my ammonia levels wont drop!

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Floyd R Turbo said:
How high? Over 4ppm? Need to get it between 1 and 4.
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Consistently around 1-2 I find. Do a 50% change and it's back up there within a couple of days.

I'm honestly at a loss, I'm transferring everything from my 17G to my new 35G tank at the weekend and I hope that eliminates whatever is causing the problem.
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
Do you mean into the new tank that is cycling? What do you mean by 'everything'?
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No the new tank isn't set up yet.
My 64 litre was fully cycled and was for about 8 months until ammonia started to appear. Lots of water changes, gravel (sand) vacs, no dead fish, installed new filters etc etc. The same results every time of 1-2 Ammonia, and no nitrites and no nitrates.

The new tank comes in because I'm switching everything over to that at the weekend - including the currently running filters.

I'm hoping that it's perhaps something in the sand generating ammonia, which will disappear with the substrate being replaced, other than that I'm at a loss. But I guess at the moment it's not worth fighting the issue (apart from water changes of course) unless the same occurs on the new tank.
 
Very interesting. You should probably start a new thread. You need to get to the root cause of the problem, or else you could risk a repeat of the same problem.

The things that comes to mind is a stalled cycle or an expired test kit. A stalled cycle would explain the excess ammonia and no NO2/NO3, that can happen with extremely low pH.

What is the pH of your tap water?

I'm assuming you're using tap water for your changes, correct?

Are you de-chlorinating the water with Prime or another de-chlorinator (not just a "water conditioner")?

So you were getting Nitrates after your tank was fully cycled?

I wouldn't think that there would be anything in the substrate that would be generating ammonia. Your fish generate ammonia, nothing else really does to that level.

The other thing that comes to mind is installing new filters. How long ago was that done? Did you replace all the filters?

Even if you did, there would still be bacteria on the glass and substrate, and you should be getting SOME Nitrates, unless if is extremely heavily planted then maybe not.

I love a good mystery....
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
Very interesting. You should probably start a new thread. You need to get to the root cause of the problem, or else you could risk a repeat of the same problem.
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I did, as I recall it was called "Ammonia in water" or similar. Didn't get much response unfortunately.

The things that comes to mind is a stalled cycle or an expired test kit. A stalled cycle would explain the excess ammonia and no NO2/NO3, that can happen with extremely low pH.
Click to expand...
Stalled cycle perhaps. Test kit is ok, tests 0 ammonia for tap water and the guppy tank. Just in case I bought a new ammonia kit (API Freshwater), same result.

What is the pH of your tap water?
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7.8

I'm assuming you're using tap water for your changes, correct?

Are you de-chlorinating the water with Prime or another de-chlorinator (not just a "water conditioner")?
Click to expand...
Interpet BioActive Tapsafe DeChlorinator. You can't get 'Prime' in the UK from what I've seen.

So you were getting Nitrates after your tank was fully cycled?
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Yes, although not usually higher than 5ppm.

The other thing that comes to mind is installing new filters. How long ago was that done? Did you replace all the filters?[/quotte]

I started seeing ammonia before I put any new filters in. I put in an additional internal filter to try to help - leaving the other one in place, Unfortunately it hasn't helped -yet. My suspicion was that the filter currently in there wasn't working properly, but the new filter has been in for 3 weeks now I'd have expected to see some change.

Even if you did, there would still be bacteria on the glass and substrate, and you should be getting SOME Nitrates, unless if is extremely heavily planted then maybe not.

I love a good mystery....
Click to expand...
No plants in this tank I'm afraid!
In addition I got a handful of gravel from the guppy tank (which is all fine) and put it in to see if it would help, but nothing.
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With that many fish, I would have expected to see the Nitrate level climb to at least 15-30 in a week with moderate feeding. That is very strange.

What's odd is that it's pretty difficult for a filter to work improperly. As long as there is water flowing through the filter pads, and you don't remove the filter pads and wash them in chlorinated water, or if you replace them you leave the old ones in with the new ones for a few days to a week to transfer the bacteria, it should be fine.

With the new filter added, that one will need to colonize with bacteria in order to take full effect. But that alone shouldn't cause the system to cycle again as long as the other filter is working.

What kind of filter is it, and what makes you think the filter isn't working right?

What is the pH of your tank?
 
Interpet PF2 not sure I just think the flow is slow compared to how it used to be.
Not sure about the pH as I'm away from home today, hopefully I'll test that tomorrow night.
 
Usually low flow is due over time is due to buildup of gunk around the impeller magnet. I notice it very much with my Tetra EX20, the flow is awesome right after cleaning and usually 1/3 of that within a few weeks. You have to take it all the way apart and clean with an old toothbrush under hot water (not filter pads obviously, swish or squeeze in a bucket of tank water). When was the last time you did that?

FYI this is an issue with every magnetic driven filter I've owned in over 20 years. Even my Marineland C-360 I take the magnet out every time I clean it (3 wks) and scrub.
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
Usually low flow is due over time is due to buildup of gunk around the impeller magnet. I notice it very much with my Tetra EX20, the flow is awesome right after cleaning and usually 1/3 of that within a few weeks. You have to take it all the way apart and clean with an old toothbrush under hot water (not filter pads obviously, swish or squeeze in a bucket of tank water). When was the last time you did that?
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Yeah I did figure that. But unless I'm missing something there's no way to take the filter apart in order to perform that kind of maintenance (there probably is but it's not obvious!).

My new Tetratec EX700 canister has instruction in the manual as how to do exactly that!
 
Floyd R Turbo said:
That's definitely a problem. I'll see if I can look that model up later today.
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Well, it's not a massive concern as I've had my Tetratec canister running for a few weeks now and I plan to get rid of the old filter as soon as possible, so even if it can be cleaned, I'm not going to bother at this stage.

(Having said that I intend to sell the tank on so it might be good to clean it up then!)
 
Hi darby:
It's me the desperate newbie, Can you me more specific about the de-clhorinator that you mentioned called Prime?
Thanks for all your help!
 
Tested my tank ammonia >1 again. pH 7.8 ish same as the tap water

Actually read at 8.8 originally but on testing again didn't get that result again.
 
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