# Starting Over



## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

I just spent the last hour completely tearing down my tank and rinsing off everything.. the heater, the entire filter, the rocks, the substrate, and the tank itself. I'm going to try and get it all put back together this evening, and start from scratch.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

start with a bigger tank , easier to maintain water parameters on a bigger body of water, my 2 cents,


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Lol yeah, I wish.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

I'm debating if I should put the plants back in or not..


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

I dunno you may have the curse like me , I can keep java moss alive .... but thats it, no green thumb over here , I would suggest dwarf cichlids but your tank is teeny weeny... do you not have the space for a larger one or is it just the cost of a bigger one that is detering you ?


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Both.. I'm going to be moving in a year or so, so just wanted to get something small and simple for now, and one day, when I have my own place, then I can get something bigger.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

ahh i see, yeah if we ever move im in trouble , theres still alot of water over here, but one whole day will just be tank breakdown day.. NIGHTMARE STATUS


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

If you keep up with your water change and have a good filter 10 gallon is not that small in my opinion. You can have a nice aquascape with some schooling fish/community fish which would look very nice. A bigger tank might be easier to keep clean but that really depends on you. I have seen very nice looking 10 gallon and very ugly 55+ gallons. LOL
If you are not sure about the plants, try to rinse and dip them to get rid of anything you might have from before that was killing them before you put them back in but they should be fine.
Good luck.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Just checked my water..

Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

WTF, lol. My shrimps and snails arrive tomorrow and I don't know what else I can do. So I'll do a little water change tonight and.. cross my fingers I guess!


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

do a big water change, add seachem prime and stability, and you should be good to go


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Tah-Dah! New plants, two assassin snails, and four very cool amano shrimp! I did the water change and got Stability and, amazingly, the water tested ok before I put this new stuff in. It's awfully exciting to have some living things in my tank!!


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## bugaboo433 (Jul 12, 2010)

What about Multies? Smallest Cichlids, and they are shell dwellers. Replace the plants with seashells.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

Im glad you got your tank rockin now, good stuff im glad stability helped , seachem rocks buddy, keep us updated,


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

bugaboo433 said:


> What about Multies? Smallest Cichlids, and they are shell dwellers. Replace the plants with seashells.


Huh? ... I'm going to get guppies...


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Good to know things are working out...guppies sounds like a good idea, easy to take care and hardy. If you get some females they will likely give you lots of babies in no time.


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## DJBLeeK (Sep 14, 2012)

Starting over with my hexagon tank. Lost many beloved fish. Some freaking parasite. Tough week. Gonna let cycle for a month and start with mollies.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Well.. my shrimp have eaten my snails, my guppies are unwell, and I've got ammonia in the tank again (0.25) despite daily dosing with Stability.

*facepalm*


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Lost my first guppy. Have been doing daily 10% water changes and dosing with Stability, but still have ammonia.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Doh! I've never heard of shrimp eating assassin snails!
What's your filter again?


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

It's a Bio-Wheel


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Hm. Those should do a good job with accumulating bacteria. How are your plants looking?
Btw, I feel your pain. I recently had an ammonia spike in my 22gal and it killed all of my baby bristlenose plecos, despite having it fairly well planted and cycled for 3.5 weeks


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

The plants are all looking pretty good.. maybe one or two dead leaves, but nothing like before, and some have already grown noticeably. 

Should I be able to see some indication of bacteria on the bio-wheel? A change in colour or something?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Go buy an ammonia sponge. Fluval and aquaclear have ones already in small bags. All you have to do is stick it in your filter. That will work for now. They are cheap

Hagen Aquaclear 50/200 Ammo Rid Replacement

or try this.

Kordon Amquel Water Conditioner 16 oz.


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

To add on to what jb said, I think Prime will also remove some ammonia as well... It says you can increase the dose when dealing with excess bacteria, although I've never tried it myself.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

prime doesnt remove ammonia its makes it inert so your bio filter can digest it, however when using prime you will get a false positive for ammonia in your test kit, it is present just inert


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

and you can over dose 5 times what is recomended on the prime bottle in case of emergencies however , if it is that bad just do a really big water change


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## DJBLeeK (Sep 14, 2012)

False readings sound pretty disconcerting.


