Tank data not changing

musho3210

Here is my equipment. Tommorrow im going to my lfs and getting a different water dechlorinator incase the one i have isnt working. As many people have suggested i will probably get PRIME. I will also get those products that add bacterial strains to try and boost my bacterial growth. This might just work

Here are the photos

This is my main filter. The wheel is spinning. It is a Marineland, Penguin 100, Bio-Wheel power filter


Here is the same filter but with the hood off so you can see the wheel itself.


Here is the filter media for my main filter, it has filter floss and activated carbon


Here is my other filter, it works as a back up or when im using a quarantine/breeding tank. It is a topfin model 20 power filter


This is the filter media in my back-up top fin filter. It contains activated carbon


Here is my test kit. It uses liquid testing.


here is my fish food. I have frozen food but i havent used those yet


Here is the salt i use. A small fingernail sized pinch per 10 gallons, its about half a teaspoon


Here is my water conditioner. I am getting a new one tommorow because i dont think this one is working, thats my diagnoses on why my biological filter is not establishing. I will probably switch to PRIME.


Heres the whole tank

Lupin

Have you use any medicines to treat the fish?:) Some meds appear to harm your biological filtration thus resulting to ammonia and nitrite spikes.

musho3210

nope no medications. All that goes in the tank is water, dechlorinator, and some salt

Lupin

Have you seeded your tank with an established filter media or anything else like decors, gravel? If you haven't, you may not have enough bacteria to break down the ammonia into nitrites and finally to nitrates. At the moment, ammonia can't be much too toxic at low pH although you still need to get rid of the ammonia.

musho3210

i dont know anyone that can lend my anything to "seed" the tank, thats why im planning to get those bottles that contain strains of bacteria and see if they help.

Lupin

Try to ask your lfs for a filter media in one of their tanks. Make sure the tank where you get the media has healthy stocks. Diseased fish will naturally infect your own fish which could cause you troubles.

fish_4_all

The actual problem could be the test strips. I used to use them and had the same problem. Low results for nitrates and nitrites and ammonia would fluctuate with tests not 30 minutes apart.

I personally would recommend the liquid regent tests from either Aquarium Pharmaceuticals or another descent manufacturer. I think Redfin is recommended for nitrates and another company for phosphates but I don't remember which one.

Something else that might help is to treat the water before adding it. Also, not feeding the fish for 3 days could have caused a drop in waste from the fish and over a couple days the concentration, not quantity, of their waste caused a spike in ammonia. Have patience and keep up with the water changes.

Make sure you biowheel is always wet and turning, as I a am sure you already know, and that you are rinsing the filter media in tank water and ot tap water otherwise you are killing the beneficial bacteria.

Best of luck, keep asking quesitons and try to be patient with it. Sooner or later you will have your tank up and running.

musho3210

ok i'll try that tommorow, are their any other tips?

musho3210

Todays reading is .25, its a good drop from yesterday. Nitrite and Nitrate are still at zero though

musho3210

I just bought prime dechlorinator and stress zyme to see if these help.