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Posted by Daniel Morrow on April 15, 2006, 11:35 pm
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Bottom posted.
>
> > All the good bacteria you want lives in the old filter material if you
> > just put in new filter material your tank will probably cycle.
> >
>
> Cycle = spikes of bad chems (ammonia and nitrite) = death of fish
> Bacteria are the type of filtration that transforms lethal chemicals into
> less toxic ones (nitrate)
> The other form of filtration is 'removal' where waste is removed from the
> tank. Protien skimmers, vege filters, cleaning mechanical sponges, gravel
> vac'ing are all methods of removal of waste.
> Your other concern of course is water movement and Oxygen levels. With a
> nice disturbed water surface much more Oxygen enters the water and higher
> Oxygen levels mean higher levels of bacteria activity.
> Blackouts will kill bacteria in cannister filters thru Oxygen deprivation.
> Big sudden PH changes will wipe out even trickle filters. Washing sponges
in
> chlorinated tap water will also erase the good guys.
> There is a lot to be said for keeping a good population of bacteria going.
> Sure you can buy super bacteria in a bottle but these are surprisingly
> rarely as effective as the local species that colonise our tanks.
> Just takes time.
> Is a handy thing to understand, the nitrate cycle.
> When it goes wrong 2 qucik tips.
>
> Fish at surface, gasping..... low Oxygen or there is an ammonia spike in
> the tank. It is irritating the fishes gills=mucus coating=gills stuck
> together unable to remove Oxygen from water effectively.
> Fish on bottem, gasping..... low temperature or there is a nitrite spike
in
> the tank. The nitrite saturates the fishes body, very nasty. Fish often
have
> very nice colours tho... :-(
>
> In both cases a water change will help your fish short term, however it
will
> slow down the filter. The filter bacteria like all that ammonia/nitrite
> stuff.
> In a bad case spike I am often more inclined to remove the fish to a
stable
> tank, or even a bucket and move them back when I detect 0 ammonia and 0
> nitrite.
> Extreme maybe but some of me fishys are expensive. They don't stay in
tanks
> with ammonia or nitrite. Kinda a rule that has worked so far.
> Anyway thats my take, netmax has some good reading on his site about the
> whole nitrate cycle thing too. Worded a bit better too prob!
> :-)
>
>
I made one mistake you all should learn from me about a month ago. I forgot
to bring the tank filling water to the fish's existing water temperature
(thus it was cold water I refilled my fancy guppy/turtles' tank with) (and
turtles') and soon after I added the cold water the entire population of my
fancy guppies in my turtle tank (sort of expendable though) totally shut
down. A few minutes later they all looked fine after seemingly at the time
coming back to life. I know of no damage or lost fish from this experience
but everyone should take heed to what I experienced and frankly imported
water temperature is extremely important to have the same as what water
(temperature) is left. Good luck and later!
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> just put in new filter material your tank will probably cycle.
>