Fresh water aquarium issues.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 7:26 am

Okay Thanks. Unfortunately I have a hard enough time finding time to get on here every day or so, but the slower it gets here at work I may try to do that. When I do my so called deep clean I have good well water so it doesn't have chlorine and such in it and I only rinse the gravel and swish it around to get the trapped gunk out of it and I do use carbon filters after about 3 weeks I rinse it then another 3 weeks I trash it.Separate note my little bumble bee goby died. It never did get aggressive towards the shrimp or fish in the tank. I noticed there was a lot of film starting to grow on everything so my water may have started going toxic cuz I thought I was going to lose 1 of the fish to but its doing better now. I had to clean out the tank and I took out the cave and just left some shells and live plants in it.When I tried to move my last shrimp that had eggs into a 1 gal tank by itself, I had a hard time keeping the water clean without using a filter. But I kept her separate then like I said she shed her skin and I never did see any fry afterward it looked like some still attached to the skin but they never did move. I put her back in the other tank and a few days later she died. I'm guessing I shocked her when I put her back in the other tank. I left the small tank up for another week and still never seen anything moving in it.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 10:38 am

@Kirrie, I've always had carbon running in my tanks and I've never had a problem with it but the one time I tried to run a tank with no carbon all my fish got wiped out.Activated carbon is necessary if your on city or county water because the carbon helps to absorb a lot of the chemicals that the water treatment plants use which get left behind by tap water conditioners.Carbon is normally used to help reduce ammonia and odors and absorbs a lot of impurities in traditional tap water.I have two filters running on my 20 gallon a hob rated for up 60 gallons and an internal filter rated for 10 gallons.I have a filter sock filled with activated carbon in the internal filter and have been running it like this for some time and my water has been cleaner and clearer than it has been in weeks.Well water and spring water users don't necessarily need to run carbon in their filters unless they have really messy fish like Gold Fish.I'm on a shared family computer so I don't have access to it much so getting the time to go to another forum is tantamount to one of the tasks of Hercules.lol@Jenok, Gobies tend to need brackish water and will live short term in fresh water at best.They also will not eat traditional fish foods fairing best on brine shrimp.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:54 pm

Ah yes, if you have city water which may contain chemicals then carbon would be necessary. Sorry you lost your fish.What conditioner do you use? I was on city water at one point and Prime seemed to prevent me from having any issues with the city water. Carbon isn't necessary for absorbing ammonia though. If left in too long it actually starts leaching ammonia back into the water because it cannot hold anymore. I used to renew my carbon once a month until I figured it wasn't needed.That's a shame you don't have time to join MAC, Im sure you would be great additions to the different discussions there @jenok I wouldn't even rinse your gravel. A much easier way of cleaning it is to leave it in the tank and use a gravel vacuum. That also makes water changes easier and can be easily done once a week with your water changes (only 1/3 at a time) All the trapped gunk left in the gravel will feed your beneficial bacteria living there or any live plants you add. Live plants also help to bring your nitrates down.Do you use a water conditioner? Even though well water doesn't have chlorine, there are still heavy metals that can harm your fish. Conditioners like Prime and Stress Coat Plus remove those. Im also on well water.Every time you clean your gravel or rinse or throw out your filter, you are putting your tank through a mini cycled. If you test your water you will see your ammonia and nitrite levels rise, both of which are toxic at anything above 0 ppm. With the filters, its easier to just cut the top of the cartridge open, dump the carbon out and buy a container of carbon to replace it with. It will save money and also save the beneficial bacteria living on your filter cartridge.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:21 am

