Ammonia issues, gravel vac getting alot of stuff

M

MrSpike

Lover of Shrimp
Aug 28, 2007
103
0
0
Issaquah, WA
So my nitrites have stayed at 0 recently but my ammonia continues to stay at .25 or higher. I have been doing every other day 20% water changes and I feed very sparingly. Right now the flakes I put in (two or three shakes on the smallest opening) are gone in about 20 seconds. I also put in a few sinking crab pellets for the catfish and shrimp as none of the flakes fall since there are so few.

However, each time I do a wc I do a gravel vac and I get alot of stuff out of the gravel. Food, waste, and other misc stuff is coming up. How do I prevent so much extra stuff in the gravel? Part of me wonders if my gravel is too deep, I have a good 2-3 inches depending on what part of the tank your in. Is that too much?

Thanks!
 
Is it a planted tank? Is there a lot of decaying plant matter?
 
How old is the tank?
What size and stocking? Is this the 10G or another?
How are your nitrAtes?

If your gravel vacs are "light" (ie. simply hovering ove rthe gravel and not 'punching' it down), you will continuously get stuff . Also, not getting to allof the gravel surface at each maintenance will play a big factor as the refuse and decay will spread in the tank especially with bottom fish constantly swimming by and kicking it up.

If you have excess matter in the tank it is caused by:
1) Over feeding
2) Poor or insufficient gravel vac, or
3) Maintenance not being done frequently enough
4) Bioload of the tank is too great

Nothing stated above is necessary a bad thing as long as it is not allowed to continue long term.

As for the gravel 2-3" is common. Mine ranges from 3-4 in the valleys to over 6" as I form hills. I also gravel vac right to the glass of the tank underneath in most areas.
 
if you just started this tank, then you are still cycling. you need some filter media out of an established tank to speed this process up. otherwise do however many waterchanges it takes to keep your ammonia below .25 (this may mean several per day depending on how your tank is stocked)
 
This is my 10g and it has been going now for about a month. My nitrates are still at 5 and have been so since the start (I used bio-spira) My nitrites never got above .5 and usually were .25 or 0. The tanks load (and I will not be adding more fish) is below, 5 rasboras, 3 albino cory's and 7 ghost shrimp.

I gravel vac each time I do a WC and I go all the way to the bottom of the tank, thats how I get alot of stuff. Basically I punch the van down, then pull out and do the same next to it. It jams with rocks so I have to let them fall out before continuing. I might need to get a larger diameter vac as mine is only about 1.5 - 2" across the mouth.

I tend to focus my vac in one main area where most of the algae wafers or sinking pellets go. I do "spot checks" all over where I punch the vac down but normally I don't get much, just up in front where the food drops. It's kinda hard to maneuver around the tank because it's so small and I have 4 plastic plants, two larger rocks, and a decoration in there.

Thanks for the help so far!

P.S. I did just switch filters on the tank. I got a new penguin 100 which I ran in conjunction with my whisper 10 for a week. Then I removed the whisper 10 and put it's media into my penguin with the penguins media. I plan to remove that after another week, hopefully the good bacteria has fully transferred.
 
yeah you're still cycling.
somehow your cycle got disrupted and all the bacteria that convers ammonia into nitrite has diappeared. just keep doing water changes. try to find another additional source of bacteria. good luck.
 
silentskream said:
yeah you're still cycling.
somehow your cycle got disrupted and all the bacteria that convers ammonia into nitrite has diappeared. just keep doing water changes. try to find another additional source of bacteria. good luck.
Click to expand...


That seems odd that the bacteria would have disapeared. I still see 5 ppm of Nitrate in my tank though the sudden drop in nitrite is odd. Like I said, I did remove the filter but I left the media in to help switch. It's still in there now.

*sigh* I have yet to lose any fish to the cycling process this time (not counting my betta who went insane and killed a rasbora) and I don't want to start now. I guess I may have to pick up another pack of bio-spira to help things out.
 
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there's two different kinds of bacteria.. one that converts ammonia to nitrite, then another that converts nitrite to nitrate.

there's probably some nitrates in your tap water. (mine has 5ppm straight out of the tap)

if you use the tap water nitrate to explain the 5ppm you have, then it by looking at your other parameters, it looks like you're just starting a fishy cycle. have you added any medications to the tank at all? did you forget to dechlorinate the water during a water change? (i realise i'm grasping at straws, but its the best i can think of)
 
silentskream said:
there's two different kinds of bacteria.. one that converts ammonia to nitrite, then another that converts nitrite to nitrate.

there's probably some nitrates in your tap water. (mine has 5ppm straight out of the tap)

if you use the tap water nitrate to explain the 5ppm you have, then it by looking at your other parameters, it looks like you're just starting a fishy cycle. have you added any medications to the tank at all? did you forget to dechlorinate the water during a water change? (i realise i'm grasping at straws, but its the best i can think of)
Click to expand...

Unfortunatly it's nothing that obvious. I use prime on the tap water though normall more than reccomended because I only do a 2.5g bucket at a time and it's hard to get that small of an amount measure right. 0 medications as well. I used to add a tiny bit of aquarium salt but was told that did nothing so I stopped.

Man this is annoying. My cycle seemed to have been going fine and almost done. I really don't want to kill my new cory's as I know they are sensitive to nitrites. I don't really worry about my rasboras since they have been through bad water and back with no visible effects. I guess I can pony up for another pouch of bio-spira to help things along and just continue with my every other day testings and water changes.
 
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