Ammonia Strikes Back!

[Ilikefishes]

I currently am reading .25 ppm of ammonia in both my 29g and 55g. My 29g has no plants anymore, and is being used as a QT, before I bought new Golden Barbs today it had 6 otos keeping my diatom algae at bay, and read .25

My 55g is very lightly planted right now, and is reading .25 as well, with 11 neons, 5 rainbows, 1 BN pleco (baby), 2 gold barbs, 1 atya shrimp, 1 RTBS, and 1 betta.

The 29g is being filtered by a Fluval 205.
The 55g is under AC70 and an AC50.

Should I switch conditioners to Prime?
Should I increase my Water Change routine?
Should I clean my Filter media?

 

[logansmomma1228]

What are you using to test the water? Have the tanks cycled? Have they been stable up until this point? How often do you change the water?

 

[harmy4993]

You said your onetank isnt planted anymore and the other is only lightly planted now. What i take from that is they use to be alot more plants? If you recently took out alot of plants then your tank is just making adjustments. The bactira that was living on the plants is now gone. So your bactira bio load is adjusting. If that makes sense. Shouldnt take long to clear up. I would do a water change thou cause the ammonia is still bad.

 

[krap101]

.25 ammonia is acceptable (not as good as 0 obviously), but while it is cycling, you probably want to try to stay between 0 and .35ish (I think .5 and the red light should start going off, and beyond that your fish should be showing noticeable signs of distress.

Right now, if you keep your water changes up, you just need something that takes out chlorine and chloramine from your water. I'm unsure of the mechanics, but I think Prime changes ammonia into some other state, and I'm not sure whether or not if it is still suitable for cycling.

If you choose to clean your filter media, do it in dechlorinated (possibly used tankwater) and only clean to increase flow to reasonable levels until your cycle is done. Your filter probably contains your largest amounts of beneficial bacteria, so you should only clean if the flow on your filter is really low.

For water changes, I'd imagine you'll need to do a wc maybe every day or every other day. Try to keep your ammonia and nitrites under .25 and your nitrates under 40.

You should probably also test for nitrites at least to see how far along your tank is. (How old is it?)

I'm unclear to whether or not the 29 has fish in it? If it is a QT and has no fish, you'll want piggyback the filter on the 55 until you get fish, and maybe bleach it after each set of new fish, and then reseed on your 55. (I'll rephrase it because I kind of confused myself.)

Each time you enter new fish into quarantine, it'd be best to have a seeded filter ready, so keep it on your 55 when your 29 is empty. So you don't introduce anything into your 55, bleach the fluval, and put it back on the 55.

If you're going to be adding fish for awhile, it might be easier to use one of the aquaclears for the quarantine rather than changing/cleaning the media in the fluval every time you get a new fish. (Don't forget to dechlorinate)

HTH

 

[Ilikefishes]

The 205 is on the 29g because that was my show tank, I've had the AC70 and 50 on the 55 for about a month, the AC50 was cycled on the 29g so I used it to accelerate the cycle on the 55g with the AC70. The 29g is being used as a qt with Otos, and now has 4 Gold Barbs in it along with a Female Betta. I guess I'll just do more WCs for the next couple weeks. I'll give them each a shot of Cycle and see how that does. I'm just frustrated because the 29g was established with the 205 and AC50. I guess I disrupted the environment when I transferred the plants. I'm also gonna switch to Prime to kill the ammonia. I just don't know how natural that is, because Beneficial Bacteria should do that on its own.

Also, the Nitrites are at 0. I forgot to mention that orginally.

 

[krap101]

If you don't have any nitrates either, something drastic must have happened to kill off your bacteria. Moving plants would still leave you with your bacteria in the substrate along with the filter, and you should only be experiencing a mini cycle. If you do have nitrates, then it might be a mini cycle, and just your ammonia bacteria are falling behind the nitrite bacteria.

Did something else happen that might have killed the bacteria in the substrate/filter? If not, then you're in alot better shape than I originally thought.

 

[Ilikefishes]

Nothing could've happened, I just probably need to do more water changes until bacteria builds up in the substrate on the 55g, and until the AC70 cycles. I'm still confused on my 29g, I plan to replant that tank soon, and use the AC50 on a 10g for QT. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Ilikefishes]

and girls

 

[logansmomma1228]

lol well i pretty much asked questions, they all got the rest

 

[krap101]

Can you do a nitrate test on the 29?