Originally Posted by
koiman1950
Your readings for Nitrites are the big concern. It appears that the bio conversion bacteria that handle this are nowhere in sight! That's why your Nitrates aren't any higher than you report at 20ppm. Raising the temp to 75 will help with this as the Nitrobacter bacteria develop after hitting around 70-72f.
Yes..and I didn't know that and have kept the tank at 60 degrees to keep ammonia low. I pretty much have screwed the biofilter this whole time
When you mention the size of the fish that are in the 300gal qtank, you say they range from 3" to massive. What does massive equate to in your terms? To me, massive would be somewhere over 26-28". I don't remember you having any truly massive fish of that size.
Well, the fish that died was 16" with tail (I had guesstimated 10"...errrr...). Using him as my barometer, I would guessimate:
(1) 3"
(1) 6"
(3) 9"
(1) 11"
(1) 14"
(3) 16"
(1) 25"
But, getting that Intex pool will certainly help volume wise and help stabilize things in regards to fish load. I agree that moving more fish inside at this time may not be the wisest thing to do. I think your pond is really causing some heath issues that are being exacerbated when the fish are brought inside, introducing whatever is in the pond back into the qtank population.
(FYI - I am giving all incoming the same regimen as the main QT has had: Proform-C and Prazi in the 100g before putting in the 300g)
BTW, how often are you cleaning/flushing that bio filter with the bead/ribbon combo? And, if you removed it from the pond's filtration, you may have, again, added to the parasitic/bacterial issues in the qtank.
I haven't flushed it yet or anything b/c it has only had seeded media for 1.5-2 wks. My QT tank seems to be doing ok in general. I just know I'm going to have too many fish for 300g.
When you get the Intex pool, I would suggest setting up some sort of shower filter, set up on a table or such, allowing the water to return back to the pool with a 3" pipe directed at allowing the flow to return in a counterclockwise manner. Set up a retrofit bottom drain in the center to remove all the sediment as the water will circulate it out in that area.
I'm not going to be able to do purchase a BD and everything right now due to financial restraints (hubby laid off for 3 months). I understand that a homemade shower filter would be ideal and I could probably rig something like that. I just figured that the filter I have should be adequate...?