White specks

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NewLoverOfFish

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Jul 18, 2003
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Northwest Indiana
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My tank is 4 months old and there are small specks kind of like dust floating in my tank. My filter doesnt seen to suck them up. It is a 38 gal tank and I have an emperor 280 filter. There is also an air stone that has been in there from the beginning. Could the air stone produce these specks. Also the shop I buy my fish from said my ammonia level is too high to add fish right now. They had me do a 6 gal water change so I scooped out water from the top hoping to remove some of the specks.

Last question how long should to light be left on during the day? Someone once told me that fish only eat when the light it on.

I LOVE reading this site. I have learn soooo much reading other peoples questions and answers.
 
You're gonna need a six-foot length of clear plastic tubing to use as a siphon for water changes. Siphon it out into the tall kitchen trash can, and slosh it over the garden, if you can. (Keeps that kitchen can nice and fresh too.)

Your ammonia and nitrite have to go to zero before you add fish... but you've heard all that before!

As your filter medium gets some slippery detritus caught up in it, it will catch finer floating particles. Sometimes what appear to be particles are microbubbles. Or sometimes they are the larger critters of the plankton.
 
Thanks for answering so quickly. The can garbage sounds a lot easier than what I'm using. I've vacuumed the rocks in past water changes but wanted to remove the dust. (It moves in all directions so I don't think they are air bubbles). What else can I do about the high ammonia besides the water change. And what are plankton.

How long does everyelse leave on the aquarium light?

Last question for now. Are air stones important?
 
this is revolutionary. Did your fish store actually deny you fish because your ammonia was too high?

aaron
 
Patience is the best remedy for ammonia. Ammonia is processed by bacteria, and these populations take time to develop. Water changes will dilute the amount of ammonia, but will need to be done often until the bacteria develop.

Plankton are little tiny critters that live in your water column--they are good guys, under normal circumstances.

I leave my lights on for about 10 hours, but I have plants. Timers are great for this!

Airstones help maintain high dissolved oxygen level by agitating the surface, where the gas exchange (CO2 for O2) takes place. In very warm tanks, they can be very important, but normal disturbance from water returns and powerheads are normally enough for most tanks.
 
I don't know wetmannYN some people think I'm as old as dirt LOL
My little fishies are GREAT for my high blood pressure, one hour of watching them and it's normal. I will pick up that book next time I'm out.

DENY me fish is too strong a word. They advised me to wait because they know how my I care about my fish and am sad went they die. (During my beginning water cycle I went there everyday just to watch the fish)

I don't have live plants so is 5 hours enough for the fish. I have 5 platies (one is a baby born about 4 weeks ago) 3 red eye tetras, 4 neons, and one female beta (brought home from work when the male abused her) I want to buy some cories. How long before the ammonia is better.
 
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You should be keeping the lights on closer to 10. All the fish you mentioned come from tropical enviornments where the sun is out for at least that amount of time. This is, of course if you don't have problems with temperature or algae.

aaron
 
No, fish don't care if there is a light on above the tank. If the room the tank is in gets ambient light during the day, this is plenty. Keep in mind that tropical streams and ponds are seldom in direct light--they are shaded by a canopy of trees. Fish in brightly lit tanks that lack plant cover usually hide more frequently than fish in unplanted, low light tanks.

The ammonia won't go away until those bacteria beds expand. There isn't a reliable timeline for their growth. And, once they've established, you'll need to make sure the nitrites don't spike--that's the next step in cycling.
 
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