Ammonia

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TCool

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
166
Location
Madison, WI
So a little more than 2 weeks ago I got a new internal power filter, and a new hood for my tank that covers the whole tank with no gaps. I wanted to go this route because I have some fish that liked to splash my walls through the gaps where the HOB filters were. So, when I finally received my new filter (ordered it online) I got really excited and set it all up and stuck the removable panels back on my new hood so my fish could no longer splash the wall. My plan was to stick my bio sponges from my old filter in with the new filter, but in my excitement I forgot and they dried out (which I'm assuming killed all the bacteria).

So, I obviously screwed up my cycle because my ammonia readings went from 0 up to about 1 over the first week. I did a large water change in the morning when it went up to 1 and then again at night and got the ammonia down to .25. Since then I've been doing about 75% water changes every other day because ammonia would go from .25 to 1 in 2 days. So, this leads to my main question. I am going to be leaving town this weekend for about 3 days, so I'm wondering if I should treat the tank with some Ammo lock before I go or would my fish be ok if they had to go about a day (because I could do a large water change right before I leave) with ammonia getting up to 1+?

One more thing, like I said, I've been doing water changes every other day to lower ammonia. My last one was Monday, so I was planning one today, but when I checked my ammonia today it actually hadn't gone up since yesterday (.5). So, is it possible that my bacteria are kicking back in already? I figured it would take a bit longer, but I guess it is possible I had good bacteria growing on some other things in my tank that acted as a seed for my new filter, right? Or, do things like Pimafix and Melafix somehow lower ammonia levels? I dosed my tank yesterday because my Angel Fish has some fin rot going on (I'm assuming due to less than perfect water quality lately). I was hoping maybe a dose or two would help to slow it down and keep him going long enough until I fixed my issues. Anyway, I'm curious about that because I also dosed a small quarantine tank that I have one fish in (it's starting to bloat, wanted to keep other fish from eating it if it died) and the level of ammonia actually went down in that tank. The quarantine tank is just a tiny 1.5 gallon with a really small internal filter that I just set up a week ago, so I don't think my theory about the seeding would apply to this tank.

Just gonna clear up one more thing since I'm sure it'll come up. The reason I decided not to do a water change even tho the ammonia is at .5 is because I hurt my back doing it on Monday (haven't gotten my aqueon water changer yet) so I figure if it's not going up I'm gonna give my back a rest. Doing large water changes on a 55 gallon tank with a 13 gallon garbage can for draining and a 5 gallon bucket for filling back up is tough. :lol:

Oh yeah, I have no readings on nitrate or nitrite. I also haven't received my master test kit yet and still only have strips which I've recently learned aren't accurate. But, nitrate and nitrite both show as zero on those, so I don't know if that tells us anything at all or if the strips are so inaccurate that they are useless.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Tim
 
It is very possible that you will only experience a mini-cycle. The bacteria primarily colonize in filter media, but also on the surfaces of things inside the tank. Keep an eye on the ammonia reading, but it is very possible it will only go down from here. Also, be careful having a full cover over the tank. There needs to be a way for air to get to the surface of the water so that the co2 can offgas through surface agitation. btw, you'll love your python (or off brand water changing system)... ill never change water with buckets again :)
 
It is very possible that you will only experience a mini-cycle. The bacteria primarily colonize in filter media, but also on the surfaces of things inside the tank. Keep an eye on the ammonia reading, but it is very possible it will only go down from here. Also, be careful having a full cover over the tank. There needs to be a way for air to get to the surface of the water so that the co2 can offgas through surface agitation. btw, you'll love your python (or off brand water changing system)... ill never change water with buckets again :)

Yeah, I would've loved it more had I decided to get it before I needed to do so many water changes. :lol:

As for the full cover, that makes sense. I'll make sure to keep an eye out for issues, but I'd think it'd be ok because I think any air trapped between the cover and the water is constantly getting replaced due to my air stone. I mean, that air has to go somewhere when it reaches the top of the water, right? I'll look out for air related issues anyway tho, but so far they don't seem to be gasping or going to the top more than usual.

