# New tank



## Mike61704 (Jan 3, 2010)

Hey guys, its been since 2003 since i posted last. Maily because i can come and find an answer for what im looking for. Just wanted to get some advice on my new tank. I have 5 red bellies and have had them for about a year and a half in a 90 gallon tall. I went out friday and got a 125 so now they have some room. I did the switch on saturday, except i used a new substrate. I moved all the water, and the two canisters. Make a long story short my water chemistry is out of wack, which is to be expected. Ammonia is around .60 PPM, Nitrites are around .50 PPM and Nitrates are 7 PPM. The main reason i wanted new substrate is to get the ph to come down naturally, which is slowly working. At what time should i start doing water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites at bay? Its been so long since i cycled. Is this a mini cycle and will it go away in a few days? I cleaned my canisters out about a week ago. Thanks.

Mike


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2010)

Welcome back









How did you clean your canisters? Also what substrate were you using and what did you end up switching to? I would do a 50% water change and then 25% daily until the levels are normal again.


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## Mike61704 (Jan 3, 2010)

ksls said:


> Welcome back
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well like i always do, wash out the pads with tap water, leave bio balls and stars alone, add bio zorb pack and added activated carbon pack. went from crushed coral with alot of drift wood (new i made a mistake with the substrate but already paid alot for it) now using pea gravel i picked up from the local hardware store (washed of course). 50% water change? already? should i wait a while for the canisters to start working? (they came straight from the old tank.


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

you really shouldn't wash your pads with tap water, use the old water from the tank...........


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## Mike61704 (Jan 3, 2010)

bigshawn said:


> you really shouldn't wash your pads with tap water, use the old water from the tank...........


you can wash pads of waste with tap, just not the bio balls and stars.. been doing this for 15 years with great success. just never had to switch tanks like this before.
[/quote]

guess ill do a 25% water change and add some prime and see what that does..


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

I wasn't ? your exper. my man just trying to help.......................


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## TJcali (Mar 27, 2009)

did you use the same water from the other tank you had set up?


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## Mike61704 (Jan 3, 2010)

TJcali said:


> did you use the same water from the other tank you had set up?


yeah all 90 gallons, then topped it off with slime coat like i always do. Seems as the ammonia and nitrites are definalty rising. Just did a 25% water change and added prime. Hope that helps. I have always been successful in changing tanks when i use everything but this new substrate throws things off for sure. Tank looks good though. Here is a couple of pics from my cell phone.


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## ju5tin95 (Nov 25, 2008)

nice tank !, i say go get some Tetra Safestart, thats what i used when setting up my 55.... but its kinda pricey


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2010)

Mike61704 said:


> Welcome back
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well like i always do, wash out the pads with tap water, leave bio balls and stars alone, add bio zorb pack and added activated carbon pack. went from crushed coral with alot of drift wood (new i made a mistake with the substrate but already paid alot for it) now using pea gravel i picked up from the local hardware store (washed of course). 50% water change? already? should i wait a while for the canisters to start working? (they came straight from the old tank.
[/quote]

If you swapped out the water and canisters from your other tank to your newest tank and parameters were fine there, I cant understand why you are getting these high readings. All I can think is that you may have disturbed pockets of trapped ammonia in your old substrate. What are you running for filtration?


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## 1rhom (Nov 6, 2009)

well since you swapped out everything from the other tank i would just keep up with the water changes maybe add some salt since your tank has nitrites,i guess it's going through a mini cycle.


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## Mike61704 (Jan 3, 2010)

> If you swapped out the water and canisters from your other tank to your newest tank and parameters were fine there, I cant understand why you are getting these high readings. All I can think is that you may have disturbed pockets of trapped ammonia in your old substrate. What are you running for filtration?


You know now that i think of it i did disturb the substrate in the old tank when moving the water, i prob did round up some ammonia. It was a planted tank at one time so there was about 3-4 inches of substrate. Im sure thats what happened. Im using an xp3 for mechanical and chemical filtration, xp4 for mechanical and biological. They are not just stocked with what the filters came with, i stacked the xp4 full with balls and stars. both have great flow.


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## Mike61704 (Jan 3, 2010)

1rhom said:


> well since you swapped out everything from the other tank i would just keep up with the water changes maybe add some salt since your tank has nitrites,i guess it's going through a mini cycle.


yeah i added salt as soon as i saw the nitrites rising. I also added prime, never had a mini cycle before that i noticed anyway. The rock is new so im sure i disturbed something. Water still has that funk smell, you konw what i mean? That fish smell, new tank fishy stank? its not that bad but its still there. Thats how i can tell things are just not right, along with testing water perams.


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## 1rhom (Nov 6, 2009)

I would stop feeding for the next 2-3 days and keep checking params.


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## Ja'eh (Jan 8, 2007)

Mike61704 said:


> you really shouldn't wash your pads with tap water, use the old water from the tank...........


*you can wash pads of waste with tap, just not the bio balls and stars.. been doing this for 15 years with great success. just never had to switch tanks like this before.*[/quote]

guess ill do a 25% water change and add some prime and see what that does..
[/quote]

I agree, I always use the sink to rinse out my pads, if you have enough bacteria present in your bio media and in the aquarium than you'll be just fine.


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## TJcali (Mar 27, 2009)

your probably going through a mini cycle like 1rhom said and I also always rinse my pads with tap water too you should be cool man


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## Mike61704 (Jan 3, 2010)

TJcali said:


> your probably going through a mini cycle like 1rhom said and I also always rinse my pads with tap water too you should be cool man


Thanks man. I really havent cycled in like 2 years, they have always been in the 90 gallon. So i kinda freaked out a little. Those are my pets!! LOL


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## webby06_2007 (Oct 25, 2007)

best thing to do is leave the filter alone, some people have the filters running for years and years and only loose a bit or output i can live with that rather than looseing fish due to uncycled filter or a filter going though a mini cycle again......


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## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

Strange that your tank went into a mini-cycle in the first place. I think ksls is right in that you stirred up the old substrate and then removed the water with all the sh*t/ammo in it. Do you deep gravel vac? With plants not likely, right?

I also rinse my mechanical pad in tap, but most of my BB are on my bio-wheels and bio-max compartment so tap water never does anything.

Keep doing water changes daily 25%, your BB should be able to cope with the extra load pretty soon.

Cheers



webby06_2007 said:


> best thing to do is leave the filter alone, some people have the filters running for years and years and only loose a bit or output i can live with that rather than looseing fish due to uncycled filter or a filter going though a mini cycle again......


Interesting, so you never clean your canisters? There must be a lot of sh*t in them over years and years.

You should not fear cleaning them. As long as you only clean the mechanical pads and leave the bio alone nothing bad will happen.

But to each his own...


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## 1rhom (Nov 6, 2009)

I clean the canisters often and never have an issue with water params. Ammo/nitrite always at 0 and nitrate 5-10. I do rinse the pads in tank water.


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