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Old 21-01-2008, 09:44 PM posted to rec.ponds.moderated
NetMax NetMax is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Mar 2007
Posts: 9
Default Aquarium chemistry

On Jan 18, 11:47*am, "Stumpy" wrote:
I set up a small aquarium and used de-chlor. *Waited a week and bought a
goldfish. *After one week it had Ich, used malachite green and raised tank
temperature to 80 deg., it recovered. *Then at it's 2 week mark the goldfish
looked ill and had its tail corroding - I assumed with tailrot. *Took a
water sample to a petstore and wanted to buy an anti-biotic. *The aquariaist
said that the sample had high ammonia and that *it was not tailrot, would
not sell the antibiotic. *The fish died that night.

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

My question is - with no fish in the tank to continue producing nitrogen,
will the cycle shown in the graph on the link above continue as depicted?
Or will the cycle be interrupted until I install a new fish to produce new
nitrogen? *My preference would be to leave the tank alone until day 40 and
then feel much better about putting in a new fish.

Could not find a group where this would be on-topic, but it is related.


You have a small aquarium with no fish and ammonia in the water. In
regards to your question, yes, the nitrifying bacteria which will take
the tank through its cycle will continue to develop if there is no
fish in the aquarium. These bacteria establish themselves in the
filter's sponge, so don't damage them by hard washing or replacement.
There are some other things to be aware of, but as was already
mentioned here, it's a big subject.

This still leaves a lot of unanswered questions, such as, is my
aquarium big enough or even suitable for ... and what type of
goldfish (fancy typically require warmer water, comets do better in
longer tanks etc etc). There are Goldfish FAQ if your heart is set on
a Goldfish.
http://fish.turquoisewave.com/index....26&Itemi d=37

And there is aquarium-specific advice available at the Freshwater
Aquarium
http://groups.google.com/group/The-F...quarium/topics
which can include many types of fish which may or may not be more
applicable to your setup.

ps: to rpm, sorry to pinch a poster, I was just wandering by and
thought I could help ;~)
cheers
NetMax