ammonia level ???

[theRECOIL101]

so i finally just finished my cycling of my tank and have had fish in for a few days and my little brother came over and after seeing my tank he went straight to pet smart and bought up a storm of stuff including fish and is trying to do a fish in cycle but im not sure how to do that and he keeps asking me questions and i guess the biggest question is or i guess i should say confusion on my part is i know ammonia is bad but how do you build up bacteria to fight ammonia if there is none.... is there an exceptable amount to have while doing a fish in cycle please help me help him

 

[Codyluthy]

Ammonia is produced by fish. When u first fill ur tank it's just tap water . To make the tank begin it's cycle you can either you a quick start or you can put a little food in there I d t like doing either of those. I usually start a tank by buying a goldfish to begin the cycle they pee in the water which begins the cycle it us very Likely the fish dies. Ammonia is eatin by nitrates and nightrites eat nitrates it might be a little mixed around just got off work brains tired. But it all begins with the introduction of ammonia in a reasonable lvl to the tank

 

[theRECOIL101]

well he bought the same api test kit i have i beleive its the api master kit and he had been doing water changes like mad and he says at the end of every day its around 1 to 3 ppm is that ok

 

[Codyluthy]

Dnt do water changes everyday if you just set the tank up if you do that then you are just starting your cycle over and over again you need to let the tank sit for a while like a couple weeks before doing a water change

 

[Jess1ca]

Dnt do water changes everyday if you just set the tank up if you do that then you are just starting your cycle over and over again you need to let the tank sit for a while like a couple weeks before doing a water change

No no no!!! There are fish in there! Do the water changes, keep the ammonia down, as low as possible. The bacteria will gradually multiply then start converting ammonia to trItes, then trItes to trAtes. Please keep up on them water changes... That ammonia is high. your aiming for .25 or lower. Fish should not be treated as expendable creatures.

 

[Codyluthy]

Sumtimes it's not worth the effort in my opinion but I'm kind of an insensitive hardass..

 

[Samzter]

Yeah that ammonia is way too high for fish to be in there. Keep up with the water changes and hopefully yoUr fish might have a better chance of survival.

 

[Calypso77]

I agree keep up with water changes while ammonia is so high. If he doesn't that ammonia will just get worse.

 

[Borderlesscott]

If your tank is fully cycled you could cut a piece of your filter foam, piece of filter media, and add it to his tank, close to his filter, or take a good handful of your gravel place it in a media bag and drop it in his tank. This will help kickstart his tank and much better than bottled bacteria, he will need to do water tests daily, and water changes when required - not necessary every day, only when levels rise which will probably be a while depending on tank size and what's in it. Don't let him add anymore fish until the tank is cycled.

Fish in cycle process

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html