When I set up my 360g fibreglass tank on 1st July I transferred all my bio media from the sump of my old 180g into the filtration system of my new set up. Now, in theory i'm good to go, I can transfer stock from my 180g into my new tank and the bio media will instantly do it's job as if nothing's changed. Hmmm.
The day after, on the 2nd July I added my RTGG to my new set up which had been in my other 180g. My thoughts were that ok, i've added another lump of a fish, but my bio media should get up to speed pretty quick. Hmmm.
On the 3rd July I tested all my parameters in my new tank and I had a 0.25ppm of ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and 0ppm nitrate. OK, I thought, I expected maybe a little blip, things will settle down in the next couple of days, ammonia will vanish and my nitrate will gradually start it's slow rise which ultimately will determine my new water change regime on my new tank.
But the next day ammonia was at 0.5ppm, 0ppm nitrite and 0ppm nitrate. Now this is when I start to panic a little. After some good advice from a fellow member I basically had to test my water everyday, do water changes whenever necessary and also use prime to help with the ammonia issue.
Today is the 23rd July and I have just registered my first 0ppm ammonia. Over 3 weeks for my new tank to settle down, the worse reading of ammonia I got was 0.75ppm even though i'd transferred all that mature bio media over. In hindsight maybe adding the RTGG was a mistake but still, 3 weeks for my bio media to get up to speed.
The last 3 weeks have been pretty stressful because basically i've been going through a fish in cycle, and we're not talking the sacrificial molly or danio either. Thankfully my stock never showed any signs of ammonia poisoning which I read up on. They looked, and behaved absolutely fine throughout, but the water changes and prime would have helped immensely there.
This whole saga had me racking my brains and the reason for my problem was very simple once I thought about it. We all know that our BB are on every surface in the tank, not just your designated bio section in your sump or cannister. When I transferred all my media into my new set up it probably meant, in reality, that i'd only transferred maybe 50% of my actual BB, because the rest was left in my 180g on the glass, in pipework, on my bogwood etc etc.
Even if I hadn't of added my RTGG to the mix, I think my tank would have still crashed. Thankfully I've come out of this unscathed, or more importantly, my fish have come out of it unscathed. These past 3 weeks have been a real learning curve and I hope that anyone reading this, who is about to set up a new tank using existing bio media from their current tank, just take a moment to think it through, unlike me!
The day after, on the 2nd July I added my RTGG to my new set up which had been in my other 180g. My thoughts were that ok, i've added another lump of a fish, but my bio media should get up to speed pretty quick. Hmmm.
On the 3rd July I tested all my parameters in my new tank and I had a 0.25ppm of ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and 0ppm nitrate. OK, I thought, I expected maybe a little blip, things will settle down in the next couple of days, ammonia will vanish and my nitrate will gradually start it's slow rise which ultimately will determine my new water change regime on my new tank.
But the next day ammonia was at 0.5ppm, 0ppm nitrite and 0ppm nitrate. Now this is when I start to panic a little. After some good advice from a fellow member I basically had to test my water everyday, do water changes whenever necessary and also use prime to help with the ammonia issue.
Today is the 23rd July and I have just registered my first 0ppm ammonia. Over 3 weeks for my new tank to settle down, the worse reading of ammonia I got was 0.75ppm even though i'd transferred all that mature bio media over. In hindsight maybe adding the RTGG was a mistake but still, 3 weeks for my bio media to get up to speed.
The last 3 weeks have been pretty stressful because basically i've been going through a fish in cycle, and we're not talking the sacrificial molly or danio either. Thankfully my stock never showed any signs of ammonia poisoning which I read up on. They looked, and behaved absolutely fine throughout, but the water changes and prime would have helped immensely there.
This whole saga had me racking my brains and the reason for my problem was very simple once I thought about it. We all know that our BB are on every surface in the tank, not just your designated bio section in your sump or cannister. When I transferred all my media into my new set up it probably meant, in reality, that i'd only transferred maybe 50% of my actual BB, because the rest was left in my 180g on the glass, in pipework, on my bogwood etc etc.
Even if I hadn't of added my RTGG to the mix, I think my tank would have still crashed. Thankfully I've come out of this unscathed, or more importantly, my fish have come out of it unscathed. These past 3 weeks have been a real learning curve and I hope that anyone reading this, who is about to set up a new tank using existing bio media from their current tank, just take a moment to think it through, unlike me!
