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1200L cycle problem?


Fishie123

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INSULATE! I put 30mm poly around my tank last week and the results are fantastic! My tank temperature used to be at least 4 degs lower than the heater setting. Now it is only about 2 degs lower and the temperature is more consistent. Before insulation, the temperature would drop if it was a cold day or whenever the sun set, now it's always running at 28deg day and night. My two heaters used to run all the time, but now my 150W runs most of the time while my 300W is only on occasionally - but the temperature remains constant, so I'm happy lol. A 2.4mx1.2m piece of 30mm poly cost me $25 at Mitre10 and they cut it to my dimensions for another $2. Best $27 I've ever spent on my tank.

Where does it go? Can you still see into the tank?

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I would have put the media from the internals into the sump, then maybe put more new media into the externals and keep running them on the established tank.

+1 this is always the best way.. You must have some pretty big goldfish and be bombing the tank with food to get that much ammonia in a 1200L tank especially when it has a sump etc setup.. Are your test kits new?

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Where does it go? Can you still see into the tank?

Nope, I insulated every surface of the tank, but I run an underwater surveillance camera to watch my fish.. :lol:

But seriously, I just put it on the sides and the back, but taped down tight so that there's no air gap between the poly and the glass (apparently this is very important). With the leftovers, I cut a couple of pieces to size and placed them on top as well to prevent further heat loss. Easy peasy! The only hassle was cleaning up after lol, all that poly foam gets everywhere, but nothing a vacuum cleaner can't fix in 5 minutes.

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Nope, I insulated every surface of the tank, but I run an underwater surveillance camera to watch my fish.. :lol:

But seriously, I just put it on the sides and the back, but taped down tight so that there's no air gap between the poly and the glass (apparently this is very important). With the leftovers, I cut a couple of pieces to size and placed them on top as well to prevent further heat loss. Easy peasy! The only hassle was cleaning up after lol, all that poly foam gets everywhere, but nothing a vacuum cleaner can't fix in 5 minutes.

Hmm, smart idea.

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5 months? I took it to HFF and they give the same results.

Is this the API liquid test kit? One thing I've noticed with those is that the 4ppm reading looks really similar to the 8ppm. If your ammonia is actually 8ppm, that won't cycle.

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Perhaps give it a water change using as much water from an established tank as possible?

A tank doesn't just "cycle". The regardless of how much media you have, the bacterial colony will only grow to the size supported by the amount of waste you have. So for example if you 'cycle' the tank with ten goldfish then dump in a huge arowana and a bunch of other big fish you'll have problems as the bacteria colony won't be large enough to deal with the amount of waste the new fish are producing.

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