Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 No wood, only sand and sandstone. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Does the water look clear (ie. not cloudy) and coloured? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 Yeah, thats it. It looks like it has a light tannin. Don't know what it'd be from though. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 You either haven't cleaned your substrate properly or there is something leaching the colour into the water. To eliminate the culprit start by pulling your rocks out and put some activated carbon into your sump to absorb the colour. If it goes away it's probably leaching from one of your rocks. EDIT: it doesn't look like this anymore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 No not cloudy, ok so I'll pull the rocks out for a day or two and see what happens, I'll chuck in some carbon aswell. I never actually cleaned the sand when I put it in but then I got the weirs installed and it sat outside in boxes and got some rain. Could this of done it? Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 The rocks are just easier to remove than the sand... The sand is just as likely (possibly more than likely) to have caused the off colouration if you didn't clean it before putting it in. There's a lesson learned for you... Put some activated carbon in and see how it goes over the next couple of days, it's only cheap so won't break the back if it doesn't solve the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 Ok, I just found out I already put the bag of carbon in there. I think it may of been only partially submerged before but now it's where there is most water flow. If this doesn't work what can I do? Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 purigen - Seachem's super absorbant only thing is it'll muff up your cycle by absorbing ammonia so wait until you tank is cycled. in short - ignore the unsightly colour for now. If it's the rocks/substrate leaching it'll probably settle down after a few water changes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 With the cycle happening when should I be doing my first water change? Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 with a fishless cycle? when there's no ammonia readable for 3 consecutive days JMO of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 JMO? Edit: New water test results are in; pH:8.0 Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite: 2.0ppm Nitrate:5.0ppm I am still adding Prime daily to control ammonia etc. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 JMO = Just My Opinion Why are you controlling ammonia? It's part of the cycle process to have the ammonia peak... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Bruce - if you don't have fish in there there's no point adding prime. Are you still adding plenty of food daily? if so you're 1/2 way there already! Jon - even with it locked by the prime, the bacteria will still "eat" it AFAIK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 Alright, no more Prime. I haven't added any more food as that fish is still in there and it stinks Will this do it? How long do you think until it'll be tang safe? Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Jon - even with it locked by the prime, the bacteria will still "eat" it AFAIK ← I believe this to be the case too, but it makes it difficult to track the cycle progress if he can't detect it (I think that the prime locks it such that it cannot be detected... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 What, so there may be ammonia but the Prime is hiding it? Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 I believe that to be the case, the Prime locks the ammonia up such that most test kits don't detect it - I'm happy to be corrected on this though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 Ah cool, I won't dose with Prime tomorrow and I'll see what happens. Can I get a ballpark figure of the time left for the cycle to finish? Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 "It won't happen overnight, but it will happen" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 Ok, I'll just leave the fish in there and keep regularly checking the water. Should I continue to add seachem? I just wanna thank everyone who's been helping especially Ash and spedwards. I'd also like to give a massive thanks to my water test kit, I couldn't of done it without you Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spedwards Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 You need something to feed the process and keep it going, the fish will work but as you have found will get a little on the nose. Just keep at it, without the Prime you should see and increase the ammonia levels, keep going until this reaches zero, the nitrites should then follow suit. What Seachem product are you talking about continuing to add? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 The smell isn't a worry, I just stupidly took it out of the water and smelled it, DOH! It is seachem lake tang buffer. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Jon - even with it locked by the prime, the bacteria will still "eat" it AFAIK ← I believe this to be the case too, but it makes it difficult to track the cycle progress if he can't detect it (I think that the prime locks it such that it cannot be detected... ) ← nope, the kits can't tell ammonia from ammonium The smell isn't a worry, I just stupidly took it out of the water and smelled it, DOH! It is seachem lake tang buffer. Bruce ← You'll stop adding that stuff once you get the water perameters you're after - which means checking hardness & pH. If you treated the whole tank with a full dose initially, you don't need to add any till your waterchanges. bear in mind when you get your fish that if they are in neutral water with like 50ppm hardness & your tang tank as pH9 & 350ppm, you'll need to acclimatise them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 I am getting all my fish off people from this forum so I will speak to them all beforehand and see what there water parameters are like. Should I add more fish? It's just a bite size piece at the moment. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Until it's gone it'll be still breaking down & producing ammonia - probably sit back & wait for a day or 2 Acclimatization. 1) when you get your fish, put them in a bucket next to the tank in their bag water. 2) run a siphon from the tank with an airline with a tap 3) once it's siphoning ok turn the tap almost off so it just drips into the bucket. 4) once the water gets near the top of the bucket (assuming it wasn't very full to start with) then you should be right to introduce the fish to the tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.