Your current Fish tank Setups!

You could have also had a dud bottle of bacteria, if it’s got too hot at any point the bacteria could have died. Try a different brand from a different shop.

The bacteria should be multiplying daily so I would have expected to see improvements by now.

I am assuming you have some kind of media in the filter (sponge, ceramic, etc) and you are not ‘cleaning it’ or changing any of it while the filter is cycling. By cleaning it I mean rising it out under the tap or heavily rubbing or scrubbing it.

Am I correct in thinking you have a betta, 5 penguin tetras and 3 panda Cory catfish? The shrimp add a negligible amount of load.

Even a small filter should be able to handle that assuming it’s got media in it but you did stock the tank far too quickly.
 
Yeah I have 1 male Betta, 5 Penguin Tetra, 3 albino cory's, 5 cherry shrimp and 2 zebra snails and 1 baby guppy that came along by accident when we got the shrimp that the shop refused to take back.

I have pre filter sponge, sponge, ceramic and a bag of charcoal I think it is. I've cleaned the filter once but that was just squeezed out in aquarium water, nothing more.
 
Thanks for confirming, more than enough media and the rising in tank water is all good. It’s not that many fish in the grand scheme of things, just low water volume.

Do you see the levels reducing after you have done the water change on the test kit? I am trying to rule out a dodgy kit.

The only other thing I can think of that the bottled bacteria you got was a dud, your symptoms are consistent with a standard fish in cycle with no boost from the bacteria. Try another brand from another supplier.

I have used fluval cycle with success but I did use 2x the dose.
 
Looking to pick up some cherry shrimp this evening, how do you guys deal with them breeding too fast and overpopulating the tank?

I have a Fluval Flex 38L, with lots of plants and moss for shrimp to use as cover if needed, they'll be going in with seven guppies, a betta, two endlers and two corys.
 
Raggs said:
have you considered the fluval aquasky i just got one for my 120 litre tank dusk and dawn feature full control over rgb and white can programme a lighting storm effect don't know what the fish will think of that :p was worried it wasn't going to be bright enough it's only about 40 - 50 mm wide the old light is 100 mm , but no definitely as bright.

all adjustments done from the fluval ios or android app via bluetooth

impressed with it so far.
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Great reccomendation. The only issue was that the Juwel light unit forms part of the hood.

However I have found a solution to that.
This company sells a (very expensive) brand of LED lighting that has an adapter to have them fit in a Juwel tank and replace the standard light unit.
They don't ship to the UK, so I had to get it shipped to a colleagues address in Germany and he will get it sent on to me.
https://www.ledaquaristik.de/epages/64355316.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/64355316/Products/350

The above adapter is expensive at £70 delivered, but all in I paid less than £200, where the Juwel Helialux Spectrum unit and controller would have cost £460 delivered..
And if the new light isn't bright enough I can always buy a second one and still come in at over £100 cheaper than the Juwel unit and have better compatibility for future tanks
 
ravl585 said:
Looking to pick up some cherry shrimp this evening, how do you guys deal with them breeding too fast and overpopulating the tank?

I have a Fluval Flex 38L, with lots of plants and moss for shrimp to use as cover if needed, they'll be going in with seven guppies, a betta, two endlers and two corys.
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well your stocking should help with that a bit. even with a lot of hiding places they're going to be snacked on.
 
@b0rn2sk8 The kit seems fine, down from 4ppm to 1ppm after a 75% water change.

I'm not going feed them today, I only feed once a day as is. Will see if I can get 0ppm, do a feed and retest to see how the bacteria is doing.

Will pick up another bottle of bacteria asap though
 
ravl585 said:
Looking to pick up some cherry shrimp this evening, how do you guys deal with them breeding too fast and overpopulating the tank?

I have a Fluval Flex 38L, with lots of plants and moss for shrimp to use as cover if needed, they'll be going in with seven guppies, a betta, two endlers and two corys.
Click to expand...

Shrimp don't make much difference, you can have loads.

But many fish will eat the young ones.
 
Dandle said:
That's interesting. I'll check my ammonia levels tomorrow as the test sticks I have only showing nitrite and nitrate both of which are still virtually zero.
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Checked my tank today with the test tube kit. Ammonia is very low (between 0-0.25ppm), nitrite is pretty much 0ppm and nitrate has a bit higher showing at 5.0ppm. The water is still crystal clear as well so I'm really pleased with the filter. I cleaned the sponge out last Saturday after a week and it had collected loads of rubbish so i think that will need doing weekly, one of the electrode plates also had dirt on it I had to remove with a tissue. From what I've been reading the sponge still has the nitrogen cycle bacteria on it exactly sure how it works but it seems to be really good so far (in my limited experience).
 
my fish have been in there temporary plastic tub for a week now all good no deaths, did put some substrate in from the tank a thin layer but have seen no algae whatsoever, it looked like astro turf in the tank green everywhere on the substrate. i had a thick layer in the tank is 40-50mm of substrate too much i wonder ?

thought it was the filter i guess after 8 years the substrate must have been saturated with nutrients i pulled some filthy looking detritus out of it when draining the tank.
 
Dandle said:
Checked my tank today with the test tube kit. Ammonia is very low (between 0-0.25ppm), nitrite is pretty much 0ppm and nitrate has a bit higher showing at 5.0ppm. The water is still crystal clear as well so I'm really pleased with the filter. I cleaned the sponge out last Saturday after a week and it had collected loads of rubbish so i think that will need doing weekly, one of the electrode plates also had dirt on it I had to remove with a tissue. From what I've been reading the sponge still has the nitrogen cycle bacteria on it exactly sure how it works but it seems to be really good so far (in my limited experience).
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Just make sure you clean the sponge in tank water as to not kill the BB in chlorinated tap water.
 
Vidar said:
**** THE MISSING CHERRY SHRIMP HAS RETURNED ****

Actually that's not entirely true, the little git never left and nope he wasn't stuck in the filter...

Turns out he's been hiding behind the heater, must have missed him when swapping it out but we have a full 5 count which I'm very happy about.

Water levels are really starting to irk me now, I got them all nice and normal, checked them again 2 days later and they where starting to slide again, nothing as bad as they where but still, so done another 50% water change today. I know I'm still learning etc but I would have thought things with this tank would be getting easier now.

I definitely want a bigger tank though, I may have overstocked thanks to pets at home but getting rid of my lads pets with his issues would be a disaster at the moment.

What do you guys think about putting a tank in front of a radiator? The largest area in the living room we could use, you guessed it, has a radiator on it.
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Never put a tank a tank in front of a radiator your just asking for a trouble, i notice you thinking of going marine please do some research first, tropical tanks are 2 a penny but marine will suck up a lot cash all the time :)
 
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I assume this is just algae and normal. I suspect i (or the kids have) had the lights running too much while the tank has been empty. Was supposed to be stocking it this weekend, as according to the guy in the shop the water was ready.
 
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