Jon's TroublesomeTank

A place to keep us informed of the goings on in your tanks. - Tank Logs.
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plankton
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If you start from scratch, you just change all the water, then top the ammonia up to 2ppm. You don't need to change anything else.

But.....I would be wary if it's now decided to burst into life anyway.
Maybe, just maybe, the carbonates were all used up, but they shouldn't have been as you'd been doing lots of water changes anyway.
Or - maybe you've been misreading the amount of ammonia (easy to do, especially if the green range is partially colourblind - hard to trace) and it's been a lot higher than you thought, which would stall it anyway.
Or - something else has been releasing ammonia......
If at first you don't succeed....
...get someone else to do it! :D

Enjoy your fish, shrimps and snails!
Ian
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Jon_D
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Thanks PLANKTON for the advice,.. I will wait and see how it behaves; hopefully it has sprung to life, but i am prepard for anything.
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wingnut55
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Jon_D wrote: Thanks PLANKTON for the advice,.. I will wait and see how it behaves; hopefully it has sprung to life, but i am prepard for anything.
Hi Jon,


Sorry for late reply, as Ian (Plankton) said, just remove all the water and then dose 2ppm Ammonia, wait until it has gone, ie 0ppm, then dose again, and so on. until you end up with double zeros for Ammonia and Nitrite for three consecutive days, bingo your tank is cycled.  ;)

But I see you have movement with your Ammonia now, so fingers crossed it going in the right direction.  :)

If you do decide to start again, just remember no need for water changes, just a very big one once cycled, then get some fish. :)  

Ian.
Last edited by wingnut55 on Tue Oct 15, 2019 19:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jon_D
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Well, patience seems to be paying off.  The haunted Tank is now starting its 7th week of the cycle, as I said that I wouild give it one more chance, and the ammonia is down to 0.5, with very little nitrite. So I wonder if my forum friends would kindly offer me more advice concerning my future plans.
I am taking possession of another tank this week, a 150 litre one. As my apartment is on a first floor I cannot have one any larger  or heavier as should there be any watery incident the people below would feel rather aggrieved. 
  • So my plan is to have the current 15 gallon one, which is undergoing that cycle,
  • plus the 2 litre one which I got for possible fry breeding
  • and the new  150 litre one.
  • My intention is to initially keep the boys and girl fishies in separate tanks until I get more experience in fish keeping.
I realise that the new tank will need cycling so this is the advice I am seeking.
Would it be beneficial if I take many of the plants etc. from the recently cycled 15 gallon one when it is complete,  and place them into the new, to help kick-start the cycle of the new tank?  I know about transferring the filters etc.
 I have bought a higher powered heater and the Fluval  U2 which I am also running in the old 15 gallon tank to collect bacteria.
Last edited by Jon_D on Sat Oct 19, 2019 18:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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plankton
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If you're running two filters in the current tank, then you're cycling both at the same time, so you should be able to just take the U2 over to the new tank. You will be taking 50% of the munchers over so you'll have to boost both filters for the fish inhabitants....
If at first you don't succeed....
...get someone else to do it! :D

Enjoy your fish, shrimps and snails!
Ian
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Jon_D
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Many thanks PLANKTON, also I will transfer some plants from the cycled tank to the new one, as they must be coated with good bacteria. Today, (into 7th week) ammonia is down to .2 and nitrite to 0.25 so soon I will be caretaking some fishy friends! Thank you for keeping in touch. I intend to start with a few shrimps to test the water, prior to trying fish. Also there is still a fair bit of brown algae to be eaten.
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Jon_D
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Got a couple of these little fellows to keep me company while the tank cycles.  Must have come in on the plants. cannot see if he/she is a snail or a little bug. Anyway he/she is welcome
I must start usiing my tripod when taking photos.
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Cheltgirl
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I’d put money on that being a bladder snail. Very common to hitchhike in on plants :grin:
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Cheltgirl.... she/he is especially welcome if it likes to eat algae .Image
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wingnut55
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Jon_D wrote: Cheltgirl.... she/he is especially welcome if it likes to eat algae .Image
Where there is one, there will be lots more before long.   ROFL

Ian.
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