GeorgeH
New Member
Hi, I have just set up my first aquarium. My kid had his heart set on clown fish, it’s something I’ve always wanted to try too so we decide to go for it.
I thought I was doing everything correctly, even bought a RODI filter, but I’m afraid now I may have made a massive mistake.
I was primarily following along these guides on YouTube along with a few others,
And
they seemed very reputable and were doing a step by step guide on setting up an aquarium my sozefor the first time. They both suggested starting the tank with clown fish and adding a nitrifying bacteria with them to cycle right away. I was able to get fritzzyme 9, same as in the one video. Their bottle and website said just like I had seen in the guides that you add fish immediately along with the bacteria and your are good to go, skipping any waiting period. The Amazon reviews were really fantastic as well so I thought it must be a good product and went with it. I followed that added it in along with a pair of small clownfish.
I have two ammonia tests, one little seachem badge that hangs in the tank, as well as the api liquid tests. The seachem badge is showing no ammonia but when I tested using the API kit a few hours after adding the fish it’s showing .5ppm. I panicked and changed about 25% of the water and added more of the fritzzyme 9. Waited about 10 more hours and tested again, seachem still showin 0 on the badge but API showing 0.5. I panicked again and did another water change maybe about 20% and added the last of my fritz after. Then I thought maybe the water changes are the wrong move and I need to give the bacteria time to work as intended and by doing the water change I’m removing it.
After furiously doing more research I see a bunch of other people saying what I did was wrong and I should have done a fully fishless cycle and dosed with ammonia from a bottle. But on the other hand I followed these guides exactly as they said and they had great success with it and used the product just as it said on the website. So I am left just really confused, panicked and lost. I am the type to catch and release mice Vs killing them so the thought of these fish suffering is just making my stomach sick.
I have lots of saltwater made and available, I read that you can’t put too much of the bacteria in and have basically put double what the tank size called for. Did I completely screw up? Were these YouTube videos just shills for the product and it’s not the right way to do things? What should I do to help these fish as much as possible.
I thought I was doing everything correctly, even bought a RODI filter, but I’m afraid now I may have made a massive mistake.
I was primarily following along these guides on YouTube along with a few others,
And
they seemed very reputable and were doing a step by step guide on setting up an aquarium my sozefor the first time. They both suggested starting the tank with clown fish and adding a nitrifying bacteria with them to cycle right away. I was able to get fritzzyme 9, same as in the one video. Their bottle and website said just like I had seen in the guides that you add fish immediately along with the bacteria and your are good to go, skipping any waiting period. The Amazon reviews were really fantastic as well so I thought it must be a good product and went with it. I followed that added it in along with a pair of small clownfish.
I have two ammonia tests, one little seachem badge that hangs in the tank, as well as the api liquid tests. The seachem badge is showing no ammonia but when I tested using the API kit a few hours after adding the fish it’s showing .5ppm. I panicked and changed about 25% of the water and added more of the fritzzyme 9. Waited about 10 more hours and tested again, seachem still showin 0 on the badge but API showing 0.5. I panicked again and did another water change maybe about 20% and added the last of my fritz after. Then I thought maybe the water changes are the wrong move and I need to give the bacteria time to work as intended and by doing the water change I’m removing it.
After furiously doing more research I see a bunch of other people saying what I did was wrong and I should have done a fully fishless cycle and dosed with ammonia from a bottle. But on the other hand I followed these guides exactly as they said and they had great success with it and used the product just as it said on the website. So I am left just really confused, panicked and lost. I am the type to catch and release mice Vs killing them so the thought of these fish suffering is just making my stomach sick.
I have lots of saltwater made and available, I read that you can’t put too much of the bacteria in and have basically put double what the tank size called for. Did I completely screw up? Were these YouTube videos just shills for the product and it’s not the right way to do things? What should I do to help these fish as much as possible.
