will going bare bottom heal HITH?

[jcardona1]

if you have high nitrates and 0 ammonia/nitrites, then you need more water changes. i would do 50% every other day until you get the levels low. and yes, i think removing the gravel will help you keep the nitrates in check.

if you do remove, dont do it all at once because you have a lot of bacteria housed in there

 

[thayayballa]

right now im out of the water testing strips. im gonna get some tomorrow. so should i just clean out all the filters and do a big water change for now? im not gonna have time to vacuum the gravel for a while and its already been a couple months so thats why i was wondering if this was the main problem, but if it isnt then ill keep the gravel. if it will increase water quality then ill take it out.

Tons of people keep oscars in tanks with deep substrate and don't have HITH problems."

but i think those people do a lot of vacuuming. thats the problem im having haha. its suck a pain the ***. so im kinda guessing going bare bottom is the better option for me. what do you guys think?

 

[thayayballa]

if you have high nitrates and 0 ammonia/nitrites, then you need more water changes. i would do 50% every other day until you get the levels low. and yes, i think removing the gravel will help you keep the nitrates in check.

if you do remove, dont do it all at once because you have a lot of bacteria housed in there

should i remove it like 1/4 every day or should i wait longer

 

[rallysman]

right now im out of the water testing strips. im gonna get some tomorrow. so should i just clean out all the filters and do a big water change for now? im not gonna have time to vacuum the gravel for a while and its already been a couple months so thats why i was wondering if this was the main problem, but if it isnt then ill keep the gravel. if it will increase water quality then ill take it out.


but i think those people do a lot of vacuuming. thats the problem im having haha.

I've healed HITH without doing a gravel vac for over 6 months You can have nasty gravel and still have clean water ( I don't recommend it). If you have ammonia in your water then leave the filter alone. If you clean the filter you'll remove the bacteria that is needed.

I'll say it one more time. SOLVE THE AMMONIA PROBLEM! After the ammonia is gone, you can tackle the other issues. Get a good quality water test kit. I'll bet that you don't need to get rid of the gravel.

 

[thayayballa]

ok thanks. so ammonia problem first. how do i get rid of the ammonia? do i use ammonia removal chemicals?

 

[rallysman]

ok thanks. so ammonia problem first. how do i get rid of the ammonia? do i use ammonia removal chemicals?

No, you need to figure out why your filtration isn't consuming the ammonia. How and how often are you cleaning the filters?

 

[thayayballa]

i clean the filters like every 2 weeks

 

[rallysman]

i clean the filters like every 2 weeks

How do you clean them?


Also, start feeding about half of what you're feeding now.

 

[thayayballa]

i soak the magnum 350 in detergent and water for a few hours. and for the hagen i squeeze out all the crap and rinse out the loose debris also theres a bag of bio max in the hagen. i rinse it lightly and do i have to replace it frequently? it also came with activated carbon, but when i first got it, it looked like black ink was coming out of it when i rinsed it i didnt know if it was normal so i took it out. should i put it back in?

 

[jcardona1]

theres too many variables here to know exactly why your having problems. if your tearing your filters down every two weeks and cleaning them with tap water, thats the problem. your wiping out your bacteria every time you do it forcing your tank to cycle again.

what do you do to clean the filters?