Long winded, yet a concern , , ,

[Summers]

Hello,

Hello , , ,this is my 3rd attempt at writing a post – LOL. I believe I am overstocked due to my excitement and ignorance. I am much more informed today on aquarium etiquette. I have an 8-gal Biorb aquarium, which fills my Feng Shui goal, yet I have 8 fish; 2 oto, 3 neon tetra & 3 black molly.

The black molly were acquired at birth when they were still fry (I believe). Now 2 are 1”+ and 1 is 1-1/2”+. My research says they will reach up to 3”. The neon’s are most likely fully grown and the oto’s soon will be. All my fish are happy today swimming about and playing.

I have added a Tetra Whisper 10i system increasing overall filtration. Sadly, I did water changes monthly in the past and now will do them weekly (20 – 25%). Last weekend I removed everything except the fish, i.e. the rock like substrate, filtration system, plants, & ornaments. I cleaned everything, vacuumed the bottom thoroughly, and then completed a 25 – 30% water change. Installed new filters, removed unhealthy plants limiting to 2 bundles, reinstalled substrate and ornaments. Before my chem. Panel was always in check except for high nitrate (160ppm) and hard water. After a week since my overhaul my ppm is now about 110. I feed less and with a few more water changes I believe the nitrates will be much less than 50.

Now the dilemma! I like all my fish, but there soon will be, if not now, too many. Since I have the plants I want the otos. And, they are fun to watch. I am partial to the neon tetras, since they were my first fish. The black molly I raised from fry and they are so energetic. I know a bigger aquarium. However, that is impractical today with space, budget, décor requirements, and etc.

I am leaning toward giving my molly to a friend with a 400 gal aquarium, yet know they may wind up being someone else’s dinner or not. That said – then I would have the 2 oto requiring 4 gallons and the 3 neon requiring 4 gallons. That would be a safe environment by the 1” to 1gallon rule. But, I really would like to add 2 more neon to have a school of 5.

So, I would like to ask of those more knowledgable if they believe this could be done safely. Remember I will be doing weekly water changes and there is the addition of the 10gal Tetra Whisper 10i internal filter.

I thank you for reading this long-winded passage and for any advice.

Tim

 

[BettaFishMommy]

hello Tim.

i think that you would be ok adding two more neons once the three mollies have been rehomed.

if i recall correctly, the bio orb tank comes with an undergravel filter of sorts, right? you may want to look into turning that UGF (undergravel filter) into a RUGF (reverse undergravel filter). i myself have no knowledge on either as i run hob and canister filters only, but there are other members here that would know how to go about it.

good for you for doing so much research to keep your finkids happy and healthy!

 

[phreeflow]

A RUFG is where you use a power head to push water down through the pipe through the plates and up out of the gravel. It's better if you're also running a mechanical filter to catch the debris...which it seems you are. However, I think you'd be fine running it the way you are...even if I'm not a big fan of UG's.

You can definitely add a couple more neons. As far as cleaning your tank goes, you NEVER want to clean your tank that thoroughly where you remove all gravel, rocks, etc and wash them clean. All those surfaces have living beneficial bacteria and if you washed them in hot water or bleach or even tap for extended periods, you may have to start the nitrification process all over again. Vacuum and water change is good enough.

Also, if your nitrates are that high and those are all the fish you had in there, you're probably overfeeding. Better to underfeed than overfeed.

 

[Rbishop]

.... Panel was always in check except for high nitrate (160ppm) and hard water. After a week since my overhaul my ppm is now about 110.....

Are you using a good liquid test kit? If you are using the strips they are very unreliable. Keep up the water changes, daily if needed, with a good water conditioner like Prime, until you get those nitrates below .25 ppm......

 

[Summers]

Sounds like good advice , , ,I wasn't sure I could do water changes that often , , , I'm going to petco today , , ,get prime and do another water change , , , any recommendation on test kit and is there one just for nitrate, since that seems to be the most important , , ,I use the tetra 6 -in-1 test strips and the other factors are always in check or best level except water hardness , , ,

Tim

 

[Summers]

I got lost on the mnemonics, phreeflow, for a moment <smile>, , ,got UG but not RUFG , , ,I was so frustrated and concerned with the 160ppm on nitrate at discovery I just went for it , , ,didnt' think it through enough , , ,I am 100% aggreement with overfeeding , , ,my eyes are too big for my stomach too <grin> , , ,I never read the instructions until I read your post and I was surprised seeing one flake per fish , , ,I was probably at times 4 - 5 times that , , ,I definetly will follow your advice on feeding , , ,

The Tetra 10i is an internal canister filter for 10gal tank , , ,I had to cut the intake flow by about half because the turbulence from the spillway hits the front center of biorb sphere , , ,fish kinda' stopped swimming in open front space , , ,now they do all the time , , ,in fact they play in it now like a water slide of sorts swimming into the top of aquarium water below spillway then slipping through the water and out downward of it, over and over and over , , ,I get a chuckle at it , , ,thanks for our feedack and remember to have fun, fun, fun

 

[Summers]

thank you for your input bettyfishmommy, , ,I do have an internal canister filter besides the UG that is part of the biorb , , ,it has to hang over the center of the opening, so the spillway is front-center , , ,the result was too much water turbulence, so I cut the intake flow in half about , , ,still adds additional filtration and provides a water slide for the fish , , ,they swim into the top of the flow below the spillway and slide downward through the water, over and over and over , , ,I think I will add more neon, yet I already have separation anxiety over the black molly , , ,but, I don't think it would be fair to them keeping them either since really they will outgrow the biorb , , ,remember to have a great day and have fun, fun, fun

 

[Rbishop]

try to keep your ammonia and nitrItes at zero....

your nitrAtes 20 or less....