Nick_Northern
05/28/2017, 12:36 AM
Hi all,
So my 24x12x15 QT tank has been up and running for several months now with a small power filter, gravel bed and several chunks of live rock (i'm not intending to medicate).
I picked up a captive bred flame angel last weekend, with the intention of growing it on for a while before I attempt introduction to the captive bred coral beauty in my DT, as it turns out now the fish is in the QT it appears to be cycling again (seemingly I have not been adding food reguarly enough to keep the bacteria up).
I have been adding Amquel plus to reduce the toxicity and did 2 x 40% water changes yesterday before adding a 16oz bottle of ATM Colony. I know some people call this snake oil whilst others swear by it so I thought it had to be worth a go.
So my question is what should I do next? The way I see it I have the following options:
- Keep the fish in QT, let the Colony and latent bacteria in the filter/rock/sand establish a functional biofilter whilst adding Amquel+ each day to neutralise ammonia, I will also buffer the pH as Amquel appears to be lowering it. From what I understand amquel+ won't mess with the cycle but i'm not sure how long it takes to wear off so seems like there would be a risk of exposing the fish to ammonia between doses.
- Remove fish and place in a fish trap in sump of DT them return to QT once cycled. Theres a fair bit of vibration noise from the return/skimmer, would that impact the fish at all?
- Remove fish from QT and place in unfiltered bucket, doing 100% water change daily to prevent ammonia buildup - not keen on this, seems like a lot more stress for the fish.
Readings this morning are Ammonia 0.25-0.5 (hard to tell with API) / Nitrite 0 / Nitrate 10 so it appears as though some conversion is going on just not quick enough to cope with the ammonia. pH is a little low at 7.7 (due to the Amquel) but O2 etc is steady at around 75% saturation.
Thanks in advance
Nick
So my 24x12x15 QT tank has been up and running for several months now with a small power filter, gravel bed and several chunks of live rock (i'm not intending to medicate).
I picked up a captive bred flame angel last weekend, with the intention of growing it on for a while before I attempt introduction to the captive bred coral beauty in my DT, as it turns out now the fish is in the QT it appears to be cycling again (seemingly I have not been adding food reguarly enough to keep the bacteria up).
I have been adding Amquel plus to reduce the toxicity and did 2 x 40% water changes yesterday before adding a 16oz bottle of ATM Colony. I know some people call this snake oil whilst others swear by it so I thought it had to be worth a go.
So my question is what should I do next? The way I see it I have the following options:
- Keep the fish in QT, let the Colony and latent bacteria in the filter/rock/sand establish a functional biofilter whilst adding Amquel+ each day to neutralise ammonia, I will also buffer the pH as Amquel appears to be lowering it. From what I understand amquel+ won't mess with the cycle but i'm not sure how long it takes to wear off so seems like there would be a risk of exposing the fish to ammonia between doses.
- Remove fish and place in a fish trap in sump of DT them return to QT once cycled. Theres a fair bit of vibration noise from the return/skimmer, would that impact the fish at all?
- Remove fish from QT and place in unfiltered bucket, doing 100% water change daily to prevent ammonia buildup - not keen on this, seems like a lot more stress for the fish.
Readings this morning are Ammonia 0.25-0.5 (hard to tell with API) / Nitrite 0 / Nitrate 10 so it appears as though some conversion is going on just not quick enough to cope with the ammonia. pH is a little low at 7.7 (due to the Amquel) but O2 etc is steady at around 75% saturation.
Thanks in advance
Nick