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

Ok i was wondering a few things? After you cleaned your tank how did you cycle your tank? And how soon did you add fish? Just cjurious trying to figu.re it out


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## DJBLeeK (Sep 14, 2012)

Who, me? I cycled for about week. I was going to cycle longer but my LFS said I shouldn't wait because of bacteria changes and stuff. He said to put fish in between 4-7 days, so I put some blood fin tetras in.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

seachem stability and sea chem prime people , big water changes, follow directions problem with cycling solved


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

I'm continuing with daily 10% water changes, dosing with Stability and of course adding Prime with every water change. My question now is.. if Prime is going to give me a false positive for ammonia, how am I going to know when I can stop the daily water changes (and subsequently, daily dosing with Prime) and that my water is actually ok? Actually, when can I stop dosing with Stability too?

My remaining gupp seems to be doing well, he's very active, and the shrimp are active and I've found 3 exoskeletons in the last few days so I assume that means they're growing.

I'd like to get some more plants in the substrate, get some stuff growing to cover up all that hardware in the back of the tank.. and then try bringing in another pair of guppies.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

If you tank seems healthy and you have no reason not to allow a day to go by where you dont feel it needs a water change , leave it , just get yourself in the habit of doing weekly 50% changes

I dont know what you have for filtration but if your purchasing a filter and it says good for 20-40 gallons always take the lowest number as a close approximation to the truth.

for example the Fluval fx5 is rated for tanks up to 400 gallons, no bs and as the owner of 2 that is a load of crap they should say perfect for 100 gallon tanks.

but if your planted and you have virtually no bio load from fish i cant see why you couldnt stretch the time between when your doing your water changes.


I would just not add any stock and see if with normal feeding , and water changes weekly what your tank looks like. Sometimes i feel that if you monkey with it to much or you dont do one thing at a time you can just make more of a mess than if you slow down and just see what your tank does


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Well, MTS has kicked in and I'm picking up a second 10g tank tomorrow. I also now have a female guppy in a 1g that will soon be joined by a male I have selected.. the new 10g will be used for growing out female fry, while any males will be added to my existing 10g until I can find them new homes.

My Amano shrimp seem to be doing well, I realize now that I could have gotten more of them, but oh well. The Yellows seem to be doing alright, but I think they could do with more hiding places. No pregnant shrimp yet, but fingers crossed!

I've bleached and rinsed my original rock, and have it sitting in a bowl of water for the night.. tomorrow I'll test the water for ammonia. I'd REALLY like to get that rock in the tank, I think it would be great for the shrimp. Not sure what I'll do if it causes ammonia in the water...

I've got a blue LED rope light that I set up today to come on 1hr before the main tank light, and go out 1hr after, to give them a little bit of "dusk" transition.

I need to get a lamp to light my 1g, and some java moss for it... then of course, I'll need stuff for the new 10g, but I've got at least a month before I need to put that one to use. It never ends, does it? lol


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

With the new rocks, and the blue LED lighting..


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

looks good stacey... and mts is contagious were all sick , just like on the walking dead, even if your not bitten you still carry the sickness!!!!


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks good. You should consider putting a background behind the tank.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

I agree Tom.. I'm just not sure how to go about that. I definitely don't want one of those gaudy stick-on beach scenes! lol


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

If you want you can just buy a piece of white cardboard and tape it to the back of the tank. Dollar stores sell those. Although they are not water proof but unless you always make a big mess (which I am sure you wont) it should be fine. I bought some for $1 for 2, and they are fine. If you dont like the colour you can chang it or paint it a different colour.
Personally I think it is not a big deal, you dont really need one. 
Your tank looks good.


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## covertune (Aug 10, 2012)

Haven't updated this in a long time. My original 10g is now home to a small colony of Yellow Shrimp, and doing relatively well. The plants I've got now are super slow growing, but they've all been very healthy. I'm increasing the time my lights are on from about 9 to 12 hours, just to see if that helps at all. I don't do Co2. Occasionally dose with Flourish, but haven't in a little while as I was losing Shrimp.

Anyway, here it is... bit of brown algae on the sides, but it's less than I had before so I'm not too worried about it.


Here's one of my week old shrimplets..


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Way to go Stacey. I am sure your shrimps will be very happy in such a beautiful tank.


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