what are you doing today that is tank related?

i give up with this 10g !!!! ever since we changed this tank substrate over from gravel to sand we can't keep it cycled. came home from work the other day and found the only fish in the tank dead (was swimming around sifting thru the sand at 5:00am, got home about 6:30 pm and belly up). beside from being dead, the fish looked normal. checked the parameters and ammonia was 2 ppm, nitrates 5 ppm.
i don't think our city water likes sand. in the past 3 1/2 yrs this tank has been used as a hospital, qt, fry/holding tank (not all at the same time) and has never had a problem with it staying cycle. it looks like if we want to keep fish in this tank and keep them alive we're going to switch back to gravel and ditch the sand idea.

 

water changes and filter maintenance.
started tearing down and cleaning up the 10g again. if it weren't for my 2 boys (ages 5 & 8) wanting a non cichlid community tank to care for and call their own, i don't think we would try to get the 10g going again.

 

Done a water change trying get my ammonia down

 

added a homemade divider & some pleco logs to the 90g
did a partial on it while I was at it
transferred the L183's from their temp holding tank (10gallon) into their "section"
cleaned out the 10gallon and put it back in storage

 

Checking the water parameters on it tomorrow have to another water change ugh

 

water changes and filter maintenance.

 

Moved a plant (at my fish guy's suggestion) from the front, where it apparently was getting too much light (yellow edges) to the rear of the tank. Planted a few high-light plants in the front and added a conditioned albino dwarf bushy-nosed cat fish to replace my big monster one that recently passed away . I have decided, rather than giving my fish that die watery graves to plant them in my plant soil to fertilize them! Am periodically turning on/off my water sterilizer to cut down on the green water that seems to build up rapidly if I don't. Can't do with less light or my plants suffer so it's a catch-22 situation! That's about it for now.

 

set the 10g back up as a quarantine tank, going to rehome the african (mbuna) cichlids that are in the 55g and change it over to a tropical community tank.
water changes and filter maintenance.

 

Put up a 20 gal tank for a hospital tank , Have a big shark that I got from a guy that his big oscars beat up real bad . He is doing good .

 

Things done today on the 90g:
glass canopies cleaned, inside glass cleaned on the "fish" side, emperor 400 filter cleaned, heater removed & added both stealths instead (1 heater apparently wasn't enough with me running the a/c), partial done on both sides, prime-flourish excel-flourish added, all inhabitants fed.

 

we rehomed the african (mbuna) cichlids saturday, did a water change and clean up the 55g a bit.
moved some fish from the qt and put in the 55g :
4 x black neon tetra
3 x gold mickey mouse platy
1 x red tailed black shark
got some more fish that are in the qt now:
1 x black neon tetra
2 x fancy guppy
3 x sunburst platy
5 x assorted large platy (got these for free).
once these come out of qt, our plans are to get (not all at once):
6 x cory cats
13 x fancy/cobra guppy.
water changes and filter maintenance on the other tanks.

 

we moved 3 sunburst platy from qt to the 55g. went out and got 4 fancy guppy and added them to the qt.
water changes and filter maintenance.

 

I think I am the only person on the planet that can't keep guppies alive. I have kept everything from endlers to flowerhorns, shellies to shrimp successfully but cannot for the life of me keep a guppy alive lol

 

I can keep guppies alive. I had three or four females and a male all the females has died but the
Male.

 

I just cleaned my filters and added activated carbon to remove the two weeks' of meds. Broke down and did a partial (15%) water change, even 'though my fg is against them, am currently conditioning another little albino bushy nose cat fish with the water drip method for my algae. Have my water sterilizer going again for five hours a day to gradually cut down on my green water. I have decided that to be a sucessful aquarist, you have to be a perpetual optimist! That, or very, very crazy or masochistic!

 

i can't believe your fish guy is against water changes (i've read your other thread)....he would probably freak out with the water changes i do weekly. my water changes are as follows: 150g gets 100 to 120g change, 55g gets 35 to 40g change, 20g high gets 12 to 15g change.
Water parameters and waste removal aren't the only reason water needs to be changed. There are trace elements and minerals in the water that are also important to the health of your fish, as well as the stability of the water chemistry. Over time they are used up or filtered out. If they aren't replaced, the lack of trace minerals will adversely affect the vigor and health of the fish. Giving your fish fresh water regularly, is much the same as giving your kids vitamins to keep them strong and healthy.

 

Personally I agree water changes are important but there are many out there who refute the need for them.

 

In my heart of hearts, I tend to agree which is why I did a small one today. I think his concern is based over making the chemistry get out of whack by being too aggressive with them, and in an ideal world, they may not be as necessary as many of us do them. Yet, I also think that small ones done weekly can't hurt. One thing I have to do is add water frequently just to bring up the water level since my sterilizer seems to blow a lot of surface water out, no matter which way I point the outlet! Does anyone have any ideas about that one since it seems I have to constantly wipe down the sides of the tank because of the water that burbles over to the top of the tank's openings and then down! I easily lose two gallons a week just that way (my tank is on the sink or it would be a crisis!). There doesn't seem to be any sort of way to modify the stream other than off and on.

 

Is this happening do to the flow being to strong? Perhaps you could lower your water level slightly?

 

Yes, it's a very strong flow (wish there were someway to control the flow but don't think there is) and I could indeed lower the water level. However, for reasons I can't even describe to myself, I have always liked the look of a tank with the water level as high as it will go. I have even had nightmares in which I own a bunch of tanks (which I don't!) and have forgotten all about them for a while and when I look, the water is almost all the way down and the the fish are still there but can hardly even move around! I really should get over it and just get used to having a tank with a couple of inches of water less from the top.