P-Low's Aquatic Log

skillful abbot

skillful abbot

AC Members
Jan 13, 2007
375
6
18
Nagano, Japan
skillful-abbot.textamerica.com
First off Let me say, Hello. I'm Paul. I live in Japan and have been here now for over 7+ years, 30 years old, married.

Finding and joining this site is a godsend. I hopeful that someone here also lives in Japan and could recommend good domestic products.

Here is my story and I'm sure [esp. after reading this forum all last night] that I will be scolded big time:

Well, over the weekend blew a lot of cash on setting up an aquarium in the living room. I didnt realize so many parameters went into setting up the thing so now I am sitting on pins and needles.

1st day - 9am: I bought a 10L suisou set that came with a pump/filter and some food. I think picked while in the store: Gravel, heater, water conditioner, one fake decoration, light and thermometer.

I set it all up [Without washing the gravel because I didnt know about that till later] Added a Buddha statue from Zenkouji and a lava rock from Mt. Fuji that had been sitting on the gettabako in the genkan for some time now. Finally I added the one decoration and then the water. I added conditioner and let it run for a day.

However at the end of the first day the water became real cloudy. I think it's because I added a whole bag of food to the water, it was in the kit and I didn't read package until too late. But I didn't think it was a big deal.


The next morning it was still cloudy and I realized I couldn't wait for the darn thing to cycle before putting in the fish.

2nd day - 9am: I went out and bought a pair of long tweezers with a scissor attachment, CO2 tablets for water plants, siphon pump, a net, 4 Neon Tetras, 3 Freshwater Shrimps and three water plants. I went home and added the plants and let the fishies get used to their new home before putting them. I was already attached to them while they were driving home with me. I was thinking of names....


3pm: I began reading this forum and going, "I should have washed the gravel!", and read the cycling stickies and then thought I may be okay with Fish-in Cycling....


Water was more insanely clouded. I did three water changes which improved it a bit. But it's still cloudy. The tetras seem to be doing fine as well as the shrimps.

4pm: Went out and bought a pH tester. Couldn't quite judge the color on the package to the paper I used to test. But being a fairly dark blue I figured the ammonia levels are way to high.


Today - I snuck away from work to go to the pet store and bought some ammonia killer that is supposed to clear up the water and some fish food. I also grabbed some filter media and stones from the tank setup here in the office. I threw that in as well.

I think there is nothing else left to do but wait. I hope the little aquarium sorts its self out in the end with no harm to my watery children.
 
fishcatch22 said:
what you are experinecing is a bacterical bloom, it should clear up soon and is a good omen.

this is a very good cycling article:http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/cycling_your_tank1.html
Click to expand...

No, this is not a good thing! If it were my situation I would tear it down, rinse the gravel thoroughly of dust, debris, and food and set everything back up again. I would even consider taking the fish back if at all possible...this is not the way to do a fish in cycle, especially with neons.

At any rate Ammonia and nitrites should never exceed .25 so plenty of water changes will be the order of the day... especially at 5Gal. Also, during the cycle you want to keep your PH above 6.5 as the bacteria is inhibited at this level. You also want to make sure that your temps are not to high and to make sure that your filter is creating plenty of agitation to keep oxygen up as well.

Good Luck
 
Actually, 10L is 2.6 gallons approx.

you will see some pretty quick changes in this tank.

you will need to stay on top of the water parameters but luckily with a 2.6 gallon water changes are easy.

however, that said..you will need to change water as needed..try to keep ammonia and nitrites below .25 ppm..in a small tank this may mean 1-2 water changes per day 50% dependant on the condition.
 
Day four

Thanks Star Rider.

Day 4 - Yesterday, I changed a bit of the water about 25%, took out the lava rock from Mt. Fuji, and the CO2 tablet (Because I haven't seen it mentioned in this forum anywhere, yet) and rearranged the plants.

