need help with ammonia

[shadyfish]

Hello I have a 55 gal tank with a ac70 hob filter and a fluval u4 internal filter also 1 red tailed barracuda 1 tiger dat 1 green city and a dinosaur bichir I set the tank up and did not do a fishless cycle but ran the tank for 3 days before hand my ammonia levels read 1ppm I am doing a 25% water change per day and adding bacteria what should I do to reduce levels also I have a 29gal qt that is established but using it to house feeders should I move my fish to the smaller tank untill levels drop please help

 

[tyspot1000]

Just keep up the water changes everyday and the tank should cycle soon. If you think the little ammonia will still effect the fish, you could add additional prime (detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for 24 hours) every water change

 

[shadyfish]

Is 1ppm of ammonia too much or am I being paranoid?

 

[shadyfish]

Stayed up all night did 3 pwc ammonia down to .50 ppm in desperate need of sleep never realized fish can be so much work

 

[BigJim]

0.25ppm ammonia is the highest acceptable level. Do another 50% PWC to get down to 0.25.

 

[shadyfish]

Down to .25 ppm ammonia after 5th wc how long must I keep this up?

 

[tyspot1000]

Until no ammonia, nor nitrite show up. Also when the nitrates (5-20) start to show, Your tank is cycled by that time

 

[BigJim]

Try cutting back on feeding your fish. Fish, predators especially, can go for a while without food and less food equals less waste.

By changing filters, you put your tank into another cycle.

 

[shadyfish]

Sigh

 

[shadyfish]

Got the ammonia down to 0 and dropped some feeders in was worried the bichir was going to choke on a fish but he gobbled it down