Hello, so i just got my first fish tank about a month ago. my knowledge was extremely limited when it came to have an actual tank not just for goldfish. i went to my local fish store and received some incredibly awful advice from a disgruntled employee and after some research on my own i figured out what the Nitrogen cycle is. the tank is 20 gallons and has a penguin 150 filter in it and a heater as i intend on keeping tropical fish in it when it gets cycled. after about a week of running the tank i went to get some supplies from Pet-co and the fish guy told me it would help to have some good fish in there so i went home with 4 Tetras. within 24 hours one had already died after he was swimming somersaults in the tank ( he was later renamed "Torpedo Jim") soon the others followed within a week and were all dead. i have been using the API Stress coat to start my cycle and i only had the test strips to test my water until a few days ago and i bought the API mater kit. after testing my Ammonia my level read at 1.0. i just started doing water changes aswell. i started out with a 50% water change (as after about 3 weeks that was the first time it had been done) and about 5 days later did a 20% change again. its been a little over a week and my Ammonia levels are still reading the same 1.0 my question is am i doing anything wrong? i haven't put fish back in the tank since they first batch got flushed. but from what iv read the longest part of the cycle is the Nitrite to Nitrate part and the Ammonia doesn't take as long. is there anything i can do to help the process along. or at least not impede it further? any suggestions would be great thank you
First Freshwater tank and its Ammonia Level
- Thread starter xanark
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
FishieKeeper429
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Fishless cycles are better. Just add some fish food once a week to the empty tank and after a month and a half, you'll have a cycled tank and no dead fish!
3g betta
10g divided female betta sorority
10g freshwater community
40g red tailed shark
~Non aquatic~
20g gecko
3g betta
10g divided female betta sorority
10g freshwater community
40g red tailed shark
~Non aquatic~
20g gecko
So i was doing some more research and somebody suggested to test your tap water as it might have ammonia in it. so i did and iv got a reading of 2.0. from what iv read there is a chemical called Prime people are suggesting that neutralizes ammonia for 24 hours. but that's in a cycled tank where there is bacteria to deal with the incoming ammonia is there anything i can use for an uncycled tank like mine?
jessipanda
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hi xanark,
I was going to suggest testing your tap water. Since you did and found it has ammonia in it, then I was going to suggest Prime! Lol, as for using prime in an uncycled tank, there's no need without fish. Using prime to make the ammonia safe for 24 hours would be necessary if you had fish but you would need to do a full dose daily until the tank cycled.
Since you have no fish now, and there seems to be plenty of ammonia in your tap water, you don't need to add anything to fishless cycle it. Eventually, the ammonia will turn into nitrites, and then nitrites to nitrates. Once you can add 2ppm of ammonia to the tank and have it converted to nitrates within 24hrs, your tank is cycled and ready for fish. That's when the prime should be used. When you do your water changes, add prime for the amount of water your adding to the new water before putting it in the tank, if possible.
Typically, there shouldn't be ammonia in your tap water. Chlorine and chloramines can usually be found in small amounts if your water is from a treated city system. With such a high amount of ammonia, you should contact your water company and inquire about it. That's not safe for you, and is not great for even a cycled tank using prime since it's such a high amount. Try letting a bowl of tap water sit out for 24 hours, then test it and see if that helps. If so, you'd want to use aged water for both your fish and your drinking water.
I was going to suggest testing your tap water. Since you did and found it has ammonia in it, then I was going to suggest Prime! Lol, as for using prime in an uncycled tank, there's no need without fish. Using prime to make the ammonia safe for 24 hours would be necessary if you had fish but you would need to do a full dose daily until the tank cycled.
Since you have no fish now, and there seems to be plenty of ammonia in your tap water, you don't need to add anything to fishless cycle it. Eventually, the ammonia will turn into nitrites, and then nitrites to nitrates. Once you can add 2ppm of ammonia to the tank and have it converted to nitrates within 24hrs, your tank is cycled and ready for fish. That's when the prime should be used. When you do your water changes, add prime for the amount of water your adding to the new water before putting it in the tank, if possible.
Typically, there shouldn't be ammonia in your tap water. Chlorine and chloramines can usually be found in small amounts if your water is from a treated city system. With such a high amount of ammonia, you should contact your water company and inquire about it. That's not safe for you, and is not great for even a cycled tank using prime since it's such a high amount. Try letting a bowl of tap water sit out for 24 hours, then test it and see if that helps. If so, you'd want to use aged water for both your fish and your drinking water.
Similar threads
