African Cichlids dying

[AfroCich89]

Okay, this may seem like a stupid question, but what does it mean by PPM?

[mfdrookie516]

parts per million. in other words, one drop of ammonia in a tank with 999,999 drops of water will make 1ppm (theoretically)

[AfroCich89]

So starting out how much ammonia should I put into the tank? Sorry if I seem so ignorant, I did research and this is something I never found.

[mattrox]

You add a little gradually until your tests give the reading of 4ppm.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums...es-103339.html

You really need to read this.... All the questions you are asking are in here. Read it well, and read it often as this will save you time. And if you follow this exactly all you need to do is be patient.

[AfroCich89]

Well it has basically been reading 4.0 ppm. I tested the water yesterday and it was at 4.0. I'm just so confused as to what I'm doing wrong.

[mattrox]

You are doing nothing wrong. Just test morning and night and top up the ammonia to 4ppm. When you test and the ammonia levels are dropping fast, then test for nitrite.

[AfroCich89]

Okay so I decided to try something else. I cleaned the tank out completely....again... And this time I decided to use a product called Ammo-Chips. Basically from what I researched this is supposed to get rid of the ammonia and keep it out. I don't know how familiar you guys are with this product but it seems like it's pretty trustworthy. Any thoughts?

[Aquarium1]

Just sayin, I don't think you can cycle if you have ammo chips in their because the bacteria won't live without ammonia to convert to nitrite and then nitrite to convert to nitrate. If you have ammo chips they don't have any ammonia to eat/live off of. Although I can't say I'm 100% for sure on this since I haven't used Ammo Chips before.

[mfdrookie516]

im thinking the same thing as wayne, not to mention that they have the ability to become a source of high nitrates and possibly leach ammonia back in to the system... not a good idea imo

[DragonFish71]

Ammo-chips are for removing ammonia. Like I suggested to you before, do not use ammonia removing chemicals so that you can have a cycled tank. You want ammonia to start so the cycle can start. All you are doing is stalling the cycle and you will never have a cycled tank. I have given you links to follow about cycling your tank. You really need to read them. What's going to happen is you will end up killing more fish. Please read the links and learn about the cycle and stop with the chemicals.

[mattrox]

Can I just say that you have not listened to any advice.

Expect a cycle to take 6 weeks. You can't just "clean out" the tank and expect things to happen. Every time you do this it is another 6 weeks wait.

I have given my advice, others have given theirs, you have done nothing near what anyone has said. You haven't listened or taken any advice. At this point you are wasting peoples time.

It is clear you don't listen or refuse to heed the advice of many people with many years of experience. To me it is starting to sound like you are a... sorry for being blunt ... "a spoiled brat". You want it now and have stopped listening. If you continue along this line there will be another 3 pages of posts with no solution. All I can think is that you are deliberately being a pest. There was a case of this years ago and that member got banned. I wonder if any mods remember......

Take the advice given, follow it and see you in 6 weeks when you are ready to stock...... I'm done with this thread.

[Aquarium1]

I just wanted to add that if properly cycled, it doesn't exactly have to take 6 weeks. Mine took exactly 21 days to cycle. However you have to go about it the right way. You can't just add ammo chips and expect that to do the work for you because eventually they'll stop working and you'll have a big ammonia spike. The way I cycled it is I just put a few pinches of fish food in everyday and pretend like you have fish in it and eventually it will cycle, but it won't if you have those ammochips in there. HTH