[Cspencer83]

Hi, I recently posted about a tank that i got from someone that was really dirty. I have since cleaned the tank the best i could think of how from starting with about 40% water changes with gravel vacs the first few days to get things started but without shocking the fish from the drastic change all the way to a in depth gravel vac with a 60% water change all the to the the day before yesterday doing about a 85%-90% water change to get what ever survived of that persons water and stuff that i could out and mine in. The fish that were in there that looked dull before are now looking bright and happy now and over this time i moved the 10 inch pleco and moved other fish in to take up his bio load and i am still within stocking limits of the 20 gallon tank but i am running into ALOT of Nitrates. like about 5-10ppm of nitrates per day I am currently at 0 ammonia 0 Nitrites and about 10-15ppm Nitrates after just 2 days, The tank came with and still currently has that Hawaiian Puka Shell Substrate or i think it is that is what it looks like so i don't know how plants would grow in it so i was wondering what would be the best floating plants to possibly lower my Nitrate levels naturally within reason i don't have tuns of money but other wise i would have to do a HUGE water change like every few days. O and another thing do i need anything extra to be able to keep plants?

I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say and I hope you guys can help.

Thanks

 

[Sylverclaws]

Don't do such big changes, you may be adding in more. Test your tap water to see.

Also...for plants it depends. Low light plants if you don't have any plant lights are good(I have found anubias and several types of stem plants do well with low to moderate lighting, even with LED lights if you have those(I was surprised my plants did well with those, I was worried but they're growing great). Java moss is also easy. Plants will help suck up some of the extra stuff in the water(Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates), but you'd need A LOT to really take it all the way down...all the way isn't a must, but if you can it's alright. Your fish will probably enjoy that.

Go for stem plants, and if you want some smaller anubias nana's, go for it. They're all pretty easy, stem plants also grow fast and you can clip and replant the clippings too.

It'll help, but lower your water changes to normal weeklies if you don't have ammonia or nitrites to boot. The REASON I think you're getting spikes, that is if you don't have nitrates in your tap water, is because the tank was dirty and your beneficial bacteria colonies are eating up the nitrites and ammonia to convert it, it should settle down provided you aren't adding more with the water, of any of those three.

Give it a test, and if you have Prime, use it, it'll at least detoxify the high stuff a bit for your fish.


I'm glad they're doing well, bravo. =) You should find your pleco a new home soon, he's not going to help your tank, he'll make it worse. He's too big for a tank that small(if I recall correctly it was a twenty gallon, yes? He needs a 75 gallon, 55 as a bare minimum since I assume, at this size, he's a common pleco and still has about a foot to grow). They're dirty and so add to the waste and so ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, which will be very hard to keep maintained properly with him in there. Basically he's over-stocked your tank both bioload and size-wise. lol But I'm glad he's doing better, and the others, being brighter is definitely a good sign you've done much properly!

 

[Cspencer83]

Yes in the past i checked my tap water and it went negative for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, and the PH is about 7.4-7.6 so going right in it is actually pretty good water and I do use prime and that Pleco is not in the tank. Sadly where i would love to find him a new home my wife loves to look at the gigantic pleco and she had me move it to a smaller 10 gallon tank but it is all by its self and since it NEVER wants to come out of its log even in the 20 gallon he is actually quite content in that other tank that just has his drift wood cave thing that the guy had and a heater/filter and stuff. The guy that i got it from said that the fish in the tank were all atleast 3 years old and has never been in a bigger tank so i believe that his growth was stunted years ago and he like never leaves his log unless i move the log then he swims out sticks to the top of the glass and once i move it back to where he can go back in he does. so the move to the 10 gallon tank actually doesn't bother him since he is all alone (like he seems to like to be) he has food, clean water, and if my wife does let me find him a new home i will do it but it doesn't seem like his life is any different then what it was.

my other question in the thing was if the substrate i have would support plants.

 

[Sylverclaws]

From what I read about it it should support plants. I use regular gravel and my plants are awesome. Otherwise you could still do floating plants like crystalwort and the like, uh...java moss is easy and doesn't need to go in the substrate, just needs something to sorta anchor it and I use a couple pieces of gravel. lol

So plants, water changes good...I'd slow it down still though to...well, check in tomorrow and see if the nitrates have gone up or down before another change, if they are rising, yeah, change some, if not, try letting them settle and do some smaller changes, like 15-20% or so. That's a rough guess, but doing so many large changes is going to end up hurting the tank and fish, too many changes period risk killing your beneficial bacteria, considering the nitrates you're not but may be over-loading them, and it will stress out your fish who need rest at the moment after their prior poor care and the move.

As for the ten inch pleco in the ten gallon tank, keep it there only if you wish to kill it, likely. He will not be able to grow, and so his organs will eventually be crushed, he will get longer than that tank. I'm not trying to be a downer, but if you keep keeping him in tanks far too small, he will eventually die a very slow and very painful death. Unless he is some type that gets no larger than he already is, and even then a ten gallon is probably not a good idea. ^^;

 

[Flint]

The statement that jumped out and concerned me was "I replaced his bioload." A 10" pleco has a huge bioload and the fact you added more fish to replace it will cause high nitrates as the tank is converting all the ammonia the fish are producing. Try reducing your bioload and you will likely have less nitrate issues.
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[Cspencer83]

Well i wouldn't say i replaced it, I took the pleco out which was 10 inches and moved about 8 inches of smaller fish in that don't create nearly as much waste as that one pleco.

 

[Flint]

How are you stocked?
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[Cspencer83]

3 Mollies, 2 Zebra Danios, 2 Red Fin Tetra and a few baby Mollies

After a few weeks when i can get everything to acceptable levels i want to get like 3-4 more Zebra Danios so they have more play mates