New Aquarium Questions

[happychem]

And no, you're not being an idiot. If you don't fully understand something, it's better to ask than to try and fail, hurting your fish and wallet.

Put the used media into your filter with the new one. This way you get both the benefit of the cycled media and you colonize the new one simultaneously. The majority of the bacteria that you're colonizing will be in the filter media, not the water, gravel or anywhere else. So by changing the water, you won't harm the bacterial colony at all. Assuming you properly treat the water before reintroducing.

While we're on the topic of water changes, have you looked into getting a "Python"? Best water changing apparatus ever!

 

[wildgator25]

Ok, just finished putting ammonium hydroxide in the tank. Too bad the measurement card that came with my test kit doesn't read an exact 5ppm, it has 4ppm and 8ppm. I'm between the two. Added a piece of filter that I got from the Fish Department at the local Wal-Mart. It stunk to high heaven, so I guess it had some bacteria in it. I added it directly on top of my new filter, and it has been in there for 22 hours now. So, I guess it's now sit back and wait on the nitrite spike. Think I might have time to do some searching on what fish to begin with .............

Thanks to everyone who has contributed their $0.02. Hope to be able to help someone else in return.

 

[happychem]

Remeber to check your NH3 levels fairly regularly and to top up your levels to keep them at about the 4ppm reading on your test kit. Sure, 5ppm is ideal, but 4 will do just fine and it's better to be working with numbers you can be confident with than not.