Need help with cycling and water

R

redtail

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Apr 8, 2004
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Okay. First of all, I did everything wrong where cycling is concerned, so let me just get that out of the way.

But here is where I am now. I have two gold gourami, one black sailfin molly, and one swordtail, all swimming around in a 10 gallon tank. Even doing everything wrong, they are still alive after 3 weeks. (Either they are tough, lucky, or both.)

Realizing my error, I bought an ammonia pillow to go in the filter about a day or so after I got the tank. I've been changing about 15% of the water every couple of days. Today I picked up an Ammonia and PH kit (I forgot to get the Nitrite, will have to grab that tomorrow).

My ammonia tests now at .0114. Supposedly, that is okay. I won't find out until tomorrow what the nitrite actually is, so I have no number on that.

My question is that my water is not as "clear" as I would like for it to be. Of course, when I first added the fish 3 weeks ago I got that bacterial "bloom" and it got sort of cloudy. It's not really cloudy now, but I guess a better word might be "hazy". Is there a cause and cure for this? Up until now, I've never changed more than say 15% of the water at any one time. Should I try a 25% change?

Suggestions needed. Thanks.
 
Welcome to AquariaCentral! =)

Its good to see how you've moved quickly after finding out what you did wrong. Since your tank is quite small, I would actually move onto doing 50% water changes daily. As long as the water is similar in temperature and pH, and is treated for chlorine you're fish will actually thank you for the clean water. Without knowing your nitrite levels, its hard to say where in the cycle you are in, but it looks like you're well on your way to completing your tank's cycle.

Since you used an ammonia pillow to help deal with your ammonia problems, your tank probably does not have enough nitrifying bacteria to handle your tank's ammonia output. I suggest getting ammonia chips, like this. Use a larger amount of it in your filter, then over the course of a few weeks, as you replace this stuff, use smaller and smaller amounts, until you completely wheen your tank off of this stuff. For example, say initially you use 1000g of this stuff in your filters. The next time you replace it, replace it with 900g, then the next time, 800g, and so on and so forth until you don't need to use it anymore. All the while, keep an eye on your ammonia levels. They may go up high enough to be detectable, but keep that under control with continuous water changes. You need to be able to get your tank to the point where it can handle your fish's waste output without relying on ammonia removing media.

HTH
-Richer
 
Keep it up until you read zero ammonia and zeroa nitrite for at least a few days. Its a bit of work, but it should be done to keep your fish as comfortable as possible.

-Richer
 
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