@kirrie never thought of cutting the filter and just putting new carbon in I just buy the Whisper brand from walmart. That would probably work but the filter gets so dirty after 6 -8 weeks it usually doesn't come clean. I do have a gravel vac and my mom usually will use it to clean in between my deep cleans but I don't like it cuz it stirs everything up and i'm afraid the particles will hurt the fishes gills (it gets really cloudy). I don't have a test kit and my nearest pet store is 35 miles away. I've been meaning to get one but keep forgetting it or don't have the xtra money when I remember it. Most of the time I do not add any conditioners to the water since I've never really had any problems with using it out of the faucet most of my problems are from shocking the fish when I move them or not having clean enough tank/toxic. Most of my fish I keep for a year or 2 before they die at which point unless I lose several at once I consider being old age. Tetras or danios are what I normally keep.@crabber I did read that they do better in brackish water but also read several comments on them doing just fine in fresh the main difference being their coloring wasn't as bright. Same with the flake food. I gave flake, dried bloodworms, frozen brine, frozen bloodworms, and shrimp pellets. Kinda like crabs there was so much controversial info it was hard to figure what would work. I guess now I know. I believe that the pet store had them in fresh water so that's why I left it fresh with no salt added.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:48 am

When your filter cartridges get so gunked up that water cant run through them, just swish it around in a bucket of tank water. That will clean it off and also save most of your bacteria, as opposed to running it under the sink. You could save a lot of money not replacing filter cartridges so often. Then you could buy a test kit. It would really be worth the money because your test results will tell you how to perfect your water changing routing. When you use th gravel vacuum, are you just going over the surface or pushing it down into the gravel? It shouldnt be kicking up too much gunk and if it does you can just catch it with the vacuum or fill up the tank and switch the filter back in. Your fish wont be harmed in the amount of time it takes for the gunk to settle again. You have to remember how they live in the wild. Their natural environments arent perfectly clean and particles floating through the water wont hurt them.The affects of heavy metals on fish wont show quickly. Exposure over time is what eventually kills them, which may explain why you can only get them to live 2 years or so. Even a betta can live a healthy 4 or 5 years. Many fish can live much longer than that. A bottle of Prime should cost about 8 dollars and last for a really long time because you only need 2 drops per gallon to detoxify those heavy metals.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 7:26 am

Ok I'll try these things. I have a bottle of API conditioner I use for the crabs so I'll start using that for the fish to it just won't have the slime coat. With the vaccum I usually get down in the gravel which may be why there's so much stuff stirred up, so i'll just do the top. Sometimes the kids put too much food also.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 10:44 am

Sounds good! A lot of these changes will make things easier on you and are also better for the health of your fish.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:15 am

@Kirrie/Jenok, I've always been taught that going too deep into the gravel with a vacuum that your actually removing the beneficial bacteria that dwell there so I've never gone any deeper than half an inch if that.I actually switched to a sand/organic potting mix substrate for my plants because they weren't doing well with the gravel and because water flows through gravel faster than sand it doesn't stay in contact with the beneficial bacteria long enough for the bacteria to really do their job which is the exact opposite for sand bottoms as the water has to sit for a lengthy period of time as it migrates through the different levels/layers of the sand allowing the bacteria to do their job at peak performance.Depending on the type of filtration you use sand may not be an option and it isn't a critical must unless you have live plants.@Jenok, I'm using Miracle Gro Organic Choice potting mix( not soil ) as it is completely natural and non-toxic to fish though it does give the water a bit of an odor.lolI got enough to dirt the bottom of my twenty gallon with one inch across the entire bottom which is capped by the sand and dolomite and has been working well so far.I only paid four dollars for one bag which makes 8 quarts so I got enough in two bags to do the job and still have some left over.I've also added several new neon tetras and Rasboras today along with a new wide leaf amazon sword plant so everything seems to be coming together finally.If you want to dirt your tank/s you'll need to drain them completely and then remove/save the existing substrate, put a layer of the mix down covering the bottom then add back your old sub to cap the mix with or it will float all over the place turning the tank into a giant tea vat, then put your plants in and the mix will feed them from the bottom up for two months or more depending on the size of the plants.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:39 am

