Relatively New Tank - First Timer Troubles?

[daileene]

+1

 

[JasInRoswell]

thanks for the encouragement. This ammonia level is really ticking me off. Another PWC today (about 20%) ammonia level is steady at around .5 - 1.0. When doing a PWC, I'm using the gravel vacuum. Is this getting rid of helpful bacteria in the gravel? Should i just syphon water and not worry about gravel for a while?

Thanks.

 

[Homedog98]

It's worth a shot, but I kind of doubt it, since you have as much if not more bacteria in your filter. But only siphon in sections, don't do the whole thing at once. Like, do half one day, and the other half two days later, so if your bacteria is getting sucked up, it doesn't get completely sucked up.

 

[Love_MyFish]

Try This

Well, looks like I have ammonia down below .5. Also looks like I'm getting a faint reading on nitrates.

Bought an AP master test kit, but those results are off the chart. I don't know how I can screw it up, but it shows my ammonia so dark green, it can't be reconciled. The pH also shows off the chart, but my digital and regular test strips show 6.8 - 7.1.

Fish are all doing well. Everyone is active and no overt signs of trouble.

Do a 75%pwc NOW! go to LFS and by nutrafin /cycle. I know most people in the forum say "NO" to Chemicals and normally I do, but with reading this high I would get some good bacteria in there ASAP, NFC worked for me, check the date and pray. I'd spend the 10 bucks vs. loosing your fish or making them suffer....

 

[JasInRoswell]

Ok. I took some time away to try Cycle and see if that would help with the ammonia. The readings have pretty much stayed the same through the last 10 days. Ammonia at about 1, nitrAtes at about 5, no nitrItes.

Today, I decided to do a 75% PWC. When I got my new water ready with Prime, I tested it for ammonia. It came up 0. I also tested the remaining water in the tank, and that was at about 1.5.

Got the new water into the tank, and the ammonia is showing up about .75. The seachem in tank ammonia sensor is showing a shade over 'safe'. Not quite the alert shade, not quite the safe shade.

I am frustrated by the ammonia, and the seemingly failure of the bacteria colonies to get going. However, the fish all seem to be doing great. They're active and their colors are vibrant. None are showing any signs of ammonia sickness (gasping, red marks, etc...).

What's funny is that on the 20gal tank I set up in the kids room, I'm not seeing ammonia go down there either. It's been set up for about 2 weeks now. I'm fishless cycling and used pure ammonia to get it going. I'm much more patient with this (even if the kids are getting salty) as there are no fish at stake yet.

Oh well, I'll keep on keeping on. I am encouraged by the fact that I haven't lost any fish since I started this thread.

 

[daileene]

That is good to know that you have not lost any fish yet. You are doing good. Have you tried doing a PWC twice a day? I don't know if you tried that already. I have a 10G with koi, 2 fancy goldfish, and 2 plecos (all are heavy bioloaders--meaning, more bioload, more ammonia). So I had to do 2-3 times 50-70% PWC and it does help the ammonia level to stay at least 0.25ppm which is somewhat okay with the fish residents. They said if you have 1ppm of ammonia, do a 50% PWC that would bring you down to .50ppm, then do another 50% PWC and it will bring you down to 0.25ppm.

Fishless cycle is good...normally ammonia will go down when you see the nitrite levels around the beginning of the 3rd week.

 

[cubsfan85]

When I stocked too soon and my cycle restarted, I found that doing even 50% water changes wasn't getting the ammonia low for very long. I then tried doing large water changes back to back, and that is what did the trick.

Sent from my HTC Eris using Aquarium

 

[vikki.kixx]

jas,

i'm about in the same predicament as you are. and i'm doing about the same thing you are.

the guys/girls in the forum are very very helpful

i havent lost a fish since sometime last week and that was a guppy with obvious signs of ammonia poisoning.

right now we are doing daily treatments with prime. we haven't done a pwc since last week when we did a full on water change because we were not getting anywhere with our ammonia. we have the api test kit and the same meter in the tank as you do..right now the api test kit is reading .25 and the meter in the tank is reading between the safe and alert level.

i'm beyond frustrated with ammonia!! i hope you start seeing some results

also, my molly just gave birth and i'm hoping the babies make it!

 

[JasInRoswell]

I haven't done multiple PWC in a day. However, the idea of back to back 50% PWC's intrigues me. The seachem sensor is showing just a shade over safe now. The AP kit is showing about .5. I think it's close, so maybe this will be the ticket.

Since I am getting some nitrAte reading, is it safe to assume the biological filter is working, but just not yet fully handling the bioload? So say the fish and food are putting out X amount of ammonia daily, the biofilter may be handling X-.5 ppm? Is that how it works, or is there more to it? Or, could the biofilter be handling the bioload just fine, but is having a problem with the residual ammonia in there? Is it possible I've still got some ammonia bound and unusable to the biofilter?

So very frustrating - but I'm learning a lot about nitrogen!

Fish continue to be happy. It does look like I've got some brown algae forming on the sails of my pirate ship though. The algae eater is loving that boat.

 

[JasInRoswell]

Last night, I did 2 consecutive 50% PWC's on the tank. The ammonia was about .5 before the PWC. After, it's barely registering in the liquid - I have to concentrate real hard to make out a hint of green, and the seachem in tank sensor shows safe. The test strip also shows yellow. So, definitely on the right track.

Showing a low nitrAte reading - maybe 5. NitrIte is steady at 0.

Here are my newbie assumptions -

1. I stocked too fast, and fed too much
2. My ammonia level now is barely present - if this continues for a time, say a week or two, then I can assume my biofilter is appropriately handling the bioload of the fish. An increase will show that the biofilter is not yet handling the load. What does the low nitrAte level indicate? Room for growth in bioload, or just that things are humming along fairly well?

It seems I have some brown algae on the sails of my pirate ship decoration and on one of the plastic plants. My little algae eater is loving life, and from what I've read, it's not harmful. I have considered getting a couple snails to help out with it - can those be added safely at this point, or wait the couple of weeks?

Thanks!