6-8 weeks. Sometimes less or more. In any case your tank is not ready for fish untill you can dose the tank with pure ammonia up to about 2ppm and in 24hrs have no ammonia and no nitrite.
In the future what is ideal is to setup the tank and filter, and add pure ammonia (no addatives or fragrance) up to around 5ppm and let it run. Initial water tests will show:
5ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrite
0ppm nitrate
Test the water every few days, and eventually you will start to see the ammonia levels drop and the nitrite levels rise sharply. This can take days to weeks. Warmer water may cycle faster.
2ppm ammonia
2ppm nitrite
0ppm nitrate
Continue to test the water every few days and eventually you will see no ammonia and LOTS of nitrites but still no nitrates.
0ppm ammonia
5ppm nitrite
0ppm nitrate
At this point you can continue to add small doses of ammonia, up to 2ppm to keep the ammonia feeding bacteria alive. Keep up the process untill you have:
0ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrite
40-200ppm nitrate
At this point the tank is cycled. Do a large water change (maybe 75%) and add fish. Cycling in this way makes your bio base plentiful and you should be able to add a full stock of fish right away. This whole process can take 6-8 weeks. Sometimes less or more. In any case your tank is not ready for fish untill you can dose the tank with pure ammonia up to about 2ppm and in 24hrs have no ammonia and no nitrite.
Venom SS;4671748; said:
Hey! Thanks so much for spending time to help me out with my arowana tank! I really REALLY would like to take your advice on this and cycle my tank through... but at the moment that tank is the only one I have that will fit 3 arowanas in it.... I would have to have a solution in which I can keep the fish in the tank while treating the water. any suggestions besides water changes? I plan on doing about 1/3 water change twice a week?
i think ur tank is still new, so change water frequently, maybe daily... after 2 or 3 months, everything will be ok....
the lack of nitrites does not necessarily mean that there are bacteria changing it into nitrates. there is a lack of nitrates which probably proves the point.
by the sounds it is a new tank and there is no bacteria converting the ammonia at all.
hence a zero reading for both other forms.
a new tanks takes time for the bacteria to build. it is not good advice to stick fish in it right away. let alone expensive fish. selling you products to beat the time has resulted in a high level of ammonia yes, so its bad advice. they are selling you something to mask the problem.
first you need ammonia present, but not at that level of 4.0. that is a rather worrying reading..
then after a few more weeks one form of bacteria will change that into nitrite.
then once there is nitrate present another form of bacteria can consume the nitrite and turn that into nitrate. so you need to wait for both species to be present. they take time after their food source is there. without one of the forms, its like a paddock without grass for cows.
i suggest you search for an ammonia cycle graph so you get a good idea what would be going on.
so yes, changing all the water to the point you have no ammonia puts you back at the start but you should change it until it reads much lower than what it is.
making sure you do not add chlorine to the tank if your source is tap water.
that will have a bad effect on the bacteria you want there and also probably set you back to the start again.
you should always get a new tank then feed it and wait a month and more with the filters and air running.
or you can seed it with the chemical ammonia. these ways you can test your water like your doing and watch it kick in.
so you want to change water so the ammonia reads say 1.0 or 0.5.
that is well enough to get bacteria growing and the level wont hurt the fish too much.
then over time youll get a conversion into nitrite and after a longer while a converting into nitrates.
if i were you i would beg borrow or steal someones filter media that already has some bacterias of both type present, i also would not feed the tank at all until the level of ammonia was under some control.
you also want some calcium and magnesium in the water. so check your source or tap water to make sure it has some but not too much. arows might come from water that is fairly free of these things, but they live in clean water, and you wont in such a small space so you should have some present.
bacterias consume this stuff as they grow.
species depending, plants in general are not all that good at pulling the first form of ammonia and really, if you stuck plants in the tank now and used them for the second and third form, you are having the plants compete with the bacteria for their sources of food. you can introduce plants later on once you have a supply of nitrate.
its good to see you testing and asking questions.
by the sounds it is a new tank and there is no bacteria converting the ammonia at all.
hence a zero reading for both other forms.
a new tanks takes time for the bacteria to build. it is not good advice to stick fish in it right away. let alone expensive fish. selling you products to beat the time has resulted in a high level of ammonia yes, so its bad advice. they are selling you something to mask the problem.
first you need ammonia present, but not at that level of 4.0. that is a rather worrying reading..
then after a few more weeks one form of bacteria will change that into nitrite.
then once there is nitrate present another form of bacteria can consume the nitrite and turn that into nitrate. so you need to wait for both species to be present. they take time after their food source is there. without one of the forms, its like a paddock without grass for cows.
i suggest you search for an ammonia cycle graph so you get a good idea what would be going on.
so yes, changing all the water to the point you have no ammonia puts you back at the start but you should change it until it reads much lower than what it is.
making sure you do not add chlorine to the tank if your source is tap water.
that will have a bad effect on the bacteria you want there and also probably set you back to the start again.
you should always get a new tank then feed it and wait a month and more with the filters and air running.
or you can seed it with the chemical ammonia. these ways you can test your water like your doing and watch it kick in.
so you want to change water so the ammonia reads say 1.0 or 0.5.
that is well enough to get bacteria growing and the level wont hurt the fish too much.
then over time youll get a conversion into nitrite and after a longer while a converting into nitrates.
if i were you i would beg borrow or steal someones filter media that already has some bacterias of both type present, i also would not feed the tank at all until the level of ammonia was under some control.
you also want some calcium and magnesium in the water. so check your source or tap water to make sure it has some but not too much. arows might come from water that is fairly free of these things, but they live in clean water, and you wont in such a small space so you should have some present.
bacterias consume this stuff as they grow.
species depending, plants in general are not all that good at pulling the first form of ammonia and really, if you stuck plants in the tank now and used them for the second and third form, you are having the plants compete with the bacteria for their sources of food. you can introduce plants later on once you have a supply of nitrate.
its good to see you testing and asking questions.
If I were you: drop the temp to 80 or 79.
Test for PH. If below or around 6, I'd relax a bit.
Just borrow some matured bio filter media, instant seeding; but keep the feedings minimum and partial WC daily with Prime.
LFS's actions in helping you setup that tank, is quite subjective and Bias'ed
$50??, to instant cycle? An no clear instructions to help you a long?
Silver arowana's are not expensive, initially...long term, yes.
Reduce feedings or just reduce the amount, til your tank matures.
Test for PH. If below or around 6, I'd relax a bit.
Just borrow some matured bio filter media, instant seeding; but keep the feedings minimum and partial WC daily with Prime.
LFS's actions in helping you setup that tank, is quite subjective and Bias'ed
$50??, to instant cycle? An no clear instructions to help you a long?
Silver arowana's are not expensive, initially...long term, yes.
Reduce feedings or just reduce the amount, til your tank matures.
