Couple of hopefully simple questions

Puffernewbee said:
If you plan on filling the new tank with untreated water and then treating it in the tank, be sure not to add anything from the old tank before the water is treated.
Click to expand...

Define what you mean by untreated water? your talking about dechlor or stress coat?

And if i shouldnt add anything from the old tank in until the new tank has been treated what about adding some of the old tanks water? Do i just forget about adding it in or treat the water with some "Stress Coat" without filtering it, then dump in some original water then turn the filter on?

Sorry about all the questions but i guess i keep on getting more confused.
 
Last edited:
sivic said:
Define what you mean by untreated water? your talking about dechlor or stress coat?

And if i shouldnt add anything from the old tank in until the new tank has been treated what about adding some of the old tanks water? Do i just forget about adding it in or treat the water with some "Stress Coat" without filtering it, then dump in some original water then turn the filter on?

Sorry about all the questions but i guess i keep on getting more confused.
Click to expand...

Untreated water is water without dechlorinator. Some people have accidentally put old media in their new aquarium and then proceded to fill it with water from a hose because the tank was going to take a while to fill and figured they would add dechlorinator afterward. The problem is that the chlorinated water kills the bacteria on their old media before they add the dechlorinator. I was just trying to remind you to be careful. Sorry if I confused you.
It is fine to add some of the old tank water, it will not hurt anything unless the nitrates in it are off the scale.
 
^ Once again, I agree with this post.
 
Wondering what i need to find out if the water is safe here is what ive done so far.

  1. Filled up tank with plain tap water
  2. Added dechlor to the water
  3. Installed filter and placed sponge from established aquarium in the filter
  4. I let it run for a day or 2 then i added a product called Bio Spira that someone recommended me to use
  5. Bio Spira is supposed to be added with fish so i bought 3 danios which are supposed pretty hardy fish

Im using some cheap 5-in-1 test and here are my levels (these numbers arent very accurate at all, sort of hard to decypher the colors)

Ph: 8.0-8.4 range
Total Alkalinity/Buffering Capacity: 120
Total hardness: 50-120 range
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0-20 ppm

Now these tests dont include ammonia but i found my mom had a pond water test kit. I dont see why this test couldnt work on a freshwater aquarium since water is water. But using that test i found the ammonia to be 0 mg/l. Doesnt seem right does it? I need to know how i will know for sure when my water is safe for adding the fish in.
 
That is the Bio Spira doing its job or else the sponge from your old filter doing its job since you only have three small fish providing your bio load.

Bio Spira is designed to be used instead of a fishless cycle. It is a cycle in a small foil package. They say that you are suppose to be able to put a full bioload of fish in the tank with the Bio Spira. The readings you are getting make sense.

I used Bio Spira myself and it worked great in my freshwater tank. I only put about half the fish originally that I wanted in the tank and everything (ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates) all stayed at zero. Over the next month I increased to all the the fish I currently have in my 29 gallon.

I have a question for you. Was the original tank a brackish tank or was it freshwater? I was under the assumption it was brackish but based on what i am reading I am startring to believe it was not.

If your 20 gallon tank was freshwater originally, the bacteria colony you have may not survive in a brackish tank based on the salinity level.

I used bio spira on my Figure 8 tank and it worked but I only add 1 cup of marine salt to five gallons of water.
 
The original was freshwater, he posted that already.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom