hazy water in new tank

[JSchmidt]

I disagree that you need to treat the water first for the initial water change. If you add your Amquel (or other dechlorinator) before refilling the tank, the chlorine won't be around long enough to harm your bacteria. If you let the chlorinated (or chloriminated) water sit in there for a couple of hours, that might be different...

I have aging tanks for treating my water, which has chloramine. These aging tanks have a modest bacterial colony that processes the ammonia released when I add sodium thiosulfate to neutralize the chlorine. When I refill my aging tanks, I add water, then add the dechlorinator when the tank is full. I suffer no loss of biofilter when doing this.

I don't think adding tap water & dechlorinator simultaneously will have any negative effects on your biofilter. If you add the dechlor first, and then the water, the chlorine will not around for more than a few moments. Don't believe it? Buy a chlorine/chloramine test and see for yourself.

HTH,
Jim

 

[wetmanNY]

lurking

Amuro, you're getting excellemt advice here. As for keeping an Arowana in an aquarium, have you seen the footage of a fullgrown Arowana leaping four feet out of the water to snatch an insect? Beautiful. Not a creature to cage in an aquarium!

Small fish in big tanks: wonderful! Pretty big fish in humungous tanks: that's good too!

 

[amuro129]

Thanks all. I really appreciate the advice.

Funny thing is that when I asked for ammonia at the LFS, the clerk gave me a weird look and asked me why. I said I needed to cycle the tank and get some bacteria growth. She said no no that's all wrong you need stress zyme for bacteria growth. I said I'll pass. I didn't much feel like explaining the the process of fishless cycling. So I left. Just thought I'd share the experience.

 

[amuro129]

I just ran a test on my water, I HAVEN'T yet put any ammonia in. My pH is 7.8, ammonia is 0ppm, nitrite is 0ppm.

is this normal?

 

[JSchmidt]

Originally posted by amuro129
Thanks all. I really appreciate the advice.

Funny thing is that when I asked for ammonia at the LFS, the clerk gave me a weird look and asked me why. I said I needed to cycle the tank and get some bacteria growth. She said no no that's all wrong you need stress zyme for bacteria growth. I said I'll pass. I didn't much feel like explaining the the process of fishless cycling. So I left. Just thought I'd share the experience.

Welcome to the world of informed fishkeeping! You get a gold star for not wavering in the face of a pointless Stresszyme recommendation! Kudos to you!

Jim

 

[rjl420]

Originally posted by amuro129
I just ran a test on my water, I HAVEN'T yet put any ammonia in. My pH is 7.8, ammonia is 0ppm, nitrite is 0ppm.

is this normal?

yep, that's normal. the pH might drop while your cycling though, so you might want to keep an eye on it if you have a specific target (read: test again when the cycle is done). other than that, looks good!

I had the same experience asking my LFS for ammonia, "no, you don't want to put ammonia in your tank, but we have this ammonia remover you might be interested in?"

"um, no thanks"

 

[amuro129]

okay guys, my tank is officially cycled. ammonia 0, nitrite 0 .

thanks for all your help !