Please Help --- High Ammonia

[Kubuspuchat3k]

Something very strange is happening in my tank
Ammonia between .50 and 1.0 ppm cant seem to get it lower
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5 ppm

Believe it or not the ammonia was all the way up to 8 ppm
I did 3 80 percent water changes over 6 days. I managed to get it down between .50 and 1.0.

Am i going through a mini cycle ?
the water is also cloudy
tank has been up for 3 or 4 months
it clears up when i put clear all in the tank, but only for a day or so
Is this something normal with the ammonia ?
what should i do to stabilize it ?

 

[jsoong]

No this is not normal at all - a mature tank should have 0 ammonia & 0 nitrites at all times. <And an ammonia of 8 is not a mini-cycle ... more like a full blown cycle...>

Some possible causes:
The biofilter somehow got killed ... drugs, soaps, chemicals, filter stopped running for some time & media got dried, etc.
Something died in the tank & is decaying.
Tank is grossly overloaded (or someone grossly overfed ... eg a child dumping in a can of fish food ...)

Cloudiness is likely from the high ammonia (that caused a bacterial bloom) ... no point using chemical clarifiers, you need to solve the root cause.

We need more info on the tank - size, occupants, water change history, anything unusual that happened over the last few weeks, etc. to get a better handle on this.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

The tank is 170 gallons,
4 green severums
2 red severums
2 red neck severums
1 urua
1 arowana

All these problems started after cleaning my fx 5 filter, I think i know the cause of the problem, when i took the filter apart i dumped all the media in my living room atop of a spread garbage bag, it took me a good hour to clean everything, therefor the media was dry, I had no idea that the media couldn't dry.
What do you suggest i do now, keep testing and doing water changes ?
the fish seam to be ok

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Yep fairly simple this one. The bacterial colonies would have completely died out. So you're effectively starting from scratch.

The fix is water changes and time.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

ok, thank you very much for all the help. I was going insane not knowing what was going on. How do you guys clean your filters ?
should i do a water change everyday or every other day and mow much water do i change ? 50 percent or so ?? and how much time do i need ?
sorry for all the questions, but i want to make sure I'm doing the right thing
thanks again

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Squeezing the pads in a bucket of tank water is more than sufficient.

You need to change max 50% at a time up to twice a day. But be guided by test results, if you test more than 0.25 then do a change.

Since you are starting from scratch it can take up to 6 weeks to cycle.

 

[bluerose]

I wouldn't say this is starting from scratch; some bacterial colonies will be in the tank (in the substrate particularly) so this is a well-seeded tank, essentially. It shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks I would think but you still need to follow the usual testing/water change protocols.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

From now on, when you clean your filter, you need to pull a gallon or two of tank water into a container like a 5g bucket, then when you take your filter apart, put the bio-media (bio-balls, rings, etc) into the bucket while you clean your filter. Just give the bucket a good stir and scoop the bio-media out by hand to rinse off the gunk and put it back in your filter right before you hook it all back up. Also, don't fill up your filter with tap water before you reconnect it, just leave it empty and let the tank water drain back into it when you prime it after connecting back up, then top your tank off.

I usually clean the tank and do the PWC first, and after the fill and dechlor I let it run for a little (10 minutes or so, just to clear up the water) then I disconnect the filter and clean it, reconnect and top the tank off. It would probably be just as easy to disconnect the filter and clean it in between the drain and the fill, but that's just the way I like to do it and it has worked fine for me.

You can run any filter pads under tap water to rinse them out since the majority of the bacteria live on the bio-media, and since the filter pads are there to remove particulate matter. Of course, you can also do what Mark suggested and squeeze them out in tank water, that will preserve a little more of the bacteria colony, but mainly the bio-media is all you really need to worry about. If you squeeze them in tank water, I would suggest you do it in a separate bucket.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

Thanks for the info guys, i really appreciate all the help. One more question I have.
The Fluval FX5 consists of 3 media buckets, what setup would you recommend for best results?
This is what i have now

Bottom basket BIOMAX
Middle basket Carbon
Top basket Pre Filter

 

[iceywater101]

I would lose the carbon. Its not doig much to help you. Carbon is only effective for removing meds from the tank and such and is only good for about 5 days.

 

[maddub1979]

a little product called nitrobacter is the best solution you can rebuild colonys of bactieria in a few days look it up its 15 bucks a bottle

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yeah, load up the middle basket with bio material, ceramic rings, more of the BIOMAX, etc. Some have suggested that bio-balls are not good for canisters, but I have them in mine.

From what I've read (on here) the bacteria bottles are not very good, unless they're relatively fresh and have been refrigerated at all times. Generally, this is not the case. Time is the best thing.

Also, you could find someone with an established, disease-free tank that has a sponge filter, and squeeze all the gunk out of it and dump it in your tank. I seeded my 55g this way and my cycle lasted about 3 days.

 

[Kubuspuchat3k]

Once my cycle is all complete i will remove the carbon that i have in the middle basket now. Everything looks good for now, the fish are a lot less stressed, water is nice and clear, and ammonia is almost gone, i still change about 50 gallons of water daily, this seams to calm the fish and relax them. Maybe another week and i will have a fully established tank.

 

[Gus]

I leave the carbon in mine, unless I'm wrong, the bacteria eventually will also colonize the carbon in the filter, right?

 

[jsoong]

Yes, carbon can be used as a cheap bio-media .... with a few caveats:
1. carbon has more surface area than (same volume of) bioballs, but less than ceramics, so isn't the best if you are looking for max bio-filter capacity, but is much cheaper.
2. Carbon may hang on the some nutrients that plants need, although this is controversial ... <Plus you can always overcome this by adding a bit of extra trace ferts for a while until the carbon is old & no long adsorbing.>
3. carbon will hang onto toxins, heavy metals, meds & other chemicals, and may release them back into the water when it gets old. So if you use carbon as a cheap biomedia, you must use fresh, and replace it if you used it to pull meds, etc.