dear fish people

Oh my gosh!!!! That's awesome!! You are going to be a fantastic fishkeeper, I can tell. Stay at home Moms are the hardest working people in the world.

You just have to keep an eye on the 3 year old so he doesn't try to help you by putting more formula (or soap, or baby powder, or cheerios) in the tank, lol.
 
thank you soooo much for that comment!!! night all
 
Good nite, and for tomorrow here is a link you might enjoy


http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/search.php?searchid=2797450

I think if you click on this link it will take you to the profile of a guy named katuuuz. I think the link will bring you to a page that shows all of his threads.

It is really a great saga of starting a tank and cycling it. The ups and downs, the process and the stages of the beneficial bacteria as it developes and begins to do its job, the frustration, the impatience, the hard work, and then the joys of success.

He's a funny guy, too. He worked so hard and followed all the advice given him. He's a great example of a relative newbie progressing to an accomplished fishkeeper. It's a fun read.

He was doing a fishy cycle, which, unfortunately, is the predicament you are in now, and he got a lot of heat from some of the members for doing it, but won their respect because of how hard he worked to keep on top of things.

Your situation is different because you were advised by people, people you thought would be knowledgeable, to add fish right away.

Katuuuz started the fishy cycle even tho he was advised by the AC members to do fishless.

Evenso, he did a fantastic job and worked his butt off. He did everything else right!
 
i clicked on the link and it went to some page where nothing was there...it said that it didn't exist. so maybe resend it to me and maybe you only copied haft of it...i ono. try again....
 
I would def get the 55 , ask a friend, with a HELTHY tank fro some of thier dirty filter media, or atleast squeze the water out of it, refil and do several times till you can get some of thier good bacteria . and put this in your tank , ALSO

I would keep doing water changes in this 20 gallon, THEN get your 55 cycled, and THEN add them to it . YOU can get some smaller feeder guppy to help cycle the tank faster, but if you get the at the pet store, look at them closly , make sure the whole time they are in the 55 , thier are NO deaths, and no white spots .... ick )

this will help cycle your new 55 gallon , now while your fish have already endured this cycle in this 20, I would LEAVE them in thier UNTIL the 55 is cycled and ready with normal readings . goldies are pretty harfy fish , thank goodness, But I belive they have been threw enough . the BEST DVICE you will EVER get with a fish tank . IS take YOUR TIME > be patient never rush any step, and then you will have a happy healthy pretty tank . that you planned out, and made the way you would want it :)

I seriously feel as long as you do every other day water changes , to leave these fish in this 20 gallon then when the 55 is cycled they will be happy and have plenty of room, I would add a few bottom feeders, corys, ottos, bristlenose plecos, I would NOT suggest a common pleco you buy at your fish store, because they eventually GROW out of the 55 gallon !! I know because I am heartbroken that I will have to find a home for mine soon . I love him to death and have had him a few years now, but he is getting SOO big ,. I know he would be sooo much better off in a 100 gallon or more . so try for smaller bottom algea eaters & dwellers, and buy a school of corys (6) or ottos, they bith have great little personalitys ' . But dont buy ANYmore goldies, unless you lose one, or trade one out . they will get bigger when placed in the 55 ,. and I am so sorry that someone lead you to belive they would be ok in a 20 gallon . wow . 2 maybye ........ with great fitration, and water changes, But 4 will never make it . just calm down , think highly about what YOU want in your tank, decor, rocks, fish ... cycle this 55 the RIGHT way , and as I metioned you can get some feeder fish , and then take them back to the LFS when your cycle is complete ,. some people may not like that idea , But it is IMHO ~ and it works faster , and much better than making yrou goldies go threw this all over again . good luck and if you need any help just ask :) we all love aquariums & fishys . that is why we are here, and at one time.. we were all where you are now . its ok .
(ps) prime IS the best water condit.. thier is .. IT only takes one capful for 50 gallons !! so it last a LONG time for the $$$ soent well worth it !! GOOD LUCK !!

best way to post pics .................. get photobucket.com account , add your pics to it , and then on a drop down menu on the picture you want in your post , just copy & paste the img code *( the last one ) and paste it under your words written here ..... if you need any more help just ask , thier IS NO stupid question , Always ask . we are all here to help .
 
thanks !!! here is a picture of my tank this late at night....seems to be clearing up!!!!! yes we are definity thinking about this bigger tank that was offered!
100_4046.jpg
 
Going to get prime asap in the morning!
 
oh and i changed the batteries on my camara and my husband yesterday tried to reset the date and couldnt figure it out so excuse the wrong date on there...lol
 
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175548

OK... the above link is the first of his posts. The way to open up and find all the threads that he started, so you can see all of his progress is this.

This link will take you to the thread he started called "finally ready to get started, few ?s"

Once there you will see his katuuuz' avatar and you want to put your curser on his name there, and you then you will see a menu of choices drop down.

Select "find more threads by Katuuuz" and click on it.

Then it will take you to a page where you will see all the threads he started and you can start reading.

As for moving your goldies to the 55; it would be best if you could move them into the 55 once it is already cycled, however, using fish to cycle a tank is really very hard on them and they suffer, and you can accomplish it wihout adding guppies or any kind of fish.

Read the threads of Katuuuz's cycle process. You will read in there, many posts by the majority of the very experienced fishkeepers here, including some of this forum's moderators, that admonish all to do a fishless cycle, no offense Addict.

addicted2fish has beautiful tanks and beautiful fish and has a lot of experience, obiously. :)

I'm thinking, though, that if the 20 is not far along in the cycle process (and I seem to remember that you did find levels of ammonia at around 1ppm on one of your tests, but no nitrites yet), then it seems to me that it would be more comfortable for them to continue during this whole cycling process in the big tank rather than the small.

You are so crowded in that 20 and they put out so much waste it just seems like it would be less stressful in a bigger tank, for them and for you.

Having said all that, I'm not an expert that's for sure and you can wait to get more answers on that question. You will usually have a lot of input here.

I think you are only just at the beginning of the cycle in your 20 , and, if so, then your fish haven't been through the worst of it yet.

Whatever you decide, as Addict says, keep those water changes going, keep the ammonia, and then the nitrites when they appear, down below .25 and really lower is better.

The bacteria colony will eventually flourish and start to do the job.

I didn't have squeezing or any jump starter bacteria from an established tank when I started. It took about 8 weeks to be fully cycled and I had a couple of fish die because of the spikes in parameters, though I worked my butt off, too.

I have a 10 gallon and have since learned that the small tanks are extremely hard to keep stable. Really... they shouldn't call them "beginner" tanks, because bigger is better for everyone, but especially for beginners.

When I got started it was before I found this forum. I know I would have been a better beginner if I had known about this forum, and had been receiving help from these folks.

You are well on your way to contracting a serious disease. It's called: MTS

A lot of the folks on this forum, sadly, have it really bad, and they will never get over it I'm afraid.

I too have developed this condition....
:evil_lol:
It is called: Multiple Tank Syndrome

sigh... you poor thing :grinyes:
 
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