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I started a new tank at my bf's house for him (it was my own impulse buy!) its not that big i would say around the 15g mark perhaps.

We bought an aqua one maxi internal filter and i modified it slightly to include some eheim subtrate (its those little brown balls in the ecco cannister) and some sponge and a small amount of wool.
so far the tank has been running for a tad over two months with some tetras however it still does not appear to be cycling.. the ammonia is still way into the dangerous level. (i know your gng to ask for water parameters..will get these to you!)

could it possible be the filter? ive never personally had experience with internals as i have two cannisters running on my 2 tanks.. should i try perhaps a HOB or UGF? ive had great success with the UGF..

Next, we seem to have some form of white gunk accumulating on the plants and the heater.. any ideas? its white/clearish colour..

thanks..sorry its so long!
look forward to all responses!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I've seen a white gunk before, it always shows up on my newly introduced wood, was told it was normal and that it'd go away, which it did. Not sure if it's the same thing though.

How far is it from your house to his? Any chance of seeding the tank with something from one of yours?

I know a lot of ammonia neutralizing products tend to give false ammonia readings, so it'll show high even though it's not effecting the fish. How are yours (his) doing?

^_^

I would double dose (use both) Sera "Nitrivec" and "Amtrite Down" This must be refrigerated. Both are fantastic products.

I had a little bit in the big tank recently and it was where I had a small rock sitting on DW. It was possibly lack of light and water movement all gone I just took it off with my fingers. It was not the new DW but the old established piece.
Every time you clean the filter (weekly I hope) add a measured amount of the Sera Nitrivec.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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Thanks for your replies Babel and Keith.. its been so long since i've been on!

he only lives about 15 mins away so not too far.. what could i use to seed it? maybe swap the little balls?
is that filter a decent one? or should we swap to a different type? never used an internal before.

he is gng to do a small water change tonight and remove all the gunk as well and give the filter another clean (we clean the filter fortnightly will change to weekly!)

one of the two tetras died last nite- it had red spots im guessing something bacterial..

we will wait and see if this white gunk reforms..

so far he has been using cycle and prime to keep the ammonia levels down - should we stop adding stuff to the water which i know normally is not a good idea to see how it goes naturally?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Small water change = ???? In a small tank I would do at least a minimum of 30%-40% weekly I am also sure you washing all the filter material in the tank water.

I would switch to Sera Nitrivec and use as instructions. Also try to locate "Amtrite Down"

There is a good chance that there is some thing put into your water supply to kill all the bacteria caused by the low levels of our dams. This will/could give you a mini cycle at every water change. At low water levels and as the weather warms up there are some nasties in out water that the supply companies try to kill before we drink the so called pure water.

Have you done a supply test? It might be OK this week but shocking the following few weeks.

At the moment I add a small amount of Melafix at every water change for the Betta tank.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thanks for the advice Keith

Sorry small water change is around the 30% mark however i know when cycling you should only do minimal ones to allow the bacteria to grow. filter media is also washed in the tank water.

will also keep the testing up weekly and will look for amtrite.

I agree that the water quality is definately declining with the drought and the additional algae bloom we have here in the dam. The water tastes and smells slightly different these days!

will keep you updated!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

If the trip is only 15 min away and it might be worth it to take some of the gravel from your tank. You can also switch out some of the foam, or take some of the water from swishing your filter media.

Be careful that you don't risk your own tank into a mini cycle, or stress out th BFs tank too much (make sure that you pour any water from your sponges right into the filter rather than the tank).

If you can find it the Nitrivec that Kieth suggested, that might be a good idea as well.

Any chance the tetras from his tank can go to your tank for now till we get his tank cycled properly?

We've been using tank water to do WC's and top offs on our our tanks, at least now I don't feel so guilty about the WC's on the big tank!

^_^

Hey! What odd coincidence! I had some of that White stuff on my DW and around different things. Since others have said they had this too, and used cycle, my hypothesis is that the white stuff is the bacterial colonies that cycle adds. I also think that the DW catches it because it has some rotting matter on it. The black stuff on mopani wood might be it......

Anyway, good luck with the new tank! You can rip some gravel, plants, filterfloss, etc. off of your tank to add it to the new 15g. That way, it will cycle faster! Also, i think that internals might not be enough flow to move around all the tank. What substrate does he have, and what plants/decor does he have?

