Ammonia levels in cycled tank?

[Thelynchfamily]

Well at least I think our tank is cycled. We have a 75 gallon tank it has been up and running for a year and a half. I did not hear about cycling your tank until about a week ago when I started doing research on Malawi cichlids. We have three Malawian ciclids and 6 phantom tetra. I heard that when your ph is higher you need to keep a closer eye on the ammonia levels. So i bought a test kit. I did an ammonia test today and it read .25 so I did a 1/3 water change. Then waited an hour and took another test and it still read .25 but on my testing kit ( liquid) there is just 0 or .25 no in between. A little more info... Filtration 2 power filters the fish get fed very little twice a day and we just changed our substrate from polished rock to sand. Please help I really love my cichlids!

 

[Crepe]

You really really should NOT keep tetras in a malawi tank. They are mutually exclusive in water requirements, feeding and temperament. Anyways if you added the fish just a week ago it might be an ammonia spike. What have you had in the tank for the past year and a half?

What's the ammonia of the water in the tap?

 

[Marconis]

Get those Tetras out before the Africans do the job for you. Also, as stated above, African lake parameters are nowhere near a Tetra habitat. Malawian cichlids live in waters with higher pH, more in the 7-8 range when Tetras can be anywhere from 5-7.

Take Crepe's advice and check the tap. What species cichlids did you buy?

 

[Thelynchfamily]

2 goldfish with the tetras. we inheited these fish I was able to find the gold fish homes but no luck for the tetras but I am aware that technically they shouldnt be in the same tank but they don't seem to mind the high ph or the warmer water and they like the veggie flakes.

 

[Thelynchfamily]

The Tap has 0 ammonia and our cichlids are tiny they are just a bit bigger than the tetra.

 

[Marconis]

What species cichlids do you have? When your cichlids get larger, they will most likely devour them.

 

[Thelynchfamily]

Hopefully I can find them a new home before that happens the cichlids we have a yellow lab and 2 albinos.

 

[Thelynchfamily]

They're the vegetarian kind

 

[Crepe]

Hmm what does the made-in date say on your test solution? It's a serial number printed on the bottle. The last set of numbers indicates a month/year (mmyy). They last ~2-3 years after the made-in date.

 

[Marconis]

Yellow Labs are omnivores. While they are more on the peaceful end of the spectrum, they most likely will not hesitate to be aggressive for territory.

 

[Thelynchfamily]

1008

 

[Crepe]

October 08...they should be okay, if not then iffy. I'd grab another bottle and test.

 

[Marconis]

I was always told to replace test kits a year after their printed date. I'm sure there is room on this, though.

 

[Thelynchfamily]

I just bought the kit like 3 days ago maybe petsmart will replace it. Thank you didn't know that the numbers on the bottle actually meant something! I'll retest tomorrow. If the ammonia is still high though what do you think about the stuff you can add to your tank/filter to help lower the ammonia?

 

[Crepe]

Seachem Prime. Get a big bottle of it. It's the best you can get even though it smells like crap. It's like any other water conditioner only it detoxifies (doesn't remove[important]) nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. More importantly it's really economical compared to other treatments. 1ml treats 10 gallons.

 

[Marconis]

Seachem Prime. Get a big bottle of it. It's the best you can get even though it smells like crap. It's like any other water conditioner only it detoxifies (doesn't remove[important]) nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. More importantly it's really economical compared to other treatments. 1ml treats 10 gallons.

x2. Probably the most important liquid in the hobby next to water. It's more concentrated than any brand on the market I believe.

 

[Thelynchfamily]

I will try that! Thank you! Do you think I should use enough to treat the whole tank or just enough to treat the new water I'm adding in?

 

[Marconis]

Well if you're trying to detoxify the present ammonia, I'd say treat the entire tank.

 

[Thelynchfamily]

Will do! Thank you!