Help? Uggggghhh Ammonia issues.

[Kwfowler]

I have a 55 gal tank with 2 goldfish, 7 cherry Barbs and 1 bristlenose pleco. 2 Marineland 350's for filtration. Substrate is a mixture of Petco "sand" and gravel. I, for the life of me can't understand why I cannot lower the ammonia levels. Ph - 7.0, ammonia stays at 4 ppm or more, nitrite - 0 ppm and Nitrates - 80 ppm (before my water change). I have done daily water changes of at least 30% for three solid weeks. Once an almost 70% water change for no results. I've added more fluval cycle Bacteria than I care to admit. Could my water conditioner be causing the ammonia readings? My tap water has 0 ppm ammonia. I'm at a loss, can it be this hard? What the ffffff is going on? My fish seem to be acting ok but I do use API ammolock every other day to help neutralize it but that screws my pH up.

[Aiken Drum]

How long has the tank been set up? Was it ever cycled? Is the high ammonia new or has it always been like that? What type of media and how much is in your filters?

In any case your tank isnt cycled now if it has been in the past. Keep up with water changes. If your tank isnt cycled you have a very large bioload for doing a fish in cycle.

[SaraB]

What temperature is your tank? You seem to have a mix if tropical fish with your coldwater goldfish.
When goldfish are put in tropical temperatures it increases their metabolism and poop more.

[Kwfowler]

Originally Posted by Aiken Drum

How long has the tank been set up? Was it ever cycled? Is the high ammonia new or has it always been like that? What type of media and how much is in your filters?

In any case your tank isnt cycled now if it has been in the past. Keep up with water changes. If your tank isnt cycled you have a very large bioload for doing a fish in cycle.

It had been cycled but I made the mistake of cleaning out my filtration and changing the filter all at the same time and ever since it has been a consistent mess. I have a combo of different materials in my filters now such as ceramic filter rings and biofilter balls topped with filter floss. But I'm confused as to why the nitrate levels are riding but the nitrite levels are staying at zero. If the ammonia is being converted to nitrate shouldn't nitrite be present as evidence of the conversion?

[Kwfowler]

Originally Posted by SaraB

What temperature is your tank? You seem to have a mix if tropical fish with your coldwater goldfish.
When goldfish are put in tropical temperatures it increases their metabolism and poop more.

When levels were good, I kept it around 73 degrees to try and find a happy medium for each. Was a mistake as I jumped into getting fish before thoroughly studying their required parameters. Now that I am having this problem I have it at 76 degrees as I have read a little warmer water helps BB growth.