hot tape water

[CoKen]

hi guys

i have a question about the hot water straight out of the water tape, is it free of chlorine? what other toxic substain will there be in it. is it harmful to mix hot water to the aged cold water so that its temperature is right to the tank water temperature.

i m getting confused regarding the pre-cycling (new tank before adding fish). y need to add amonia and re-adjust it to zero, and then change water, i dont understand.

what is biofilter?

can you pls give me some explanation. thank you very much.

rgds
Ken

[pcsb23]

hi guys

i have a question about the hot water straight out of the water tape, is it free of chlorine? what other toxic substain will there be in it. is it harmful to mix hot water to the aged cold water so that its temperature is right to the tank water temperature.
Hot water systems are fed by the same mains as the cold, so if there is chlorine or chloramine in the cold then it exists in the hot. However it will dissipate very quickly from hot water (chlorine that is).



i m getting confused regarding the pre-cycling (new tank before adding fish). y need to add amonia and re-adjust it to zero, and then change water, i dont understand.
Clear ammonia is used as a substitute for fish waste. Fish produce ammonia as waste, from their urine and breathing, the clear ammonia is used in its place. It is used to cycle the tank which actually means the biofilter (see below). Ideally fish should not be added to an uncycled tank.



what is biofilter?
it is a sponge, cannister, hob sump or other device that contains various materials (called media) that beneficial bacteria can grow on. The beneficial bacterias job is to take the ammonia that the fish produce and firstly turn it into nitrIte then into nitrAte. When the biofilter is functioning properly the tank is said to be cycled, when it isn't then either ammonia or nitrIte are showing (or both) the tank is not cycled.

hth

[Alight]

If you live in the US, it is becoming more and more likely that you have chloramine, not chlorine in your water, and it will not dissipate by just aging like chlorine will. There will be just as much in your hot water as your cold water.

The biofilter, as Paul says, is actually the bacteria that breaks down toxic ammonia to toxic nitrites and eventually to fairly non-toxic nitrates.

These bacteria need a surface to grow on, and lots of oxygenated water to do their job. This is why they grow best in your filter media (lots of surface area, and lots of oxygenated water) although they will grow on any surface.

They are very slow to reproduce, as bacteria go, which is why it takes so long to establish a good biofilter in a new tank.

They increase their numbers when they have adequate ammonia to feed on, and die off fairly quickly when they don't have enough ammonia.

You want to "match" the amount of these bacteria to the amount of ammonia the fish you will add to your tank will make--which is the reason for fishless cycling with clear ammonia.

In a new tank, depending on the size, if you don't have cycled media, gravel or some fairly abundant source of material that already has biofilter bacteria in it, it can take from 3-6 weeks to thorougly establish a good biofilter using clear ammonia, dead shrimp, or cycling fish (cheap fish you don't care if they die).

The time can be greatly decreased by adding some cycled filter media to your filter, or by using biospira.

Al Light

[CoKen]

hi guys

thanks for your info.

last week, all my 9 juvy discuses (3 months old) got ich and their skin also turned dark, very dark. all fins and gills stopped moving, they actually flat lied on the gravels. i rescue them by doing a 100% water change and removed all gravel, i also wash the cannister (filter) with hot water, clean the empty tank with clear water (no detergent), then refill a 2 nights aged water into the tank, finally put the discuses back to the tank. they are now recoverring pretty well.

my question is, with what i did (thoroughly washed), has my tank not been pre-cycled after the thorough wash? by the way, i had this tank 4 months ago, and it had been cycling for more than 2 weeks before putting discuses in. the very young juvies got a long with this tank very well and grow. but suddenly turned sick after 3 months (last week).

is "clear amonnia" a tablet (medicine)? if it is a tablet, can i use it on a regular basis to assure the amonnia is zero at all time, if no amonnia then it wont have nitrite then nitrate. therefore, the water will become high qaulity.

your opinions are welcome and appreciated.



Ken

[pcsb23]

my question is, with what i did (thoroughly washed), has my tank not been pre-cycled after the thorough wash? by the way, i had this tank 4 months ago, and it had been cycling for more than 2 weeks before putting discuses in. the very young juvies got a long with this tank very well and grow. but suddenly turned sick after 3 months (last week).

Not sure why they turned sick, possible because of the substrate holding rotting food etc. Its why I don't like tanks with any substrate for growing out in. Depending on how you washed the media in the filter will depend on how badly you have affected the biofilter. In all probability the biofilter will need to catch up. I would be checking ammonia and nitrite levels daily and doing daily w/c's too.



is "clear amonnia" a tablet (medicine)? if it is a tablet, can i use it on a regular basis to assure the amonnia is zero at all time, if no amonnia then it wont have nitrite then nitrate. therefore, the water will become high qaulity.

Clear ammonia refers to its colour and that there are no other additives (soaps/detergents and the like) in there. It would probably have been more accurate to say pure ammonia. It comes in liquid in a bottle, don't smell it as your eyes will water!! Also if you do get it handle it carefully. You must NOT add it to a tank that contains fish, especially expensive fish! It is used in place of fish to generate the waste that the fish would have generated.

Hope I've explained that clearly :)

[Carol_Roberts]

Yes, ammonia is only used to cycle tanks with NO FISH PRESENT.

IF you have fish in a tank they exhale ammonia and pee ammonia.

If you have been adding water with chlorine or chloramine to your tank it may have killed the "good" bacteria in your filter. This would make high levels of ammonia in your tank. Dicus get very sick if there is ammonia in the tank.

[CoKen]

hi guys again,

your info are very useful. thanks.

my recovered juvies are now almost back to where they were before, ie active, curiouse, good apettite (but i feed them twice a day for the time being, i used to feed 4 to 5 times a day).

by my daily observation, i notice their skin colour turn light and dark and back to light at an irregular interval, but they dont look like sick. is there any implicaton with this skin colour changes? because, sometimes they do turn very dark, but their gills and fins are moving as normal, no sigh of sickness.

rgds
Ken