Ammonia nightmare!

[transitionalfox]

Hey guys, since my fiance and I began both of our new tanks a couple weeks back, we have been combating a massive ammonia problem. We have been running Prime for detoxifying the ammonia, and Stability to begin our cycles.
In or 5gal (the hospital tank, currently) we have been encountering our pH beginning to level out, but that has really been the only change chemically. Our 10 gal community has maintained horrid levels throughout the beginning of our cycle.

We have been doing a nightly 15% water change.

What else can we do?


5 gal Sick Tank:
1 Albino Corydora
1 Green Corydora


10 gal community:
2 Corydoras Panda
2 Lyretail Guppies

 

[splattered]

I'd get a bunch of water lettuce and throw it in there. If that's not available I go to home depot and get a pothos plant to dip into the top of the tank.

 

[Funken_A]

1st have you tested your water change water . I assume from your tap ??? Make sure the water you are using isn't the base cause of this issue. High chlorine levels, any nitrate or ammonia levels in it ?? Nitrate levels shouldn't cause the cloudy water but chlorine could.
If you do have a good biological filtration device do not run the filter medium under tap water or any water that has chlorine in it because chlorine kills that bacteria and you could be essentially resetting your tank over and over again.


I can also recommend a few marimo balls. Its a natural ball of moss and can be purchased cheap. Great place for the bacteria to thrive requires no skill whats so ever to keep

 

[transitionalfox]

I'd get a bunch of water lettuce and throw it in there. If that's not available I go to home depot and get a pothos plant to dip into the top of the tank.

I'm unfamiliar with a lot if different plants. We have a few Crypts and an Anubius in our 10g. In our 5g we have a couple crypt in there.

Is a Pothos a top floating plant?

 

[transitionalfox]

1st have you tested your water change water . I assume from your tap ??? Make sure the water you are using isn't the base cause of this issue. High chlorine levels, any nitrate or ammonia levels in it ?? Nitrate levels shouldn't cause the cloudy water but chlorine could.
If you do have a good biological filtration device do not run the filter medium under tap water or any water that has chlorine in it because chlorine kills that bacteria and you could be essentially resetting your tank over and over again.


I can also recommend a few marimo balls. Its a natural ball of moss and can be purchased cheap. Great place for the bacteria to thrive requires no skill whats so ever to keep

I've tested our tap and our tank. Been doing daily water changes. Chlorine is non-existent in our tank, ammonia was non-existent in our tap, in our tank it has been sitting at 1ppm, so I'm not sure where it derived from other than from waste. We have sand in our tank rather than gravel , but it isn't a calcium sand. I'm stumped here.