Yes, going too deep when cleaning the gravel is never a good idea. It is best to only go about half an inch in on 1/3 of your tank once a week. If you clean any more than 1/3 a week that may also remove too much of your beneficial bacteria.As far as substrate, Ive always used gravel in my tanks although I would like to try sand in the future. I have live plants in all of my tanks that thrive. You have to know what your plants require. Some need more lighting and are more needy as far as fertilizers. Others will be fine with low lighting and without you adding any type of fertilizer. They feed off the nitrates produced in your tank. I use a mix of gravel and eco complete substrate which contains nutrients for the plants. I also place API root tabs under the substrate when I add new plants to help them develop strong roots and establish themselves in the tank. I'm almost to the point where I should be pulling plants out and selling them because they are over crowding everything.What kind of plants do you have?

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:30 am

@Kirrie, I have several narrow leaf amazon swords and one wide leaf amazon sword so in total I have six plants.I follow Dustin from Dustin's Fish Tanks on Youtube and he raises and sells plants and uses the Organic Choice potting mix for his Amazon Swords which is why I thought I'd give it a try since the mix is cheaper than purchasing the ecco complete from my pet store.I can't use gravel since I have a corydoras catfish sand is a must to protect its delicate barbels.

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:43 am

I also have a few amazon swords. I cant remember the names of all of my plants but I know I have retrospiralis, micro sword, cryptocoryne wendtii lace java fern, saggitarius, guppy grass, anacharis and hornwart. I have two groups of corys as well. If your gravel is round rather than sharp it is safe for their barbels and mine have done well with it. I keep a close eye on them and have yet to see any injuries. Sand would be better, but round gravel is safe enough.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 6:23 am

@Kirrie, where I live the gravel thats made available to me in the pet store is rather coarse and to get the smooth stuff I'd have to go three counties over to find it and since I can't drive(I had to give up my license in 06 due to poor vision)I have to depend on others to get me around which makes going out of town a hassle to say the least.I know guys who keep corydoras only and have them in huge tanks like 200+ gallons and have them on a smooth gravel, fluorite and clay mix and the catfish do fine they have gotten up to three inches so I'm guessing their a larger growing variant as I have the Albino cory which only gets two inches long.I know I need to get some more cory cats for companions for my lonely Albino which I'm planning to do in two weeks to give my tetras and rasboras time to get settled in and my tank time to adjust.I know how fast and easy it is to overstock a tank so I'm keeping an eye on that I'm thinking three more Albino cory cats and possibly two rose-bellied tetras then I'm done.lol

Kirrie · Post by **Kirrie** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 6:33 am

Haha. Is there another name those rose-bellied tetras go by? Ive never heard of those before. Do you already have some of those? Tetras need to be kept in groups of 5 or 6, otherwise they get stressed easily and can become nippy.You should try plugging your tank information here http://aqadvisor.com/ Its a great stocking calculator. It will give you warnings as far as compatibility and stocking level. Most people try to stay below 80% stocked to provide room for error with the website as well as in the tank where you might have a dieing plant cause an ammonia spike.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 7:59 am

@Kirrie, yeah they are also called Rosy Tetras or Rosy Fined Tetras.lolThanks for the link.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 8:22 am

@Kirrie, turns out after using the calculator I can't get the rosy fined tetras and the albino cory cats I can only have one or the other so I'm going with the corydoras catfish.lolAccording to the calculator my filtration level is at 493%, my stocking level is currently at 59% but will go up to 77% after the three albino corydoras are added so that means I'll be pretty much topped out on the bio mass load of my aquarium while still allowing a buffering zone of 23% after adding them.Well all I've wanted was some colorful fish and I got that with the Neons and the Rasbora Hets they give a nice color splash so thats covered now I just need to get my lonely cory cat a few friends of his own.I just ran a quick calculation on my old setup with the five bettas and ten cory cats I originally had and the tank was seriously overstocked which explains why they got sick so quickly and died.