Raising Tadpoles (Day 48) - The Answer Was Right in Front of Me the Whole Time
Day 48
The answer for our ammonia issue was right at my fingertips this whole time! I have no idea how it managed to completely slip my mind all this time but thanks to a reminder from a great Steemit user by the name of Nikv, I now remember exactly what to do. In my cupboard is a fairly large amount of zeolite. Zeolite is a mineral that can be added into aquariums as a temporary measure to eliminate ammonia from the water.
Most sources I've seen claim that zeolite will be effective for a month, however, I've generally found that two weeks is a more accurate estimate, the length of effectiveness will depend on the amount of ammonia of course. Zeolite has generally been an invaluable asset for my main tank when there were cycling issues. It also has the wonderful benefit of being reusable! Spread it out on a baking sheet and bake it for 30 minutes at 350 F and you've released the ammonia bound to it, (you can do this around 3 times).
I've heard that some types of zeolite can end up absorbing calcium as well, which is why it tends not to be ideal for long term use for hard water aquariums. I, however, don't have to worry about this issue since my water's naturally soft anyway and the hardening agents I use contain no calcium. The way my frogs and tadpoles gain their calcium is through their food, which is never in the tank long enough for any zeolite absorption to matter. I always try to keep some zeolite on hand in case of an emergency ammonia spike but it's been months since I've last looked at it, 'out of sight, out of mind' as they say.
This is so amazing! They've already grown so much! It's fascinating to watch :) I'm glad you found what you were looking for and I hope that it works out just fine! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. :)
At least someone on Steemit has experience raising fry in a high density situation ;) Mine were also too young for a filter and I used to do daily 50% water changes between the fry and the parent tank. This is when you could get zeolite into that filter and using algae to clean the water of nitrates, etc comes into its own. The bonus is that the algae can be fed to the fry. Or tadpoles in your case
I have a few moss balls that I may throw in for the mean time.