RE-CYCLING Tank

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J

Jay88

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Dec 23, 2010
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Australia
Hi guys,

as advised by some of you, I removed all the sand from my 55gal which houses a FH... I got some nice white and blue gravel from Marina..and put em in... the water is still a BIT cloudy... im having the following issues

1. My BIG new piece of drift wood, has some type of Fluffy substance..thats floating around on it.. (brown color)

2. I have added API Stress Zyme (which is said to hold good bacteria for the fish), I will finish dosing the water each week, as instructed on the formula, just to make sure some bacteria come back fast.. it that ok?
 
Flowerhorns do best without substrate.. Due to their weak genetic make up, any amount of waste that you don't get out of the tank can prove toxic to Flowerhorns.. and any other fish for that matter but very much so to fh's.

Moving on, Why would you have to worry about recycling your tank? Unless you're having an ammonia/nitrite spike. Also, did you wash the gravel before placing it in the tank?

As for the driftwood, did you boil it prior to adding it to the tank?

As for the stress zyme, I do not recommend dosing your tank with that since it seems to be more of a soothing aid for fish. Again, why are you worried that your tank has to recycle? Did you throw away the filter media or something?
 
Thank you guys for replying swiftly.

Ok, the layer of gravel is VERY thin, just to cover the glass bottom... i will do a water test shortly tonight....and No i did not boil the drift wood... i rinsed it after buying it and put it in :/ should i take it out? its pretty big to boil in anything lol

I added zyme because yesterday i siphoned out the sand, today i added gravel...hes been stressed a bit with so much tank movement, i added that to reduce his stress

I rinsed the gravel for a few minutes...but not non stop washing ... just rinsed it out... to get the lose debris out.

To answer JML's question,

Sand is appropriate for CERTAIN fish...for a Flowerhorn, who continuously digs it around, throws debris everywhere, buries his own poo...sand was the worst thing I have had...with calm cichlids or other fish, sand is fine... for a flowerhorn like mine, all i got was buried poo, cloudy water, and debris everywhere...
 
There are as many FH keepers who would tell you that you need sand or gravel as there are who would tell you you don't. In that respect, do what works for you. As for the stress-zyme, it is not all that effective as a product. Sand does not house beneficial bacteria at the same rate that gravel does, simply because the surface is smaller and not as porous. You may experience a small nitrite spike after removing the sand. If such is the place, adding Prime would resolve this issue. I am trusting that you did not also clean your filter when you removed the sand. This would surely result in a nitrite spike and a possible ammonia spike as well.
 
I was wondering the same question as Justin. Why switch from sand to blue and white gravel.
 
Thanks again guys for the supportive feedback. Smitty, if you just scroll up a bit you can see my reason on why i did it bro.

And no i did not TOUCH my two filters or water pump, after removing the sand, even my drift wood and large decorative stones, i took them out of the water, put them on a clean towel...removed the sand and added them back in :) these are my water test results which I conducted a few minutes ago

1. Ammonia = 0

2. Nitrate = 15-20 mark...looks closer to 20

3. PH took some hammering, its at 7.4 - 7.5 mark.

Don't have nitrade tester, but I think it should be fine with 0 ammonia... what you guys think? Im doing fine? No need to re-cycle right?
 
Jay88 said:
Thank you guys for replying swiftly.

Ok, the layer of gravel is VERY thin, just to cover the glass bottom... i will do a water test shortly tonight....and No i did not boil the drift wood... i rinsed it after buying it and put it in :/ should i take it out? its pretty big to boil in anything lol

I added zyme because yesterday i siphoned out the sand, today i added gravel...hes been stressed a bit with so much tank movement, i added that to reduce his stress

I rinsed the gravel for a few minutes...but not non stop washing ... just rinsed it out... to get the lose debris out.

To answer JML's question,

Sand is appropriate for CERTAIN fish...for a Flowerhorn, who continuously digs it around, throws debris everywhere, buries his own poo...sand was the worst thing I have had...with calm cichlids or other fish, sand is fine... for a flowerhorn like mine, all i got was buried poo, cloudy water, and debris everywhere...
Click to expand...

I think you should stop adding the chemical. Well since the gravel is already in the tank and its a thin layer.. just do a few more gravel vacs.. As for the driftwood. Boil a lot of water and pour it over the wood. This may not be as effective as boiling it, but it sure will kill whatevers on the outside of the DW.

Jay88 said:
Thanks again guys for the supportive feedback. Smitty, if you just scroll up a bit you can see my reason on why i did it bro.

And no i did not TOUCH my two filters or water pump, after removing the sand, even my drift wood and large decorative stones, i took them out of the water, put them on a clean towel...removed the sand and added them back in :) these are my water test results which I conducted a few minutes ago

1. Ammonia = 0

2. Nitrate = 15-20 mark...looks closer to 20

3. PH took some hammering, its at 7.4 - 7.5 mark.

Don't have nitrade tester, but I think it should be fine with 0 ammonia... what you guys think? Im doing fine? No need to re-cycle right?
Click to expand...

Your tank wasn't thrown into a mini cycle or anything so no you don't need to recycle lol. Your filter houses 95%, if not more of your beneficial bacteria.. gravel and tank decor is a mere 5%..
 
Just keep an eye on your ammonia levels. Do enough water changes to keep it below .25ppm. The same consideration should be given to nitrite, so best to be able to test nitrite. Nitrates you should see them continue to rise between water changes.


Funny how so many people seem to be in agony with your choice of gravel color. They act like they should have a say in the matter:duh: For the color gravel haters....to each their own, if you don't like other peoples tastes, best to keep your tongue out of their mouth:p
 
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