New Puffer and partly cycled tank. HELP!

[Lil' Swimz$]

Yup! Oh, and you may not want to start a new post, this can be considered double posting. I'll PM PufferPunk (the board administrator) to move this thread instead.

[Pufferpunk]

Moving to Hospital forum.

[Youngsir]

ammonia lvls are on they way back up. i took the biological filter out of a pre exiting tank and added it to my filter i hope that brings some stability tho this. is there anything i should watch out of in doing this

[bigfatfish]

Keep water changes going. By doing this you are not taking away the good bacteria because the majority of it is in the filter & on plants/decs etc. As Pufferpunk says "the solution to pollution, is dilution"!

[Youngsir]

i turned the tank light off. he came out to swim around, and went back to bed. his breathing isnt frantic but might not be around the sleeping rate.

Water Test results are as follows. Last water change 9.5hrs

ammonia is very close to none i tested a stick from my other tank(cycled) and it matched perfectly
nitrites 0.1(liquid test to measure)
nitrates .20

[janjakk]

i think in on about the 50-75% water change..


_________________
Refrigerator water filter

[Youngsir]

ammonia lvls seem to have slowed down. am i getting false hope or does this mean i might actually be getting close to start of some minor cycle... ive been keeping it as close to 0 as possible trying not to bother him but still changing water.

ive been testing lvls bi hourly now for a while the puffer still just lays around, if the tube even turns a little yellow ill do a 25-50% water changed i dont even think he knows im doing them. but he still doesnt seem happy. i added pics maybe some one can tell me if hes looking healthy. he just swims around and looks for another place to hide. this rock he likes. he needs a bigger tank maybe the 25g isnt enough. i hope he will be okay the little guy! ill keep looking for stuff on the web but this website has been the most help so far!

[bigfatfish]

They are one of the lurkers, so wouldn't be unreasonable for him to be looking for hidey holes. I think you just have to keep going as you are - sounds like you're doing a great job! Sometimes I think we just worry ourselves into thinking there is something wrong, so unless there are any obvious symptoms, stick with making the water quality perfect, your priority. Do you have readings for nitrite/nitrate - you should be able to tell where you are(ish) in the cycling process if you have all that information.

[Myaj]

Yep, those guys are a lurker species and he's probably looking for someplace to either bury himself or to hide in a cave of some sort. He'll probably be a bit grumpy and nervous until he can do that.

[Youngsir]

in between water changes. my nitrite lvls shoot up. my ammonia lvls stay around 0.2 and really have been steady or dropping maybe.

the nitrites worry me now because i get a higher and higher reading everytime i go to check. Ive been doin 50% water changes twice daily or more. and still checking lvls

ammonia 0.1 ~
nirtites 0.2 ~
nitrates 20 - 30 ~

when it reads around there i do 50% water changes. ive been trying to keep changing the water every 10hrs but if i see it necessary ill do it when ever.

just changed the water. my nitrites had a higher reading than ammonia.

[Youngsir]

ive also read i can aid in the control of nitrites by adding warm air bubbles or a 'sponge filter'. true?

[Pufferpunk]

The more surface area (ie: spong filter), the more places for benefitial bacteria to develop. Never heard of the bubbles but they never hurt.

[bigfatfish]

Increased oxygenation of the water & raising the temp slightly can aid the cycling process. Obviously not higher than is advised for the Puffer. Nitrites will rise because the bacteria that are "eating up" the ammonia create the nitrites - this would suggest that the tank is cycling. Hopefully you will be able to keep up with the water changes & keep the levels down until the process is complete. I wish you lots of luck - keep us posted (between water changes!)

[Youngsir]

my tank is at about 78F i have a sponge and biomax stones in my filter (and the biomax from my dads cycled tank). Also would a higher output filter help because the one i have is for a 20g but the tank is a 25g.

So now that i have these nitrites in my water that means bacteria is forming and working to remove the ammonia? What is a dangerous lvl of nitrites ive read 0.2 but it doesnt say that specificly for puffers. would removing the second biomax (the one from the cycled tank) slow these nitrites. Am I looking for the perfect harmony between bacteria and poop now?

Also how come my dads tank never reads any ammonia or nitrites?

my ammonia lvls are still low
nitrites have gone up again (0.1~) since the last water change. It was a 50% change so i'll wait a little longer before i do another.

puffy is sleeping. He lets me know when hes not happy. He will swim up and down the glass untill i water change.

thanks again ill be checking back every hour untill he's out of the woods! and well after

[bigfatfish]

Yes, if you have nitrites, that means that the bacteria are starting to convert the ammonia to a less toxic form. Nitrites ARE toxic though & now need to be converted by another type of bacteria into nitrates. In a cycled tank the ammonia & nitrites will ALWAYS be 0. We would expect the nitrates to be 5-20. The higher the filter turnover, the better for puffers. Certainly, if your tank is 25G then the minimum filter I would put on is one for that size tank & probably one for a 30 or 35g. Anything you add from another tank (provided it is healthy & cycled) will aid in your cycling process. If your Dads tank reads 0 for ammonia & nitrite, then it sounds like he has a cycled tank.

I have been doing a fair amount of research into the cycling process because my tank is cycling at the moment, but trust me, there is no exact time scale for each step to happen, so just keep monitoring.