I then made my own CO2 injector using 1000mL Coke bottle, and kit that included a microtube, sandstone, adapter, and a suction cup. The the CO2 is going well.

After about 2 hours the water cleared up nicely and my guys were swimming around and having a blast. Adding the filter medium from the established tank at work seemed to help a lot.

A question:

At first I didn't use the photography backing on the tank, but this morning I taped it on and thought it looked nice. Do people here use that backing?
 
skillful abbot, have you read this page fully?
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598
this is also a good link
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html Completely read these links BEFORE doing anything else.

Tanks can take at minimum 2 weeks or more to cycle, within that time you should NOT add any fish. If you are doing a cycle with fish, which I don't recommend btw, you only need one very small fish, and you don't want to add anymore until your tank is fully cycled. Adding fish while the tank is cycling will stress the fish and make it take a lot longer for your ammonia and nitrites to drop. Ammonia and nitrites can kill fish, even in small quantities. Personally I would take every fish you bought back and do a fishless cycle, it's unlikely you'll be able to save those fish anyway since you're new to keeping fish. It's cruel to keep several fish in a cycling tank. Ammonia and nitrites will burn fins and ultimately the fish will probably die. Stressed fish also end up getting sick, and you don't want to have to treat a whole tank full of fish with ich, fungus, finrot, or several other possible diseases.
A fully cycled tank tests 0 for both. Which brings me to my next point:

4pm: Went out and bought a pH tester. Couldn't quite judge the color on the package to the paper I used to test. But being a fairly dark blue I figured the ammonia levels are way to high.
Click to expand...
Testing the PH doesn't tell you how much ammonia or any other substance are in the water. All PH tells you is how acidic/basic your water is. High ammonia levels will change the PH, but just because the PH changes doesn't tell you exactly how much ammonia is in your tank.
You need to go to your local fish store or pet supply store and buy a master test kit. This will come with 3 vials and several bottles that help you test ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. COMPLETELY READ THE DIRECTIONS! Do exactly what the directions for each test kit tell you to do.

Honestly such a small tank isn't a very good choice for a beginner, a 10 gallon is the least I would have gone with. Water will change quickly in such a small amount of water and fish will suddenly die before you even notice a problem. Also, depending on the type of filter it may never build a bacterial colony, and your fish will be stuck in crappy water quality for the rest of their life. You have 4 inches of fish in a 2.5 gallon, plus the shrimp, general rule is 1 inch per gallon. There isn't enough water to dilute the ammonia and other toxic substances.
It's hard not to overfeed such small fish, most beginners do, and that will also make water quality go bad quick.
I know this sounds like a lot, but believe me if you read the above 2 links and do it right you will end up with much happier healthier fish that live for a much longer time.
 
Thank you for your input RiverFishGirl.

I wish I read the cycling articles BEFORE I got the tank. As for the 10L tank, that was best for my needs, as my house here in Japan is not very large. I cannot take the fish back and I hate to be cruel, but right now there aren't many other options right now except to wait.

I added filter material from an established tank in the office. The filter that I used came with the tank. I don't know if it will make a bacter colony or not. Here are the links to the site of my tank.

Here is the tank [scroll down to the last picture]:

http://www.gex-fp.co.jp/fish/catalog/aquarium/glass_set.html

Here is the filter that came with the tank:
http://www.rva.ne.jp/shop/gex/41.htm
 
You would have space constraints, didn't think about that.

Yes adding filter material from an established tank will DEFINATELY help. Depending on how healthy the bacteria in the media are, and how much you added, a tank that size may be cycled within a couple of days :)

Test your ammonia nitrites and nitrates every day. If you show nitrates your tank is doing good, you just don't want it above about .40 ppm. The few plants will help keep nitrates down a little bit as long as they are healthy.
If ammonia gets above .25 do a 50% water change, same with nitrites. I would do all these tests once or twice a day, as I said water in such a small tank can change quickly and poison your fish.
Don't overfeed that will also help drastically.
 
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