Re: ot aquairum experts ?

[Ian Oliver <ioliver.lists@xxxxxxx>]

> I bought a trigon 190 juwel tank about 4 weeks ago 
> And I put in the gravel and some bog wood and 
> As per instructions put in the water. 

Not familiar with that aquarium. What kind of filter do you have?

> After a week and went in to see my local 
> Aquarium supplier and he asked me to bring in 
> Some water for the tank. He tested the water and 
> Said it would be ok to put a few hardy fish in there 

Alarm bells. Without fish the filter won't cycle. When a filter cycles you
see 
ammonia and then nitrite climbing and then falling off as the bacteria kick
in. 
During this time you do want 2-3 hardy fish and very light feeding. If the
nitrite 
climbs too high you also need to do a partial water change.

> To get the biological filter working. He reckoned 
> Neon tetras were a safe bet (I know now that was bad advice). 

Well, they are cheap! As rate SilerTip tetras as they are *very* hardy.

> I was adding ph6.5 which was making the water cloudy 

Hmmm. I really don't like pH adjusters. What's your natural pH?

> But I was told this would go away. After 2 weeks 
> I took my water in again to be tested and the supplier recommended
> Harleqins. So I bought 6 of them. Everything was ok but the water 
> Was still cloudy. Everytime I did a small water change the 
> Filter would bust out some cloudy white stuff and then it would be ok.

Hard to say what this is. I think you need to leave along and just do a 10%
water 
change every week or so.  Keep an eye on nitrite, but otherwise don't
worry.

> I added aquaclear and the water went clearer but not totally
transparent. 

Dunno what aquaclear is. I aim for a natural balance and don't tend to add
anything.

> So I took the bog wood out and they are now soaking in water for 2
weeks. 

I typed something about this earlier and then deleted it when I saw this.
Yes, 
bogwood will turn your water brown unless soaked.

> On the instructions of the supplier I now have 2 clown loaches, 6
platy, 6 
harleqins and 3 neons (I did have 13 but 10 have died, 2 got killed by

Quite a lot of stock for so early.

> The problem I am getting now is my nitrite levels are high. And the
> Fish are at the surface. I lost most of my neons this way. I did a 10%
change and 
it made no difference so I changed 50%. The nitrite levels
> Are still high but lower than before. As you can imagine I have dumped
> My supplier for a better one and they told me stop feeding the fish
> And stick to feeding them once every 3days and to wait till the tank
> Can get rid of the nitrite it self and to be patient. At max only
change 10% of 
the water every other day if needed. She gave me a nitrozorb to use

Have you got enough aeration (disturbance of water surface is best)? Yes,
patience 
is best. Change as little as possible (except small water changes) and let
it 
settle down.

> And try being down the ammonium and nitrite levels. I put in some
"cycle" 
> Solution too. 

Can't hurt, but shouldn't be necessary. If you have good filters, and if
you don't 
wash the medium (I just squish it out in old water when doing water
changes) the 
bacteria should love it and turn all the nitrite into nitrate.

> Really bad that I have lost fish due to bad advise of a supplier. 

You will *always* lose fish, particularly in a new tank and when new to
fish 
keeping.

> I appreciate any advise. I still cannot figure out where this 
> White stuff comes from as I have cleaned out the filters (in old 
> Aquarium water as instructed and not tap water) 

You can't expect gin clear water straight away. Even in a mature tank the
bacteria 
sometime decide to have a day out and things go cloudy.

Top tips:
Don't add anything you're not sure about.
Water changes are a good thing.
So are test kits, but don't get obsessive.
Build up stock very slowly.
Feed sparingly.
Be patient!

Once the tank has settled down brace yourself for the next stage. The
nitrate 
levels will rise and algae will become the problem! The only way to tackle
this is 
with very strong plant growth.  Good luck, as most people find keeping
healthy 
plants harder than healthy fish.  Healthy algae is dead easy. :-)

Regards

Ian


>  -----Original Message----- 
> 
>  From: Ian Oliver [mailto:ioliver.lists@xxxxxxx] 
> 
>  Sent: Mon 06/01/2003 11:26 
> 
>  To: Amar Nagi 
> 
>  Cc: 
> 
>  Subject: Re:ot aquairum experts ?
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
>  In article
> 
>  <2711F84A9235EE4486414E36AEC0CCA70679E5@xxxxxxx>,
> 
>  Amar Nagi wrote:
> 
>  > I am setting up an aquarium and run
> 
>  > Into a lot of problems
> 
>  
> 
>  I have a few aquariums, but don't regard myself as an
expert.
> 
>  
> 
>  What's the problem?
> 
>  
> 
>  Regards
> 
>  
> 
>  Ian Oliver
> 
>  Sunny Leeds, UK
> 
>  Using Java on Tini for control via Dallas 1-wire
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 
> 
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Ian Oliver
Sunny Leeds, UK
Using Java on Tini for control via Dallas 1-wire

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