I aquired a 4ft tank not so long ago and 9 goldfish came with it.
I was able to move on 7 of the nine fish and so was basically was left with two, which ive ended up adopting lol.
I had to start a new tank for them as the 4ft was shutdown and stored.
I bought an internal filter that would handle the goldfish and placed some old filter material in with the new media.
Fired the filter up, added a good dose of beneficial bacteria and started monitoring the water.
The first stage (Ammonia) has now completed (Ammonia 0 to 0.5) and the tank is currently getting Nitrite spikes as the bacteria that devours nitrites tries to establish a large enough colony
This is the part that really bothers me.
The Ammonia stage of the cycle seems to process fairly quickly with fish in the tank due to constant waste, feeding etc BUT the bacteria that devours the Nitrites, the next stage in the cycle, seem to stall somewhat as there's very little to assist this bacteria to multiply quick enough (not like the Ammonia anyway).
The result is some pretty nasty Nitrite spikes that can only be reduced with large water changes.
I just think putting fish through this is totally unnecessary and its the first and last time i do this.
It would be like being thrust in and out of a room filled with carbon monoxide...one minute you can breathe, the next you cant...NOT Good!
I was able to move on 7 of the nine fish and so was basically was left with two, which ive ended up adopting lol.
I had to start a new tank for them as the 4ft was shutdown and stored.
I bought an internal filter that would handle the goldfish and placed some old filter material in with the new media.
Fired the filter up, added a good dose of beneficial bacteria and started monitoring the water.
The first stage (Ammonia) has now completed (Ammonia 0 to 0.5) and the tank is currently getting Nitrite spikes as the bacteria that devours nitrites tries to establish a large enough colony
This is the part that really bothers me.
The Ammonia stage of the cycle seems to process fairly quickly with fish in the tank due to constant waste, feeding etc BUT the bacteria that devours the Nitrites, the next stage in the cycle, seem to stall somewhat as there's very little to assist this bacteria to multiply quick enough (not like the Ammonia anyway).
The result is some pretty nasty Nitrite spikes that can only be reduced with large water changes.
I just think putting fish through this is totally unnecessary and its the first and last time i do this.
It would be like being thrust in and out of a room filled with carbon monoxide...one minute you can breathe, the next you cant...NOT Good!
).
