Water chem/bio opinions please

[Cory]

I don't have any articles I can link. and I see now that I meant to say even as few as 30 minutes, not 3 minutes lol.

But as far as shutting them down, it's better to open them up, than let them sit completely closed off. I usually let my canisters run until they lose prime, then typically it's not that much longer until I'm filling them back up again.

Making sure there isn't too much build up inside the canister helps with the oxygen demand as well.

 

[hose91]

Hah, 30 minutes MUCH better than 3, lol. My spray bars are near the top and pointed upwards for surface agitation, so I find that I leave them on, almost immediately I am making a huge fountainous mess, so I just turn them off at the start. The timing is good to know, at any rate, and I'll keep an eye on them. So far so good.

Keman, I meant to say that I'm really sorry for your losses so far, but glad you saved the rest of the critters in the 125. Best of luck in resolving the issue and getting it restarted!

 

[MattArmstrong]

keman, I gotta believe there is more going on for your tank than this power outage thing. What doesn't fit is the week of zero ammonia your tank saw after the power outage. I suspect whatever is wrong either has nothing to do with the power outage, or was initiated only indirectly by it.

You said:

Last time I had the filter open, I noticed there was a mildew smell

I've never had a filter actually smell foul or mildewish. A clue? How much do you trust the filter? (Disclaimer: I've never kept big fish, and don't over stock, so bio waste load has always been low in my tanks).

 

[keman]

I am leaning more and more toward it being something to do with the sand. I just don't understand how it took so long to happen.

The sand came with the tank, I rinsed it lightly and put it back in the tank thinking it would help the bio start over. It did sit in buckets for the day tho'. The filter was started from new using media from the sump tank that came with the tank as well as the new media that came with the new Odyssea 11i filter.

In the first week, I was reading nitrates and added some feeders to get it rolling. By the second week, it was showing zero ammonia, and trace nitrate.
Thinking I had got it right, I added cave fish then a week later, two Banjo cate and a couple Plecos.

Everything reading good. fish are happy and thriving.

Then the power outage...
Just over eight hours with no flow.

tested for a few days and had good readings everything seemed fine. added two ropefish.

The ropes seemed happy and thriving. eating well and hunting.

The next week, I noticed the larger rope acting strange.

Tested the water to find ammonia was high. Did a 50% water change, Lost the ropefish. Tested water for a couple days ammonia still a bit high, but dropping, more water changes, changed out some of the media in the filter with good live media from other filters in the house. Lost the little ornate, then a few days later, the smaller rope.

Came home from work Thursday to find the tank had gone so cloudy I could not see into it. Tested water... Ammonia off the scale. Spent that evening pulling all of the fish and getting them into safe tanks.

I had tested the water Thursday morning and got a low ammonia reading. It had been dropping slowly for several days and showing trace nitrates. Then by the evening it had gone effing nuts. I have never had a tank do such a huge spike in less than eight hours.

From what I see, I will end up scrubbing everything out and starting a new clean cycle before anything live goes back into this tank. I am tired of watching my pets die. I am a pretty strong guy, but it crushes me that they are depending on my ability to keep their environment safe and I failed to do so. This tank is teaching me ways to be a better fish keeper, but did it have to harm fish in the process?

 

[MattArmstrong]

I dropped out of the hobby for 15 years after watching all my Corydoras die to something mysterious of the course of a day. I now blame it on the cheap sand I was using. About three inches of the stuff ("for the plants") and ti had gone anaerobic.

 

[keman]

Speaking of sand... Is pool filter sand really OK? I see lots of opinions about the stuff and am interested in it to replace the black sand in the tank. I simply can not afford to buy 150# of new black sand.

 

[Cory]

In theory pool filter sand is just fine. Depending on where it's from, sometime it has some metal in it etc. I personally have never had a problem with it in the past.

I now use the sand I supply at the co-op obviously, been using that for years. But in general, you get what you pay for.

Also for the type of tank you're doing, i'd be tempted to go very thing layer of sand just enough to cover the glass. Then put plants into terracotta pots.

 

[keman]

I want at least an inch of sand since the Banjo Cats like to bury themselves and the Ropes tend to push it around as well. So about 130lbs or so. Sand is one of the first things I need as I start to rebuild this tanks ecosystem. I have new Media on the way for the odyssea filter. I am just going to scrub and start over from known clean sand and media then slowly ammonia cycle the tank. Once I get a week of solid test results I will start slowly adding stock... Very slowly... The Ropes and other display fish will not go in until the tank has shown good results with less expensive stock for at least a month.

Eventually I would like this tank to support six ropes and other tank mates. The Banjo cats are safe in my community tank, as are the Bala sharks for now. They will eventually go back into the 125. Nothing will get put into the tank till I know the nitro cycle is fully established.

 

[MorganEA]

We use Pool filter sand in our tanks and haven't had any problems, We buy ours from Mclendons.

 

[keman]

Oddly enough, while waiting to flush the 125 and start from scratch, the tank has been running this whole time with no fish. It has gone from milk cloudy to crystal clear. Still has a lot of ammonia, but it doesn't smell anymore either.

I'm still going to flush it and start it over new. At least the filter is trying...

 

[MattArmstrong]

If you find pool filter sand too uniform and ugly like I do, check out http://www.manminco.com/ in Renton, previously mentioned here a few times. I'm pretty sure a few LFS in the area carry their stuff (I saw identical stuff in Sierra Fish and Pets). They sell in 100 lb bags of different grain sizes. They have a pretty color, and a cheap color. Price is between pool filter sand and what you'd buy by the pound at an LFS. Grain sizes are uniform, and you can pick from about 8 different (from extremely fine dust to gravel). You might be able to get a grain size slightly larger than pool filter to reduce the chance of the substrate going anaerobic. Person behind the desk recommended the one she used in her tanks (which was what I'd call a small gravel). Con: they're only open weekday daylight hours.

 

[keman]

That looks like an interesting option. Their web site is under construction at the moment. I would be interested in learning more. (edit, Just sent them an email)

I need the new material to be fairly fine, since the Banjo cats like to bury themselves, and the ropes like to roll in the sand (not from illness, they just like to do it) So the final choice will have to be fairly smooth edge and not very porous. Both the banjos and the ropes loved the sand in the 125, I just can't take the risk of re-using it even if I were to wash and sanitize it.

The Banjos are not real happy in their current home since it is medium to large gravel.

 

[keman]

Just found a live ghost shrimp in the 125... Tested the water just to see, PH 7, Ammonia still way off the scale at a very dark blue green, Nitrate is at 40... I think it may be a zombie shrimp, yet it is just swimming about and stuffing bits of crud into his face... I did not think anything could survive almost two weeks in this tank.

 

[keman]

Got sand from http://www.manminco.com/ 300 lbs for under $40

 

[ShortyKiloGyrl]

Is that including shipping?

 

[keman]

Is that including shipping?

Picked it up at their yard in Renton. Not sure if they will ship.

 

[MattArmstrong]

I get the feeling that http://www.manminco.com/ sells most of their stuff to businesses like builders, landscapers, etc. The aquarium thing is just an opportunistic side show for them, since we like sand and gravel too. For their prices, I doubt they ship.

 

[keman]

The tank has been scrubbed out and sanitized with peroxide. Then everything got a very thorough rinsing in clean RO water. Started to wash the new sand only to find it frozen solid. Ran out of time today, so sand will have to be washed when the weather allows it to thaw and I can handle it without freezing my pitiful old arthritic hands. For now, the tank is full of treated water to run the filter, I will drop the water level when I start adding sand since I will need it lowered for planting and decor anyway.

Will start a new photo thread in the next few days.