The mini cycle news is the best news I've gotten all week. My back is starting to feel better already! Well, not really, but I'm still happy. :p
 
So, the ammonia went up again today. I also got my master test kit and my, as you call it, "off brand water changer." :p

My parameters were:
Ammonia: 1
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

So, it appears I at least still have some good bacteria in there. Changed the water and now have:
Ammonia: .5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

Using my new water changer was sooooo much better than buckets!! I can't believe it took me 4 years to get one.

Anyway, this brings back my question about being gone over the weekend. I'm going to be leaving probably 8 am tomorrow and won't be back until probably late Sunday. So, it is going to be almost 3 full days and I expect Ammonia is going to probably climb to somewhere between 1 and 1.5. So, should I just not worry and do another large water change tomorrow right before I leave and then again right when I get back? Or, should I still do the water changes (obviously) and also throw something like Ammo lock in there for the weekend?
 
I would do another water change late tonight then one in the morning then hope for the best. with the presence of nitrate, you probably wont have anything to worry about, but imo, it would be best to take every precaution necessary. Dont throw in ammo lock, that stuff is bad news imo.
 
I would do another water change late tonight then one in the morning then hope for the best. with the presence of nitrate, you probably wont have anything to worry about, but imo, it would be best to take every precaution necessary. Dont throw in ammo lock, that stuff is bad news imo.

Two more water changes before I leave?!?! Oh boy, that's gonna be tough... oh wait! I have my new off brand water changer! hehehe, maybe I'll change it another 4 or 5 times (or would that hurt my fish?). lol

I will definitely do that. Thanks for the advice!
 
Two more water changes before I leave?!?! Oh boy, that's gonna be tough... oh wait! I have my new off brand water changer! hehehe, maybe I'll change it another 4 or 5 times (or would that hurt my fish?). lol

I will definitely do that. Thanks for the advice!
i would give it at least 2-3 hours, but get the ammoin do as far as possible before you go

maybe even try and get some seeded filter media

cause soon as the ammonia stop the the nitrite will sipke
 
Got home last night, checked the water and ammonia was only at 1.

I also swapped out the gravel with sand. I figure it might slow down my cycle but I figured I have to change the water a lot anyway, might as well go for it.
 
Yikes. I wouldn't have recommended changing out your substrate!?! Do you still have the gravel (wet)? You can put it in a filter bag and add it to the filter media to help build the bacteria in the filter.
 
Yikes. I wouldn't have recommended changing out your substrate!?! Do you still have the gravel (wet)? You can put it in a filter bag and add it to the filter media to help build the bacteria in the filter.

Yeah, I plan on doing that. Just haven't gotten to it yet. No worries, the gravel is still very wet and will probably take quite a while to dry out since I took it straight from the tank and dumped all 50 lbs of it in a garbage bag inside a 13 gallon garbage can. Then I covered it and stuck it in my closet.
 
How long ago did you do that? The bacteria in the gravel is aerobic (needs oxygen just like us) and will quickly die once depleted. A garbage bag (plastic) in a garbage can will not allow air to get in and so if you've had it like this for more than 24-hours don't bother using the gravel. It would only make things worse.
 
How long ago did you do that? The bacteria in the gravel is aerobic (needs oxygen just like us) and will quickly die once depleted. A garbage bag (plastic) in a garbage can will not allow air to get in and so if you've had it like this for more than 24-hours don't bother using the gravel. It would only make things worse.

It is not completely sealed in the bag, so I don't know if oxygen would be an issue yet. I had planned on doing this last night but got caught up fixing my brand new filter because it stopped working. I may still put it in, but don't worry, I will consult with my microbiologist first (I'm dating a girl with a degree in microbiology :p).

