Hi Splash,

When you say 'cycled with shrimp' I assume you mean a piece of prawn and not an actual live shrimp right

Okay if you're water has a constant reading of ammonia, I would suggest you test your tap water.
My tap water has a reading of 0.25ppm, so when I am readying buckets for water changes, I add a 1.5x dose of the Prime water conditioner I use to help deal with it  Not sure what water conditioner you are using? Perhaps contact the company about what would be a safe dosage? Sometimes it will say on the bottle.

Do not add fish, if there is ammonia present! You want to get to the bottom of what's causing the ammonia before adding anything. If you add fish now, they could get stressed and/or poisoned by the ammonia, which in turn can make them ill.

As for the carbon media, the purpose of it, is to remove heavy metals, med's among other things, from the water. It has a dispensable life time, usually of around 8 weeks. But after this time, it is quite common for bacteria to then grow on it and it can become part of the filter media. I have carbon in my filter, which I will probably swap out for some bio-rings at some point. My carbon has been in my filter since the end of January and I've left it as it is.

What snails is it your having problems with? I assume bladder snails? They look like this:
[image]


The snails are from my experience pretty harmless, the worst they will do is possibly nibble on a plant or over populate the tank if there is enough food and resources for them to do so, this can cause an 'eye sore' to some people and I have heard in some cases that the snails have blocked the impeller on a filter. I have a tank of these little guys and I quite like them!

I find that they tend to like brocolli more than lettuce So perhaps give some blanched brocolli a try?

Glad to hear it was a prawn I just had insane mental images of live shrimp in a net for a second there!

The snails are much smaller than the picture The ones I have range from a few millimetres (babies) up to about 2 cm's or so? I think is the size of my bigger adults.

I've personally started using Prime water conditioner, because it was the one most recommended to me (someone on another forum who has 0.25ppm ammonia in their tap water, suggested I do 1.5x dosage, as they found it helped), I was previously using Stress Coat water conditioner. I've had no issues with it thus far, other than it can skew my ammonia readings when it come's to testing, so I sort of have to trust the product is doing it's job! Cleverly their only way to test ammonia correctly is to use their own brand of test kit

I have no personal experience with API Tap water conditioner, when it says it detoxifys chloramines, does that include chloramines associated with ammonia? Perhaps something to look for on the bottle or their website I would say by all means give the slightly higher dosage a go and see if it helps, it shouldn't do any harm
Saves you having to spend money on another water conditioner or other product!

Hope the ammonia clears up soon!

If the tank just recently cycled it might still take a little while before the ammonia goes away, the filter bacteria are working on that
I didn't catch the size of your tank?

Hi nossie and cdale,

My tank is around 18.5 gallon (75litre). I spoke to the lfs (a new one) and they suggested API stress coat instead of the tap conditioner. They weren't too concerned with the ammonia level at 0.25ppm given it's in the tap water to. They have the same issue. They showed me their samples, I showed them mine and they said they would almost consider mine negative. They honestly looked at me like I'm a nut job when I told them my ammonia concerns. So... I plan on using the stress coat. The lfs said they could order the sea chem prime for me but stress coat does the same thing.

Having had the tank 5 weeks (I think) now, I've needed to change the charcoal media this week. So I did a 50% water change. Rinsed the bioballs and noodles (whatever they are) in the removed tank water gently and returned them. I changed the cheaper charcoal to bamboo carbon? As suggested by the lfs (they said I could wait till I've had fish for 5 weeks but I figured I'd just do it now) They said I
can change the bamboo carbon 12 weekly now. Do I need to replace the wool? I just rinsed it. I didn't think to ask the lfs.

So they think I'm ready for fish now. I'm nervous! Worried I'll kill another couple of fish. I've done everything right this time and it will put a huge dent in my confidence if it doesn't work out.

Wish me luck, and thanks to everyone for getting me this far! I really appreciate it.

Thanks nossie.

I am planning on tropical fish now instead of goldfish after getting advice here. The lfs suggested African cichlids but I've researched them and it appears I need a bigger tank than what I have, due to their aggression. I don't understand why even the most experienced lfs keep giving me rubbish advice. I'm starting to get disheartened even before I stock my tank. I now have a high KH, high GH and high ph all ready for cichlids as suggested by the lfs only to now read that my tank is too small. They meet the inch per gallon rule but due to their aggression it appears that rule is not applicable. Not sure what I'll do now  why can't people be honest.

Hi Splash,

A site I have come across, to help with stocking is this one; (Link is not visible to guests. Please register to view.)
If you put in the filtration and tank details, then click 'Display Suitable Species for This Tank', it will give you a list of fish that should be suitable. It's a handy tool as it will tell you if any fish requirements clash, or if they won't get along.

I would still suggest researching any individual species you wish to keep, but it might be a good as a starting point

Thanks skwishee, using that link gave me over 200 choices of fish!!! I quite like the celestial pearl danio and guppies. But I don't like the thought of babies everywhere with guppies! Lots to think about and research.

Yes nossie, I've managed to restore  the ph and GH back to an appropriate level for a tropical community tank.

Cdale, I'm starting to think I have more knowledge than some of the kids at the lfs that are employed  I will certainly let you all know what I choose.
 
 

I remember when my Dad had guppies, they just had their own little population going

I quite like some of the Tetra's myself, I never knew they came in so many different colour combinations until now!

Congratulations! Are you going to post photos of your tank later?

I've been trying to post photos but I'm having trouble. I've reduced the size and managed to upload a picture as my avatar but it's difficult to see. Hopefully my next attempt at uploading a picture works in the reply section. If not, does anyone have some tips for uploading pictures. Thanks.

Very nice

Looking good.

It looks very nice!!

I'd remove the pots and the foamy stuff from the plants though, it'll look a bit nicer and more natural that way, and the plants will also get more space for their roots