you really need to get a bigger filter for your tank. it is not filtering the water enough, hense the high ammoina and nitrite. with HOB filters, the total GPH should be at least 10x the gallons of water in the tank. if you want to stick with HOB filters, you should get at least a penguin 350 anf penguin 150. since you have turtles in the tank, which are very messy, you are going to want to have even more filtration.
Help my poor fish!
- Thread starter TitusvilleSurfr
- Start date
"I was a little unclear as to whether or not your fish had any other tank mates. Were there other fish/invertebrates in the 55g with him, or was the the only inhabitant?"
There are 3 turtles and the fish, all accidentally wild caught in a bait net from a lake behind my house while trolling for fishing minnows. Although tanks have gone from 10, 20, 25, 35, 55...the water and substrate has been repeatedly transfered for 5 years. I am assuming the bacteria transfers with it. *Ammonia has never been an issue in the past.
Getting a larger filter would be sound advice. When I originally purchased the current one, I was only processing 25 gallons through it! The turtles are SO MESSY, and carnivores. Not only do they poop for 10 fish, but leave half eaten pieces of shrimp and minnows all over the place. I siphon vacuum into a filtered cup and dump the clean water back into the tank as much as possible, but an hour later the sand is as dirty as ever. Gravel is easier to vacuum although the turtles tend to eat it. Sand is an okay substrate for my shelled friends and would create a huge surface area for bacteria in theory. The bottom of my 3 inch substrate would be oxygen deprived and host nitrate eating bacteria although this theory doesn't seem to be delivering. :/
There are 3 turtles and the fish, all accidentally wild caught in a bait net from a lake behind my house while trolling for fishing minnows. Although tanks have gone from 10, 20, 25, 35, 55...the water and substrate has been repeatedly transfered for 5 years. I am assuming the bacteria transfers with it. *Ammonia has never been an issue in the past.
Getting a larger filter would be sound advice. When I originally purchased the current one, I was only processing 25 gallons through it! The turtles are SO MESSY, and carnivores. Not only do they poop for 10 fish, but leave half eaten pieces of shrimp and minnows all over the place. I siphon vacuum into a filtered cup and dump the clean water back into the tank as much as possible, but an hour later the sand is as dirty as ever. Gravel is easier to vacuum although the turtles tend to eat it. Sand is an okay substrate for my shelled friends and would create a huge surface area for bacteria in theory. The bottom of my 3 inch substrate would be oxygen deprived and host nitrate eating bacteria although this theory doesn't seem to be delivering. :/
hu?
"That tank is not cycled/or your old tank was in an OTS mode. What is the pH of your tap water, after it has set out in a shallow dish overnight?"
This seemed like a fair question so I decided to investigate.
This is really bizzare but could explain some things. I keep gallon water jugs of tap water underneath the tank without caps to release chloride gases. When I need a top-off (or lately mass water changes) I pull out the oldest filled jugs and empty into the display tank. I just took a reading of 1 such jug which has been sitting under for 4 days. The reading was off the charts - 9.0 PH!! holy cow.
I then took a reading from a jug which had been sitting under there for 2 days which read 10 times lower, around 8.0 PH.
Keep in mind my tank water, measured today read 6.5 (greenish yellow) acid. So how is the water I have been doing these massive water changes with so STRONGLY base?!
Something fishy is going on here, excuse the pun.
"That tank is not cycled/or your old tank was in an OTS mode. What is the pH of your tap water, after it has set out in a shallow dish overnight?"
This seemed like a fair question so I decided to investigate.
This is really bizzare but could explain some things. I keep gallon water jugs of tap water underneath the tank without caps to release chloride gases. When I need a top-off (or lately mass water changes) I pull out the oldest filled jugs and empty into the display tank. I just took a reading of 1 such jug which has been sitting under for 4 days. The reading was off the charts - 9.0 PH!! holy cow.
I then took a reading from a jug which had been sitting under there for 2 days which read 10 times lower, around 8.0 PH.
Keep in mind my tank water, measured today read 6.5 (greenish yellow) acid. So how is the water I have been doing these massive water changes with so STRONGLY base?!
Something fishy is going on here, excuse the pun.
I still agree I need a more powerful filter, but its becoming clear and RO/DI system may curve the initial problem. I just don't know what to think of those PH readings, there all over the dart board. 6.5, 7.5-8.0, 9.0
