I knew that I wouldn't be able to add fish for a while due to travel for work, so I started by setting up my new display tank (20 gallon Waterbox AIO) and cycling it while I was waiting (it has now been 8 weeks and ammonia has been zero since about week 3 with the help of Turbostart 900).
I also setup a 10 gallon quarantine tank. It is glass with no sand or rock. It has a PVC pipe for a hiding place. It also has a hang on back filter with floss and Fluval ceramic media that was recommended because it would not absorb copper. Lastly, there is a large foam filter that I was hoping would help control some of the ammonia by growing bacteria. I also used the Turbostart 900 starter in this tank. After running it with no fish for about 4 weeks, I still noticed that there were about 0.09ppm ammonia. I decided to go ahead and do a 100% water change so I could get fish soon. After the water change, the ammonia dropped to around 0.01ppm (I assume from some residual water in the filters).
I added two very small clownfish to the quarantine tank last Tuesday. On Thursday I did a water change because the ammonia was getting up to 0.10 and the ammonia went back down to about 0.02ppm. It was still below 0.05ppm on Saturday, but I noticed today it was back up to 0.10ppm this morning, so I did a 100% water change to get it back down since I am leaving this afternoon and won't be back until Wednesday night. I just checked it again 4 hours later and it is at 0.09ppm.
I would assume that a 100% water change would take it down further than that. Are the filters holding that much water with ammonia? Even if they are, I would assume that they would be diluted a lot more with a massive water change. Is the foam filter worth it in a quarantine tank? Is it really doing anything? I thought with two filters I would be able to go at least 4 days between water changes. Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone have any suggestions?
thanks in advance,
Nick
I also setup a 10 gallon quarantine tank. It is glass with no sand or rock. It has a PVC pipe for a hiding place. It also has a hang on back filter with floss and Fluval ceramic media that was recommended because it would not absorb copper. Lastly, there is a large foam filter that I was hoping would help control some of the ammonia by growing bacteria. I also used the Turbostart 900 starter in this tank. After running it with no fish for about 4 weeks, I still noticed that there were about 0.09ppm ammonia. I decided to go ahead and do a 100% water change so I could get fish soon. After the water change, the ammonia dropped to around 0.01ppm (I assume from some residual water in the filters).
I added two very small clownfish to the quarantine tank last Tuesday. On Thursday I did a water change because the ammonia was getting up to 0.10 and the ammonia went back down to about 0.02ppm. It was still below 0.05ppm on Saturday, but I noticed today it was back up to 0.10ppm this morning, so I did a 100% water change to get it back down since I am leaving this afternoon and won't be back until Wednesday night. I just checked it again 4 hours later and it is at 0.09ppm.
I would assume that a 100% water change would take it down further than that. Are the filters holding that much water with ammonia? Even if they are, I would assume that they would be diluted a lot more with a massive water change. Is the foam filter worth it in a quarantine tank? Is it really doing anything? I thought with two filters I would be able to go at least 4 days between water changes. Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone have any suggestions?
thanks in advance,
Nick