high levels!!
- Thread starter xicp39x
- Start date
There's some good articles on the web about cycling a tank. Try this first.
Biomedia is a media that simply will support the benificial bacteria in your tank that will remove the ammonia and nitrite. You need to have a cycled tank and filter first before even attemping a ray. After this you will need to build a tank or pond and look in the dyi section here on building one. Also read a bunch of articles on filtration so you know what you'll need for the tank you build.
The size of your tank/pond will depend on the ray you get but 8' x 4' x 2' is a good place to start.
Biomedia is a media that simply will support the benificial bacteria in your tank that will remove the ammonia and nitrite. You need to have a cycled tank and filter first before even attemping a ray. After this you will need to build a tank or pond and look in the dyi section here on building one. Also read a bunch of articles on filtration so you know what you'll need for the tank you build.
The size of your tank/pond will depend on the ray you get but 8' x 4' x 2' is a good place to start.
You should get some filter media from you lfs that is established, put it in your filter.
You Filters do not sound like they are cycled (have the benificial bacteria) need to keep the nitrite and amonia out of your tank. Never never clean you entire filter, you will kill the bacteria that is in your filter. Also never use Chlorine water to wash out any media, it will also kill the bacteria.
You are not read for rays. If you do not understand the how the bioligical system works.
You Filters do not sound like they are cycled (have the benificial bacteria) need to keep the nitrite and amonia out of your tank. Never never clean you entire filter, you will kill the bacteria that is in your filter. Also never use Chlorine water to wash out any media, it will also kill the bacteria.
You are not read for rays. If you do not understand the how the bioligical system works.
i think you need to learn alittle more about fish keeping before you step up to rays.
the amount of water you are changing has totally destroyed your tank.
i would take your fish to the lfs and get them to look after them for you.
get more filtration on your tank, even though you said you have 2 rated for 55g tanks. they are obiously not doing the job.
then i would leave the tank alone for a couple of weeks and allow the tank to cycle properly.
when you do a waterchange do you use tapwater conditioner? do you measure it out correctly for the amount of water your put back into the tank?
once the tank has finished cycleing you need to stick to a decent timetable for waterchanges and tank work.
to much can be just as bad as not enough.
40% WC once a week, useing the correct amount of tap water conditioner.
filter should be left alone untill you notice a decrease in flow rate, then do one filter each week to allow the cleaned one to catch up ready for the next one to be cleaned. when cleaning filters, just take out the sponge and clean it gently in a bucket of tank water (not tap water!). they dop not need to be spotlessly clean just a little squeze out to get rid of the thick thats it. if you run filter floss change that for new stuff.
NEVER do a full tank strip down and clean as you are just undoing all the hard work of the cycle.
small amounts of cleaning often to keep things ticking over nice.
please dont get a ray untill you have a good amount of expereance as they will not put up with any problems and it will just suffer.
get the bigger tank up and running and well cycled first.
the amount of water you are changing has totally destroyed your tank.
i would take your fish to the lfs and get them to look after them for you.
get more filtration on your tank, even though you said you have 2 rated for 55g tanks. they are obiously not doing the job.
then i would leave the tank alone for a couple of weeks and allow the tank to cycle properly.
when you do a waterchange do you use tapwater conditioner? do you measure it out correctly for the amount of water your put back into the tank?
once the tank has finished cycleing you need to stick to a decent timetable for waterchanges and tank work.
to much can be just as bad as not enough.
40% WC once a week, useing the correct amount of tap water conditioner.
filter should be left alone untill you notice a decrease in flow rate, then do one filter each week to allow the cleaned one to catch up ready for the next one to be cleaned. when cleaning filters, just take out the sponge and clean it gently in a bucket of tank water (not tap water!). they dop not need to be spotlessly clean just a little squeze out to get rid of the thick thats it. if you run filter floss change that for new stuff.
NEVER do a full tank strip down and clean as you are just undoing all the hard work of the cycle.
small amounts of cleaning often to keep things ticking over nice.
please dont get a ray untill you have a good amount of expereance as they will not put up with any problems and it will just suffer.
get the bigger tank up and running and well cycled first.
xicp39x;3230201; said:
It is a really good first step that you posted here about it! I'm sure we will do our best to help you out.
For a short-term fix, you can put some Zeolite (they look like white carbon) in your filter and dose x1 with Prime. Next temporary step would be to get some biomedia (bioballs, scrubbies, etc) out of an established aquarium from another hobbiest. Finally, you should get a bigger filter- something like a Fluval FX5 (some like it, some don't, but it is good bang-for-your-buck out of the box).
After that, setting up your bigger tank the right way will help to keep both you and your ray happy for a long, long time to come.
If you ever have any questions, you can PM me here or email ashley or I at abortedsoul@gmail.com and ashleysomething@hotmail.com .
You may not even have any media specialized for biomedia in your filters making it impossible for a good bacterial colony. A little more prep and some questions will help you along your way. Good luck
well since you got no ray in there skip water changes... and let it cycle its way out.... seachem stability would be good to add to the tank....
for 6-7 months now ive had artificial rocks in my filter to keep the bacteria to help fight this stuff...as i see it failed. when this happend to me b4 the lfs gave me a bottle that would set up a (forget the word) system type thing to help make the bacteria to keep my ammonia down. everything seemed fine. but then i had this spike in ammonia, where it resulted in killing my ray (retic). so i have kept rays b4. i also have a ray in another tank (20g) as it is still a baby(retic) so either way im stuck with a ray. i was going to switch to this ray becasue its healthy, eats anything you throw in there, and looks to be about 6-9 months old. but yes when i get the chance i am buying the flu valve filter system(i think thats the name)
