# tank water



## little (Mar 10, 2006)

ok, here is the deal, I tested my freshwater 60g, and it was ph 7.0 
ammonia 0-.10 cant tell, it was iffy
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
i assume thats ok, next tank freshwater 10g 
ph 7.2
ammonia 1.0
nitrite 5.0
nitrate 10
but what i dont understand is I set up the 10 gallon a week ago, brand new out of the box, I thought I was being smart and took the 10 gallons of water out of the 60g. I had no filter media to put in the new tank so I figured using that water was a good idea. so what happened? I change the water once a week in my lg tank since I dont have a canister filter yet, and planned on changing 20% water in both tanks this weekend, now i see the reading as off. I have puffers in the small tank and have read there sensitive to ammonia and so forth, I am not old school like some and would like to understand what happened,, thanks !


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## goodie (Sep 2, 2005)

You don't have a filter on either tank? Or you have one on your 60 and are going to replace it with a canister. Regardless you need to get a filter on your new tank and hopefully you do have one on your 60 so you can take some media(any thing) out of it and put in the filter on the 10. Used tank water isn't goiong to cycle the tank. Very little bacteria in water alone. You need a culture from a old filter to jump start the new one.


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## Fibrobutterfly (Mar 16, 2006)

I am very new here, but I've been researching online for information about my aquarium for a while now. My best guess would be that you didn't get enough "good" bacteria from your larger tank with just the water. If you could have used some media or part of a sponge from the large tank's filter, that would have helped. Do you have gravel in the large tank? It can help to use a handful of gravel from an established tank and put it in the new tank.


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## Fibrobutterfly (Mar 16, 2006)

I see someone beat me to it...


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## little (Mar 10, 2006)

my 60g tank has 2 undergravel filters only so no media there, thats why we are going to get a canister filter on top of that for the 60g. and the 10g does have a filter, but new filter, I guess I should put some of the gravel from the 60g tank in to the 10 g??? that would help ? yes? no?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Yes, put some of the gravel from the old tank in the filter in the 10. You can put in a pantyhose sack or a "media container" if your filter came with one. Don't let it loose in the impeller, though. If it won't fit, put it in the tank, but it will be more effective in the filter. With a UG filter, the gravel is the media so it should help alot. The water did help, or you wouldn't have nitrite already.


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

almost 0 beneficial bacteria live in the water. your 10g is cycling. you need to do some serious water changes to get the levels down. most of the bacteria is in the filter, though some lives in the gravel and on the decor. it colonizes on the hard surfaces of your tank. putting old tank water in does absolutely nothing.

how long has your 60g been set up? because if its already cycled, it should not be showing ANY ammonia.


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## little (Mar 10, 2006)

MY 60g has been set up for almost 2 months now i want to say. it seems the ammonia was a very low if any, i always expect the worst, the color was not .10 but it did not look 100% 0<yellow> all the fish in the tank seem to be very happy and doing well , all the plants are growing the fish are very active and eat like little pigs, I really dont know why i tested the water but i am glad i did, I dont really want to put chemicals in any of the tanks, I have read that can be just as bad or prolong the cycle < I read so much i cant remeber what I read!!> 
I did put a handful of gravel into the10g tank hoping that's going to help, I will have to change it and put it in the filter i guess. so much to learn!!!! I feel like I am in school again! but this time i like it!


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

if you have chloramines in your tap water, that could cause some ammonia whenever you do water changes. chloramine is chlorine and ammonia bonded together. whenever i do a water change and add dechlorinator, my ammonia jumps to .25 but it's gone in a few hours. some dechlorinators just sepparate the chlorine and ammonia and bond the chlorine to make it harmless. others ALSO bond the ammonia and render it harmless, like Prime and Amquel, but its still usable by the bacteria.

the only chemicals you should be using is a dechlorinator. other than that, just do 50% water changes every 12 hours in the 10g until you get the levels low, then keep doing them to keep the levels at .25ppm until the cycle is finished.


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## little (Mar 10, 2006)

ok, thanks will change the water 2x a day, and I have hard well water here, i use our pur filter <that is use for drinking out of> for the smaller tanks.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

If you use some of the media/gravel from your old tank like everyone said but rockabilly you'd probably be fine, as long as you monitored the ammonia levels every day and did water changes AS NEEDED instead of every 12 hours.


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## avashck (Mar 12, 2006)

if the tank water is yellow is that mean high ammonia


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

> if the tank water is yellow is that mean high ammonia


. Yellow tank water? sometimes, it could be algae, and an algae bloom could mean high nitrate I think he means that the ammonia test was yellow.


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