LeAnne
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hello - I was on here last week and received assistance for my 75 gl and 55 gl tanks - cycle not finished. - problems with high ammonia and high nitrates. There are fish in the tanks.
I have tested the water in both every day and this is what is happening:
pH level on both tanks is always 7.8 to 8.2 - I am not going to tinker with it - fish will have to adjust and I will watch what I get in the future that they are compatible with higher pH levels.
Ammonia levels - will be .50 - I do PWC of 15 to 20% - with Prime - will go down to .25 - back up to .50 the very next day. I have been alternating every other night PWC and the nights inbetween - I add Prime. I am adding way more Prime that I should have to. I figure this gives me a 24 hr window to do the PWC the next night. This has been going on for a week now.
Nitrites are 0 - always! Yay! (I hope)
Nitrates - averaging 40 - 80 on the 55 gl --- 80 lowest - up to 160 on the 75 gl. I had it jump from 80 to 120 the next day.
75 gl is home to a 15 in clown knife fish - 15 in gold pleco - 8 in catfish - and now three 3 inch flower horn ciclids that my son got from a pet store that is clearing out its inventory - so they were cheap, cheap. The knife fish has been averaging getting fed about 1 every 3 days - live feeder fish - the others eat flake food, floating pellets, algae pellets - and try not to overfeed. There are never any feeder fish left in the tank usually. I added a seeded filter to it last week also to help with the bacteria.
55 gl I now realize is probably overstocked due to my and the kids wants - suffice it to say I added up the "inches" of fish and got to 67. However, once I get a 20 gl started (am starting the fishless cycle tonight) I am putting all the meanies in it as they ate all my neons and a few other little ones which upset me greatly. The culprits (I think anyway) are 2 pictus catfish about 5 inch long each, 1 black shark - 4 in. - 1 blue gourami 4 in. that chases all the others around so he is out of there - possibly 2 beunas aires - they chase also - and 1 6 in pleco so there is one in the 20 gl tank also. Oh, I also added a seeded filter to this tank about a week ago (like the 75 gl).
Okay, so that is what is going on - my question is - what to do about the constant ammonia reading levels at .25 and .50? At .50, I sense my fish are stressing and I think I have lost some due to the chronic ammonia.
I checked my tap water I am using - which goes through a water softener and then I always add at least 1 cap of Prime for approximately 14 gal. The ammonia level on my tap water (without Prime) is reading at between .50 and 1.0!! Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I know (now) that I rushed the cycle - I had tried to set up each tank using Turbo Start. Sure wish I would of come across this forum before I did anything - still on a huge guilt trip over the fish loss I created!
Anyway, I am starting a fishless cycle on the 20 gl tonight - using a seeded filter (thank God for my daughter's silly little 10 gl with her beloved goldfish in it!) It also has been a safe haven for my beautiful huge angel and blue ram until my ammonia problem get settled!
I know this is long but a couple of you helped me out tremendously last week!
I have tested the water in both every day and this is what is happening:
pH level on both tanks is always 7.8 to 8.2 - I am not going to tinker with it - fish will have to adjust and I will watch what I get in the future that they are compatible with higher pH levels.
Ammonia levels - will be .50 - I do PWC of 15 to 20% - with Prime - will go down to .25 - back up to .50 the very next day. I have been alternating every other night PWC and the nights inbetween - I add Prime. I am adding way more Prime that I should have to. I figure this gives me a 24 hr window to do the PWC the next night. This has been going on for a week now.
Nitrites are 0 - always! Yay! (I hope)
Nitrates - averaging 40 - 80 on the 55 gl --- 80 lowest - up to 160 on the 75 gl. I had it jump from 80 to 120 the next day.
75 gl is home to a 15 in clown knife fish - 15 in gold pleco - 8 in catfish - and now three 3 inch flower horn ciclids that my son got from a pet store that is clearing out its inventory - so they were cheap, cheap. The knife fish has been averaging getting fed about 1 every 3 days - live feeder fish - the others eat flake food, floating pellets, algae pellets - and try not to overfeed. There are never any feeder fish left in the tank usually. I added a seeded filter to it last week also to help with the bacteria.
55 gl I now realize is probably overstocked due to my and the kids wants - suffice it to say I added up the "inches" of fish and got to 67. However, once I get a 20 gl started (am starting the fishless cycle tonight) I am putting all the meanies in it as they ate all my neons and a few other little ones which upset me greatly. The culprits (I think anyway) are 2 pictus catfish about 5 inch long each, 1 black shark - 4 in. - 1 blue gourami 4 in. that chases all the others around so he is out of there - possibly 2 beunas aires - they chase also - and 1 6 in pleco so there is one in the 20 gl tank also. Oh, I also added a seeded filter to this tank about a week ago (like the 75 gl).
Okay, so that is what is going on - my question is - what to do about the constant ammonia reading levels at .25 and .50? At .50, I sense my fish are stressing and I think I have lost some due to the chronic ammonia.
I checked my tap water I am using - which goes through a water softener and then I always add at least 1 cap of Prime for approximately 14 gal. The ammonia level on my tap water (without Prime) is reading at between .50 and 1.0!! Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I know (now) that I rushed the cycle - I had tried to set up each tank using Turbo Start. Sure wish I would of come across this forum before I did anything - still on a huge guilt trip over the fish loss I created!
Anyway, I am starting a fishless cycle on the 20 gl tonight - using a seeded filter (thank God for my daughter's silly little 10 gl with her beloved goldfish in it!) It also has been a safe haven for my beautiful huge angel and blue ram until my ammonia problem get settled!
I know this is long but a couple of you helped me out tremendously last week!