Brand New Shiny Water

[Kageshi17]

Hahaha. Ok. So I had a post here that stated: "Bad Water Why?" So if you looked at that, this is the continuation.

Ok. So I did something that most would say: "bad idea!" to. I purchased a 10g tank and placed my Paradise Gourami, 5 cory catfish, 2 snails, and 1 pleco into. This is temporary of course, but yeah. They were placed in there last night. So, I have a 40g filter on a 10g tank because I know they will produce alot of waste and thats way too many fish for that tank. They also have all the water from their old tank in this new one.

Ok. So I totally drained the 29g and took all my gravel and all my rocks and placed them in numerous pots of boiling water on the stove for about 1/2 hour. This was mostly because of the pond snails. So obviously, they all died. Then I scrubbed my tank with nothing but water and a sponge, but yeah, killed all those snails. Then I took each of my live plants and ran them under cold water then soaked them in really hot water and scubbed off the leaves to try and get rid of any egg sacks or snails there as well. Then I purchased a new neptune heater and new filter media for my 70g filter and filled the tank back up. I added some Start Right, two capfuls of liquid plant food, and 1 and 1/3 teaspoons of water clarifier.

The plants are now back in the tank and rooted, the filter has been running for about a day, and the water parameters are as follows:

.25 ammonia
.0 nitrite
5.0 nitrate

So yeah, looks good so far. I was thinking of waiting until tomorrow and then adding 4 of my catfish. Then waiting another 2 days and adding my other catfish and pleco. Then waiting another 2 days and adding my two snails. Then yet another 2 days and adding my gourami.

I know this is not the traditional way to go about cycling and adding fish, but if I did this, would the results be alright? I know that people who are new to the whole fish thing just add all their fish at one time (what I did in the begining) and usually come out with no casualties. Now I know that this isn't the perfect way to go about assimilating, but is it alright? I just know they are going to kill themselves soon if they live in that 10g for much longer. Way too much ammonia in there.

Alright. And also the reason my snails were coming back is because of over feeding and they were living in my filter media!

[fishbguy]

i think the fish would be alright.

when i clean my tank, i vacume out about 3/4 of the water and clean the gravel w/a gravel vacume. i scrub all my plants (they're plastic) and refil the water. all the fish come out of the tank at this time. once the tank is full i dump all the fish back into the tank and put the hood and light back on. i then add some prime, stress coat, and a half dose of ich cure (not sure why but i do) i never lose fish after i clean the tank. even when i change the filter cartridge (the only filter is a HOB) i don't lose fish. I am always thinking of why i don't lose any but can't come up with any ideas other than that i have well water.

anyway...did you eat the snails when you boiled them?

[emc7]

your filter is brand new? Unless you move some of the filter media from the 10, you are essentially starting from scratch and all the new tank caustions apply. Watch the ammonia and nitrite constantly (in both tanks) and change water to keep it at safe levels. Get some Prime or amquel+ to make the ammonia and nitrite less toxic. Just because some people get lucky and cycle with no losses is no reason to play russian roulette with your fish.

[musho3210]

make sure the ammonia stays down, .25 is still toxic although can be tolerated short term by hardy fish. Use some old filter media from the 10 gallon tank as well, or maybe just use some old gravel from the 10 gallon at least.

[StarLab]

You might want to keep an eye on the pH levels as well. High pH will make even the smallest amount of ammonia extremely toxic to the fish.

Shoot for somewhere around neutral (7.0)

[Zoe]

I think you should take a little more time in adding your fish to your tank. Unless your'e using filter media from an established tank, you're starting all over, from zero. You need to give your tank time to cycle.
I suggest that when your ammonia drops to below .25, you add 2 cories. Give it a couple days and test the water; I'd bet that at that point, your ammonia will be higher. When the ammonia drops back down and if you have no nitrates, add a couple more fish. Give yourself a couple weeks to add them all.

While you can probably stick them all in immediately and they could survive the cycling process, it'll shorten their lifespan and could make them sick.

Either way, keep an eye on ammonia and nitrates on both tanks - if they're over .25, do a water change.

[Giddy012]

I agree with Zoe. But it sounds as though the 10gal. isn't cycled either. However you would have a much better chance at keeping your fish healthy buy leaving them in the 10gal. and doing massive w/c daily like around 80%. Sure the tank won't end up cycling but hey at least when your 29gal is ready you should still have healthy fish.

[musho3210]

why wont the tank cycle with 80% water changes, got any info on this that has been proven, i did 50% water changes daily when i cycled and everything was normal.

[eon17]

most fish can tolerate .25 ammonia for a week or so

[Zoe]

I wouldn't do 80% water changes, because it won't cycle as quickly (although it will cycle, because the good bacteria are in the gravel and filter, not the water itself), but I think that 30-40% water changes are in order anytime the ammonia is .25 or over.

[Giddy012]

Sorry didn't mean to say it "won't", just that it would take a long, long time. I was just trying to say if you don't have to make your fish go through a cycle why would you. I'm no expert by any means, but it just seems to me that if your taking out 60-90% of the water daily then the ammonia should not get the chance to climb, thus not putting the fish through a cycle. I don't know this for sure, can you still have ammonia spikes with such large water changes? And since that is not your fishes permenent home you don't need that tank to cycle quickly.

[Kyoberr]

Congratulations! I bet you feel good to have that big job out of the way. Good job.

[Kageshi17]

Yeah! It took me 4 hours. Hahah. No snails yet! And its been 4 days! So I'm happy about that. The one thing that is weird, is that now all my fish are in my 29g and the water is crystal. But yeah...my cories don't seem to be moving around as much but my snails and gourami are just the same as always! I find that funny...it seems the hardiest of the fish comunity are mystery snails and gouramis or something. They are all doing great. Plus I added another filter to my tank. So now it filters 120g on a 29g. How bout them apples