Anyway, I knew the risks of changing the substrate, and have planned for the possibility of doing many water changes. However, I do not think changing out the substrate has had much effect, and figured if there was an effect it would be small. I've read quite a few times that the majority of the good bacteria is in the filter, which I think is evidenced by what is going on in my tank right now. It was replacing my filter (and stupidly forgetting to keep my old media in my tank) that screwed up my cycle. I'm new to the cycle thing, but based on what I've learned about it, I think it is safe to say that my cycle pretty much fully restarted with the filter change since ammonia started going up right after the change and continued rising for the 3 to 4 weeks before I switched out my substrate. This basically led me to believe that my substrate (for whatever reason) wasn't really carrying much good bacteria, and so far I think this is being shown by the fact that the rate of increase in ammonia in my tank hasn't really gone up.

Anyway, I certainly appreciate your advice on the subject. I just wanted to let ya know that I didn't just blindly go into this one (although I've done that many times in the past).

Another thing I've been looking into was plants for ammonia removal. I've read that a lot of plants use the ammonia. Do you have any experience using plants to help along the filtration?

EDIT: Just saw the picture of your planted tank. So I'm guessing you do have experience with plants, lol. So, what do you think about using plants for ammonia removal?
 
Plants can be a great ammonia sponge, but they have their own (and significant) requirements that if not provided can cause more harm than good. Check out the planted tank forum for more information but if you are looking for a cheap, readily available, fast-growing ammonia sponge I would recommend anacharis. It can be found almost anywhere aquatic plants are sold and is very undemanding and grows quickly under good lighting while doing OK at low light levels.

It will not fix your problem but can help to mitigate some of the ammonia issues.

Sorry about the late reply (I was on vacation over the weekend).
 
Plants can be a great ammonia sponge, but they have their own (and significant) requirements that if not provided can cause more harm than good. Check out the planted tank forum for more information but if you are looking for a cheap, readily available, fast-growing ammonia sponge I would recommend anacharis. It can be found almost anywhere aquatic plants are sold and is very undemanding and grows quickly under good lighting while doing OK at low light levels.

It will not fix your problem but can help to mitigate some of the ammonia issues.

Sorry about the late reply (I was on vacation over the weekend).

I did some research earlier and ended up buying a couple hornwort plants. I read that they are easy to care for and soak up some ammonia too. So far it seems to be going good, but I've only had it in there for a few days.

I'll look into the anacharis too, but I don't remember seeing that at the lfs around here.
 
I did some research earlier and ended up buying a couple hornwort plants. I read that they are easy to care for and soak up some ammonia too. So far it seems to be going good, but I've only had it in there for a few days.

I'll look into the anacharis too, but I don't remember seeing that at the lfs around here.

Don't bother unless you like the look of anacharis more. I actually was going to mention both in my last post but most LFS' have anacharis but in my area few have hornwort. Both species of plant are very undemanding and can really absorb the ammonia so you should be fine with just the hornwort.

Have any pics of the tank you can post?
 
Here are some pictures of my tank before I added the sand, plants, and rearranged some things. Fish Tank pictures by tcoltz - Photobucket One quick note about the pictures: The first couple are of a rainbow shark in a very small tank. I was quarantining it in that tank because I had feared it was sick, and I was right. It ended up dying last week. That little tank is now being used for all the tiny snails I picked off my hornwort plants. :p

I plan on getting some new ones up of how it looks now, but it probably won't be for another couple days due to exams at school. I gotta get my butt in gear and start studying for the couple I have tomorrow, so I'm going try not to spend too much time doing the aquarium stuff. I had planned on studying last night, but ended up spending most my time staring at my fish tank. :p

anacharis should be easy to find, the stuff grows like crazy.
I'm definitely going to look next week. I do think it looks kind of cool and would like a little more variety to my plants.
 
Finally got some pictures up. I wish my camera would take better pictures than it does. I think my next project is doing something about that ugly background (and maybe moving my garbage can, mop, and broom :lol:).

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I can fix your ammonia issues right now. Get rid of the bala sharks (those are bala's right?, kinda tough to tell in your pic). They are already (IMO) outgrown for your tank size and they will grow to larger than any of our biggest tanks can house. They are beautiful fish but should not be sold in the aquarium trade (we're talking suitable only for pond/lake in climates that don't get cold).
 
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