~Goby

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He did a small water change last nite (1.5 buckets) and added some prime.. i suggested just using the water ager but wrong bottle! so ammonia readings will be out..

in the tank is only a ceramic rock that i used to have when i first started, gravel is the natural gravel, i gave him 1 anubia plant and some of another plant though i cant remember what its called.. green thin stem with little leaves - looks like babytears but its not called that..

rainwater tanks must be great wish we had one.. ive slowed wc in my tanks to one a fortnite! seems to work ok though...

i will look at taking some water from my cannister and pouring it in his filter and will look at getting some nitrivec also.

Will look at testing the water on the weekend when its all settled and will let you know.

thanks for your help.. cant believe we are having this many problems.. ive always cycled a tank successfully!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I can send you up some floating water sprite for some reason it "does" help it multiplies very fast and had a good leaf coverage.
PM if your are interested

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

"rainwater tanks must be great wish we had one."

I can tell you installing it wasn't much fun and I wasn't even the one doing most of the work!

I think we've all had one tank that just keeps causing troubles.
Right now I'm dealing with a small one that we had to move a fish to to keep from getting picked on. Having it right under the window, no plants, green water, and a cat that keeps whispering sweet nothings into the fishes ear until I'm scooping him up from the kitchen floor to go back into his pea soup water has been "interesting" the past few days. Hopefully the new filter I put on yesterday will help some of the issues.

^_^

That does sound like a lot of probs babel! I feel bad with the water usuage in the drought however we do water the garden with the water so its not all bad! hope your filter kicks in!

update on the tank - the last little guy was really not doing well yesterday doing little flips around. Decided to ditch the internal as ive had no experience with these filters and nothing good was happening! we installed an UGF yesterday and got that all up and running without much hassle- kept the same water in the tank. know alot of ppl dont like UGF due to toxic water pockets (or something like that) underneath the grill but i used to have one on my tank and never had any hassles with it.

I got my hands on a bottle of the nitrivic and we added about 4mls of that yesterday and will repeat again today.

Thanks for your offer Keith - will PM you.

Will test the water tonight.

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

The biggest problem with UGF's is people insist on not maintaining them (*smacks them with a fishnet*)

Some people love them to bits! If you've had good experience with them and know how to maintain them then that may be the best filter for you.

If you keep the stocking on the lighter side (until you've turned BF into a fishnut) and make sure regular maintenance on the tank and filter are happening then I don't see a problem with it, and I'm pretty against UGF's lol.

^_^

I would never go past a UGF and another filtration system this means there is always a back up fully working.

Mine is powered two Rena air pumps one per riser running at full bore, each riser has a plastic air stone. I regularly put a PVC tube down the riser and using a pump action I suck out a lot of UGF muck.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thats a great way to clean it Keith. I used to just move some gravel aside in different patches and use the gravel cleaner to suck up as much muck as possible!

I then moved to cannisters and they are great!
But for smaller tanks i prefer UGFs.

Added some more activant last nite and will test definately tonight.

Last little guy was still doing side swimming and a bit of upright swimming last nite. i added a bit of melafix to try and help him. hope this is a good idea!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Tested the water and from what i can see all seems to be heading in the right direction. Paramaters are
Ammonia 0.4 mg/l
Ph - 6 - added PHup to bring it to around 7
Nitrate - 10 mg/l
Nitrite - <0.3 mg/l

Tested with JBL test kits

So to me that looks like it cycling..though if anyone wishes to add anything would be most helpful

Last fish still doing acrobatics in the tank. Doesnt look the best but is still hanging in..

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Seems ok.

Just had a thought come to mind, do you have any airstones in there? Increasing surface agitation can sometimes help fish make it through the cycling process.

I'd also consider keeping the lights off for longer than usual, might help keep the fish calm.

^_^

The little guy didnt make it

The UGF tubes provide sufficient water agitation as they both have an airstone each. He really wasnt doing that great for the past 4 days and finally gave in.. guess its better than suffering for any longer.

Might look at getting some danios.. bit tougher plus the water is on its way now through the cycling stage.

Light has been kept off much to the plants' disappointment!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

sorry he didnt' pull through.

Danios, or WCMM are good choices. I am really partial to WCMM cause of the color and the larger temp range they can handle. Guess it's time to make those plants happier.

Maybe do the rest fishless? Use a sprinkle of fish food to provide the ammonia.

^_^

Ive actually never seen WCMM in Oz. Do they sell them under a different name?

we held off buying any more fish on the weekend..might wait this week and look on the weekened. The tank looks so bare

We are adding ferts to the plants at the moment and adding the activant as well.

I dont know how this went so wrong! ive cycled so many tanks and never had this problem!

will keep you updated! Thanks for all your help!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them