I have 2 shrimp actually and both are doing very well. Yeah I read the directions and it did explain about cycling plus I read something online before about cycling I think I get it now. I still overfeed my fish a bit but I'm getting closer to that perfect amount. I do vacuum the tank every week (used to be 5% now I am doing 20-25%). I too did not know this until I did some reading when I got my first mollie (still miss him :cry: ). I only change filters when they are to the point where water goes over not through. I was actually just going to ask if there was any water conditioner type thing to remove ammonia but I have a fish catalog that I was reading and I saw some in there. Even when the fish tank was super cloudy I still enjoyed watching my fish swim around. I don't think I will ever stop taking care of fish. It is one of my favorite hobbies. I might even get a saltwater one day because there is some really neat saltwater only stuff like seahorses and starfish. I don't know if I said this before but I'll say it again. Thank you everyone for all the help. My fish and Jaques and Pierre (my shrimp) also thank you.
Cloudy water after fish died.
- Thread starter Lamilia
- Start date
water changes are better for removing ammonia than wasting money on magical chemicals. the ammonia is still in there somewhere, and usually you can't know what the chemicals are really doing to your fish and biological filters.
yeah but like I said it wouldn't do too much since the water I use contains .5 ppm or whatever of ammonia...its ppm right?
In a healthy tank the influx of ammonia is taken care of soon after the water change and you can use prime to detoxify it until it is. The other problem is that you still need to remove nitrates. When you say you change filters what do you mean?
prime will bind the ammonia into a nontoxic form long enough for a healthy biofilter to process it.
I remove the spongey charcoal filled thing and put in a new one...occasionally if it doesn't look too bad I will just rinse it with cold water but when its to the point where nothing is going to make water run through again I replace it.
Ok It is good that you are keeping up on the water changes and the water testing. I can't tell you how beneficial this is to the welfare of your fish. The one thing I would mention is that when you change the filter pad it really is not necessary to do as ofter as the manufacturer will have you believe. You really do not need to change it out until it is literally falling apart. This is because there is a lot of beneficial bacteria on these pads that the fish and the aquarium needs to support life in your aquarium. Another thing is when you do rinse the pad it is best to rinse it in old tank water that you just removed from a water change. This way you will not kill any of the good bacteria on these pads. Rinsing in tap water will kill the good bacteria that the fish need to survive.
Don't worry. I think everyone makes this particular mistake in the beginning. I know I did until I knew better.
I am glad that things seem to be on the up and up for you. Keep up the good work.
Marinemom
Don't worry. I think everyone makes this particular mistake in the beginning. I know I did until I knew better.
I am glad that things seem to be on the up and up for you. Keep up the good work.
Marinemom
Yeah, you don't *need* activated carbon in your tank. Some people say that it helps water clarity, others say that it does nothing, others say it removes trace elements (you'd think someone would have scientifically tested at least that), it's a debate but its not needed needed. You can just replace it with another filter pad, which only need soaking in old tank water when they get clogged, and only need replacing when they're falling apart.
Note: When replacing with a new one make sure to leave some bits of the old one in for a little to seed the new one.
Note: When replacing with a new one make sure to leave some bits of the old one in for a little to seed the new one.
I like to keep a good flow of water so I wouldn't wait until its falling apart but now that my tank is clean and clear it might get to that point before I have to replace it. I do that with my hydro sponge I don't know why I never thought to do it with my other filters.
