Hey everybody!
So I put a piece of driftwood in my tank the other day, but not before soaking it for a while first in hot water, I put it in my tank, and it is still slightly changing the color of my water, I would imagine that after a few water changes the color will go back to normal, but my main concern is that I dont want it to harm my fish- thoughts? comments?
question number two-
I recently went to the aquarium center near my house with a water sample, just to make sure that my numbers matched theirs (after all, they are professionals lol) they matched up to mine just right, but when speaking to the guy and telling him that my tank was in cycle (fish in, 5 barbs) he said that judging by the levels of the ammonia,nitrate,nitrites, that itd be best for me to avoid water changes for about 3-7 days, depending on test levels, because by changing the water, im slowing down the cycle. Now my question is from what ive learned the bacteria forming all form on the substrate, plants etc...right? so what would the water change have to do with the cycle, maybe im wrong but i thought that the water changes were good because they lowered the ammonia levels and improved over all health of the fish...im pretty confused. Once again, comments, suggestions etc are always welcome and helpful. Thanks--
Joe
p.s. my tank has been cycling for about 12 days now, and other than the driftwood, the only other thing possibly affecting any of the levels is the one real plant I have in the tank.
So I put a piece of driftwood in my tank the other day, but not before soaking it for a while first in hot water, I put it in my tank, and it is still slightly changing the color of my water, I would imagine that after a few water changes the color will go back to normal, but my main concern is that I dont want it to harm my fish- thoughts? comments?
question number two-
I recently went to the aquarium center near my house with a water sample, just to make sure that my numbers matched theirs (after all, they are professionals lol) they matched up to mine just right, but when speaking to the guy and telling him that my tank was in cycle (fish in, 5 barbs) he said that judging by the levels of the ammonia,nitrate,nitrites, that itd be best for me to avoid water changes for about 3-7 days, depending on test levels, because by changing the water, im slowing down the cycle. Now my question is from what ive learned the bacteria forming all form on the substrate, plants etc...right? so what would the water change have to do with the cycle, maybe im wrong but i thought that the water changes were good because they lowered the ammonia levels and improved over all health of the fish...im pretty confused. Once again, comments, suggestions etc are always welcome and helpful. Thanks--
Joe
p.s. my tank has been cycling for about 12 days now, and other than the driftwood, the only other thing possibly affecting any of the levels is the one real plant I have in the tank.