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Old 02-05-2003, 10:02 AM   #31
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Hi Arrowana Boi,

As I'm now in the office, and not convenient to read thru all other postings, I have 1 question in mind. My apology if this question was raised earlier by other bros and sis.

My tank is in the cycling process. It's into Day 10 today. There are 8 silver$, 4 Thai Tiger (slightly more than 1"), and 4 Borneo suckers (about 1"). The water in the tank is quite crowdy. Is this normal? Water parameter are:

pH 6.5
Ammonia 5mg/l
Nitrite & Nitrate have not tested yet

Do you have any idea why my tank water is crowdy, and any way to improve on the situation?

Thanks for your patience

Rgds
Kwong Hui
 
Old 03-05-2003, 05:26 AM   #32
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Quote:
Originally posted by kwonghui
Hi Arrowana Boi,

As I'm now in the office, and not convenient to read thru all other postings, I have 1 question in mind. My apology if this question was raised earlier by other bros and sis.

My tank is in the cycling process. It's into Day 10 today. There are 8 silver$, 4 Thai Tiger (slightly more than 1"), and 4 Borneo suckers (about 1"). The water in the tank is quite crowdy. Is this normal? Water parameter are:

pH 6.5
Ammonia 5mg/l
Nitrite & Nitrate have not tested yet

Do you have any idea why my tank water is crowdy, and any way to improve on the situation?

Thanks for your patience

Rgds
Kwong Hui
Hi Kwonghui, indeed this question have been posted before. But i will answer it again in brief.

Day 10 into cycling a virgin tank without any seedings means that its still in its rather early stages. The cloudy tank is very very normal dont worry. Its a sign of BB bloom. Ammonia reading of 5mg/l is considered quite high. But dont worry jus let the water cycle on. Its all part and parcel. If u change water and change water theh the bloom will not only not go away, but will also extend the whole cycling process. If u wanna change water, do so after the first 2 weeks of cycle. Do 10% will do. Hence on, u might contd do the 10% once a week but its really not very neccessary yet.

Jus bear with it and let the cloudyness go on, it will go away as soon as everything is quite settled. When the cycle completes then change about 20% water and everything will be set.

Good Luck
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Old 03-05-2003, 05:49 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kawaii
Hi bro,

Thanks for your pointers. After reading the thread you started, I decided not to change waters so often during cycling.

To all the bros here too who are currently cycling their tank, I just wanted to share my experience. My tank was cloudy for 5 weeks and I can see bioslime or some sort of algae slime growing on the glass and tubings. So I know my water condition is not good, and nitrite and nitrate levels are actually very high.

The nitrite and nitrate remained high for 3 weeks, no matter how many partial water changes I did (abt 20%) in a week and bb liquid I added in. Then after reading this post, I decided not to change water except the usual 20% once a week. I just keep adding bb liquid and controlled the feedings.

I am pleased to say that 4 days ago, cloudy water cleared up like magic, and nitrite & nitrate levels went down to almost 0. This happened in a space of 2 days.

I am puzzled by one thing though. I thought that nitrate can only be removed through water changes. However, last week I only changing water once a week compared to 3 times a week, and yet the nitrate levels went down to zero. Any ideas on this??

As words of encouragement, water cycling and keeping tip top water condition is actually quite simple and not such an ardous or stressful task. Common sense and patience are really important in order for one to become an aquarist. And of course, I can't thank all the bros here in the forum enough for their discussions and pointers in helping me to get to that common sense and patient levels.
Hi kawaii gal no prob at all, its nice to noe that ur efforts have paid off and ur tank is finally cycled and settling.

About the nitrate thing, heheh, who noes, u might have accidentally set up a colony of anaerobic BB that breaks down nitrate , or did u put in plants in ur tank? Plants will absorb the nitrate.

Anyway now that ur tank is settled and once everything is running smoothly with all the bio load, i think the nitrate will go up again.
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Old 03-05-2003, 01:10 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally posted by Arrowana Boi
Hi Kwonghui, indeed this question have been posted before. But i will answer it again in brief.

Day 10 into cycling a virgin tank without any seedings means that its still in its rather early stages. The cloudy tank is very very normal dont worry. Its a sign of BB bloom. Ammonia reading of 5mg/l is considered quite high. But dont worry jus let the water cycle on. Its all part and parcel. If u change water and change water theh the bloom will not only not go away, but will also extend the whole cycling process. If u wanna change water, do so after the first 2 weeks of cycle. Do 10% will do. Hence on, u might contd do the 10% once a week but its really not very neccessary yet.

Jus bear with it and let the cloudyness go on, it will go away as soon as everything is quite settled. When the cycle completes then change about 20% water and everything will be set.

Good Luck
Bro Arrowana Boi,

Despite having exam, you still logon to reply to the forum message. Thank you so much. Wishing you all the best for your coming exam.

I will let the water remain as it is, and not change it till the cycle completes. Water parameter today is:

pH 6.5
kH > 3d
gH > 6d
NO2 1
NO3 10
>1 Ammonia <5

Thanks
Kwong Hui

Last edited by kwonghui; 03-05-2003 at 02:08 PM.
 
Old 05-05-2003, 04:38 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally posted by JAAR
Bro Arrowana Boi,

Thanks for your reply. Do really appreciate you time and patience in answering my question. Good luck in your exams and FYI I had started cycling my tank already. Though it is similar to your suggestion but I have no idea what is sintered glass. Could any of the other bros enlighthen me on this matter as our bro Bro Arrowana Boi, could be sitting for him exams already.

