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Crash help - new to plants

Equifish

New Member
Joined
21 Dec 2021
Messages
4
Location
Northern Ireland
Hi I’m wondering if you can help, I’m a beginner and struggled to do things right because it’s very confusing but I did try. I upgraded my tank because I wanted live plants - I planted some carpet seeds in aquatic soil and when they established and grew a bit I added the water from my old tank then the fish. The plants never really stuck and keep floating my parameters were always okay but I maybe didn’t understand them well enough (and I probably did too many water changes / added fish too soon before I knew better) I’m only learning.

Everything went wrong and they all got ich also (didn’t have any issues in my old smaller tank for months) so that’s been medicated with esha exit.

I’m now torn on what to do because I need to change out this soil to get rid of the crappy carpet seedlings that are driving me bonkers but I can’t do it with the fish in.

Can I place them in a hospital tank without cycling it if it’s only for a day or so? My new tank will then also not be cycled because it will need a full water change and a new substrate (I’m keeping the soil but will be putting a lot of gravel over it to keep it from kicking up so much) I have 2 Amazon swords, another leafy type I’m not sure what and another plant sort of reddish leaves.

I used my old tanks filter for a while but I need a bigger one now so I will have a new filter running too.

I also have another question?

I have seachem prime at the ready but I’m confused about how often to use it - is it just when I see ammonia or nitrite start to rise or should I put it in every few days anyway until my new cycle kicks in? Just keep testing for nitrate?

I’m hoping I can at least try and salvage what fish I have left 😭 (2x mollies, 6 neon and an oto)
 
Unfortunately there are lots of people selling seeds that they claim are for carpet plants but they are not; they are just some random seeds. Not even aquatic plants.
You can put your fish and plants in the hospital tank, - use the filter you have, hopefully it is 'cycled' and will continue to work, - this will also keep the filter microbes alive.
I would do lots of water changes too.
When you get your new filter, run both for a while, and put some of the media from the old one into the new one.
There's some good information about 'cycling' here;
Cycling.
 
Thank you - I didn’t realise scammers went as far as scamming on seeds but hey another thing learned.

I’m still a bit confused about the seachem prime - I’ve read two different ways one being don’t check the ammonia and nitrite just dose prime every two days and wait to see nitrate, the other to test for ammonia daily and dose when you see any (I never had any readings for ammonia all through this disaster and only once had a nitrite reading after a mass casualty - I water changed then as I was needing to medicate and didn’t have any prime then)
 
Hi, if you have the old cycled filter then I would take the fish out and run it on their tank and them move it back to the new tank when you move the fish. You can run the old filter and the new one on the tank for a few weeks which would give time for the new filter to be ready. Alternatively you could just use the old media in the new filter or half old and half new, run for a couple of weeks and then switch the old out completely if it's past its best.

Prime is a great product but it can be quite confusing. Have a look on the product page under faq and I think it might explain a couple of your queries.

 
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