Newbie questions

New to the forum? Introduce yourself here!
Forum rules
New to TPF? Read our Rules HERE!
Post Reply
Mowilly396
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:36 am
Location (country): United States of America

Newbie questions

Post by Mowilly396 »

Hello all! So I have a 55g tank that I recently had African cichlids in for about a year that I grew tired of, (mostly bc of their territorial and fast nature). Well after reading and chatting with local owners and a good friend of mine I am moving into the brackish world. My LFS has two tiny GsP's (no more than a inch) for grabs as well as a mono argentus and so I have jumped right into salting up my empty tank and preparing it for some new fish. It's been empty(of fish) for about a week now and I have been doing daily water changes attempting to rid of this random nitrate spike? I've got the specific gravity to about 1.008-1.009 which is right at where the fish store has their brackish tank. Ph is good and high, ammonia at 0, nitrites at 0, nitrates are through the roof though.. is this the end effect of the large water change(75% or so) I did once I got rid of my cichlids? Is it recycling? The crushed coral substrate has remained in the tank for a while now (7months or so) and I have thouroughly cleaned my fake plants and rocks under warm water. Does turning a freshwater tank into brackish restart a cycle? Sorry so many questions just trying to have everything ready for these GSP's as I am looking forward to raising the bar on my fishkeeping skills. Any info helps, thanks!
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Newbie questions

Post by Pufferpunk »

Are you feeding the tank with an ammonia source?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Mowilly396
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:36 am
Location (country): United States of America

Re: Newbie questions

Post by Mowilly396 »

I am not, is this something I should be doing? Since I've posted this last night I've got the nitrate levels down a little bit with yet another water change but they are still high, I also just put some nitrate, nitrite and ammonia eliminator but I will have to wait until tomorrow to run another test. Is feeding it ammonia necessary?
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Newbie questions

Post by Pufferpunk »

You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
User avatar
hadla
Mbu Puffer
Posts: 1626
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:33 pm
Gender: Female
My Puffers: 2 gsps and a big Stars and stripes
Location (country): California
Location: Sacramento, CA
Contact:

Re: Newbie questions

Post by hadla »

Are the gsps in fresh or salt at the store? Also welcome :)

Also, pics of the tiny puffs please!
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. -RTR
Post Reply