Thanks in advance.
Thank you very much for ur well wishes bro. Will try to explain to u wat sintered glass is all about. Its actually a kind of specially developed high porous rock/material designed specially for large amount of BB to colonise or site upon. They have a surface area many many times larger than that of normal ceramic rings if compared weight for weight and size for size. Till now i have used only the Ehfi Substrat and i think the results are really good and its relatively more cost effective compared to BioHome, another similar product. The only difference is that Bio Home has a supposedly higher surface area, but its price is also relatively higher. So if u do the maths, Ehfi substrat will cover a larger area for BB colonising compared to BioHome at the same cost.

Attached are pics of how Ehfi Substat and Bio Home looks like:



EHFISUBSTRAT

To create biologically sound water as found in nature, you need EHFISUBSTRAT. Biological filtering is based on a natural decomposition of harmful substances using helpful bacteria. They convert ammonia and nitrite into relatively non-toxic nitrate. The efficiency of biological filtration is limited by the media that bacteria are growing on. With over 450 ml per litre (22, 000sq. ft. per lmp. gal. / 18, 3000 sq. ft. per U.S. gal.) EHFISUBSTRAT is a specially designed sintered glass. Bacteria are able to stick better to a surface which has a complex pore system. EHFISUBSTRAT has been specially developed to offer optimum sites for bacteria colonization. The effectiveness of these bacteria is linked to how much oxygen and toxins can flow by. With faster decomposition of toxins compared to other media. Highly effective, economically priced, it is the best biological media available to aquarium hobbyists.

Bio-home



The red one is supposedly to have a higher surface area compared to ehfi substrat.

This link is all about Biohome product.
http://www.aqua-bio.com/en/biohome/
Happy choosing and hope i have given u enuff materials and info to satisfy ur needs

Last edited by Arrowana Boi; 05-05-2003 at 04:48 PM.
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Old 07-05-2003, 05:41 PM   #36
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The first water change will not clear up entirely so dont expect too much

As for the substrat, since u are using a sump tank, can actually use 3/4 or even all of it if u want from the large box of the media and that will be very very good bio filtration. When the tank matures confirm can keep the water quality very good
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Old 22-05-2003, 05:36 PM   #37
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Default temperature n lighting

Hi Arrowana Boi

Read your article with great interest. Very educational and pratical. Thanks alot.

Something come to my mine and there are:

1. Is there any concern as to whether the OH filter is exposed to sunlight. If so, then how much is acceptable. U/stand that biohome works best with no or little sunlight.

2. What temperature range is acceptable for the BB to grow well.

You also mentioned that ammonia burns causes "sotong barbels". How to cure it.
 
Old 12-06-2003, 06:46 PM   #38
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Quote:
Originally posted by noname
Hi Arrowana Boi

Read your article with great interest. Very educational and pratical. Thanks alot.

Something come to my mine and there are:

1. Is there any concern as to whether the OH filter is exposed to sunlight. If so, then how much is acceptable. U/stand that biohome works best with no or little sunlight.

2. What temperature range is acceptable for the BB to grow well.

You also mentioned that ammonia burns causes "sotong barbels". How to cure it.
Hi first of all thanks for ur commendations and 2ndly, welcome to the arofanatics family.

1. OH filters are best situated in places that does not get too much direct sunlight for a prolong period, i understand that the UV rays are rather harmful to these micro organisms and they prefer places thats dark, cool and has a rather stable temperature. One of my pesonal experience is that the the filter box will get algae growth on it. And even my bio filtering material like the sintered glass and bio-rings also have got algae growth which chokes the pores present on those media and prevent the BB from clinging on or establishing on the medias properly. So the best is to put ur OHF away from places that gets exposed to direct sunlight for too long a period.

2. There isnt any fix temperature ranges but i would say that they can thrive in most conditions/temperatures as long as it doesnt fluctuate too wildly. Its jus like water in the arctic which is damn cold will depend on the BB for their natural filtration to some extend and BB present in some lakes or pond thats have temperature in the high twenties are also having BB to do filtration. So dont worry too much about temperatures, jus make sure that it doesnt swing wildly will do

Hmmmm as for "sotong barbels" the most extreme u can do is to perform surgery to cut them off jus above the root tip and let a new one grow out. But jus becareful not to cut too low and snip off the root area cos that will mean that the barbel is as good as gone.

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Old 15-06-2003, 08:14 AM   #39
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Suggestion to shorten your cycle time and have a "SAFE" dieseas free tank.

Add gravel in when you notice presence of nitrite. The additional surface area will give the nitro-bacteria more room to germinate and grow, no need to compete for space with the nitrosomonas bacteria.

Dun use feeder fish to kick start the ammonia process, why not use market prawn. I realised that market prawn when left uneaten in the tank produces lots of ammonia, some more it is safe no BAD disease bacteria to infect your prize fish later. You want more ammonia, throw in more market prawn. Check your ammonia reading, sure super super high one.

Finally for all bros with PH problem why not try ADA aquasoil. It will maintain your PH level at 6.0 for the 1st year and then 6.5 after that. Dun have to worry about tank maturing and the PH crashing down. Learned this from some of the bros in the planted tank section.

Last edited by Sryder; 15-06-2003 at 08:21 AM.
 
Old 15-06-2003, 09:40 PM   #40
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HI bro thank you for ur suggestions.
About the use of market prawns instead of feeder fishes for the cycling process have already been mentioned in one of the pages in this thread.

As for the use of gravel and/or soil, most of the bros here would prefer their tank to be bare for optimum cleanliness thus they dont really wanna use any other things in their tank such as gravel and soil unless they have a planted aro tank concept.

But of cos i do know of quite a few bros who does lay a very thin layer of soil on the tank surface for either reflection cutting purposes, their rays, or jus to beautify. But this thin layer of gravel will have very little sites either for the nitro bactors or nitrosomonas. But to a certain extent it does help in speeding up the cycling process.

Thank You for ur suggestions anyway
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