Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fishtank Filtration and Cycling => Topic started by: Lellynelly on November 19, 2016, 06:48:09 PM
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Recently (about 9 days ago) discovered that the water in my 50L tank has v high nitrates - 250! Have done 3 water changes of around 10-20% and now the readings are Ammonia 0 Nitrites 0 Nitrates around 160-200. There are 2 angels and a torpedo living in this tank and have been for around 18 months (long story)
As their current home iss clearly an innapropriate size I have a 200L tank currently cycling which I have already posted about on here. It is now going well and I planted it up this morning.
The new tank reads a healthy nitrates 5, but nitrites are at 0.25 and ammonia is at 0.25.
I am waiting patiently to rehome my angels into the new tank and want to know if I can move them yet. Is it best they continue in the small tank with high nitrites but no ammonia until the new tank has zero ammonia? or to move them now to the new tank with low nitrates but a slight ammonia reading?
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What fish, if any would be left in the 50 litre?
If the answer is none, move the angels and torpedo together with the filter in the 50 litre all into the 200 litre, then keep an eye of the levels for a few days. If the ammonia and/or nitrite start to rise, lower them with water changes.
If there will be some fish left in the 50 litre, move some media in proportion to the two lots of fish. You'd need to go by the body mass; the bigger the fish the more body mass. Again, monitor ammonia and nitrite for a few days.
And in this scenario it should be easier to get the nitrate level down, and stay down, with fewer fish.
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There will be none left in the 50 litre initially. It currently houses only the 2 angels and torpedo. I will be finding something more appropriate to put in as soon as I can though. But it will probably do it good to run empty for a while
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If you move the 50 litres filter into the 200 litre you should have enough bacteria between that filter and the one in the 200 litre you've been cycling. When you are ready to get more fish for the 50 litre, just move the filter back but stock slowly as for a fish-in cycle as you won't know how many bacteria are in it by then. And again monitor the 200 litre tank when you remove the smaller filter to be on the safe side.
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Someone on another forum said its toxic and not to move them yet. (More toxic than being in a tank with nitrates through the roof I guess
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Someone on another forum said its toxic and not to move them yet. (More toxic than being in a tank with nitrates through the roof I guess
They're right, and also a quick move from very high nitrates to very low will shock them. The only option is to lower the nitrates gradually, as you've been doing. When they're comparable with the bigger tank, but only when it has cycled, it will be safe to move them.
No offence, but torpedo barbs need to be in groups, and much cooler than Angels. :)
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Someone on another forum said its toxic and not to move them yet. (More toxic than being in a tank with nitrates through the roof I guess
No offence, but torpedo barbs need to be in groups, and much cooler than Angels. :)
Yeh I know. It was in the tank with the 2 angels when I bought it. The local aquarist doesnt want it and I cant bring myself to kill it. The 3 fish have lived together for about 18 months.
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The local aquarist doesnt want it and I cant bring myself to kill it.
I thought I'd mis-read this! I would hope no-one would ever even contemplate such an act. :yikes:
If a fish isn't suitable, for whatever reason, then there is always the option to re-home it. Aquarist-classifieds.co.uk is great, and can be advertised in own region, and maximises the likelihood that the fish will go to a good home (rather than advertising via a generic type of paper/listing/website such as gumtree).
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The local aquarist doesnt want it and I cant bring myself to kill it.
I thought I'd mis-read this! I would hope no-one would ever even contemplate such an act. :yikes:
If a fish isn't suitable, for whatever reason, then there is always the option to re-home it. Aquarist-classifieds.co.uk is great, and can be advertised in own region, and maximises the likelihood that the fish will go to a good home (rather than advertising via a generic type of paper/listing/website such as gumtree).
Thanks. i don't know any other fishkeepers and I've never heard of Aquarist-classified.co.uk. Thankyou. Will have a look :)
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They're right, and also a quick move from very high nitrates to very low will shock them. The only option is to lower the nitrates gradually, as you've been doing.
Oooops :-[ I completely forgot about that. Thanks for picking it up, hampalong, before lellynelly did any damage to the fish :-[
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@Lellynelly when considering rehoming a fish please remember that there are a lot of us around who are happy to take on fish that are no longer suitable for their current homes, but would fit in with some of our own set ups.
I have driven from Cambridgeshire to collect 2 dwarf puffers from the south coast this year. I admit to having a very soft spot for dwarf puffers, and was dropping a spare tank to a friend in Kent, so managed to arrange a round trip on the same day. All you need to do is find the right people with a soft spot for the particular fish that need rehoming, and they will go to great lengths to make sure that the fish will have a happy home.
@Sue no need for :-[ as you have offered so much awesome advice and support to all of us, and the good thing about a forum is that people can add to that and include additional advice as @hampalong has.
I would not have learned as much as I have in the past 12 months without this forum and the people contributing to it, and happily continue to learn from all of the experience available. :)
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@Lellynelly I have used aquarist-classifieds (http://www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/) several times and I find that if you put the word 'free' in the title of your ad you do get quite fast replies.
Remembering about moving fish to very different water is one of the basics of fishkeeping, which is why I'm annoyed with myself ;D
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Well I did a 10-15% yesterday, and another today, in the 50L and currently the nitrates stand at around 100, so that's a huge improvement. will continue with small and often this week. I'm hoping I may be able to get them low enough slow enough to give the angels a smooth transition into 200L. The ammonia in the 200L is now somewhere between 0 and 0.25 (Difficult to be exact with a colour chart) so it is dropping. fingers crossed.