Water Changes to Drop Ammonia

[muffywrx]

Egon makes a good point ...

As far as the biowheels go, they are not the best source of biomedia. What is your filtration like? Or do you just have HOBs without biowheels now? This could be why you are having issues.

 

[bjbass]

How are your fish doing? Seriously? Are they gasping for air? 50% water change per week is above average. Very good in my opinion. I think you should focus on your fish, are they active? Fins up, alert, feeding, getting fat, growing? That's the true test. I wouldn't sweat it if the fish are fine and growing.

They are fine. No gasping for air. They seem happy swimming around without clamped fins and eating fine. They are also growing just fine. I think it is one of those things where I know there shouldn't be any ammonia and so I try to keep at it.

 

[bjbass]

What is your bio load? Is the bio wheels your only bio filtration? Feeding schedule? I also find that you shouldn't change more than 50% at a time. I also used to do 75% water changes and found that my parameters always fluctuated. Then I started doing 50% exactly weekly sometimes 2x weekly and its fine. Also It would ideally be better to do 20% daily. Or set up a drip system.

My bio load is two sunfish, a crappie, a bullhead, and a bass. I think you and I have the same setup more or less. I remember we talked last year when I was setting it up. I have an Aqueon 210 with the dual overflows and a Marineland Model 4 sump. I usually feed every other day or every third day. Yes my bio wheels are my only biological filtration. Yesterday I added a bunch of scrubbies into my filter trays and those I won't use tap water to clean. I will only clean the first tray that way that is the prefilter media and the carbon pillow in the second tray.

 

[bjbass]

Egon makes a good point ...

As far as the biowheels go, they are not the best source of biomedia. What is your filtration like? Or do you just have HOBs without biowheels now? This could be why you are having issues.

I have two biowheels that came with my sump. (Marineland Model 4) They are directly under my filter trays. What is a HOB?

 

[Bderick67]

What is your pH level? Is it very low?

 

[bjbass]

What is your pH level? Is it very low?

Yes... that is another problem I have. When I test with my API kit it comes up as 6.0... which is the lowest test level reading. When I do a large water change it will go up to 6.4, but then within a day or two it goes back down. Could this have something to do with my problem?

 

[Bderick67]

I believe the Api kit only goes down to 6.0 so it could be lower. Ammonia is much less toxic in lower pH but the bacteria that consumes ammonia does not thrive well in increased acidic conditions. Your water seems to be very unstable, buffer wise, what is the level of your carbonate hardness(alkalinity) and general hardness?

 

[bjbass]

I believe the Api kit only goes down to 6.0 so it could be lower. Ammonia is much less toxic in lower pH but the bacteria that consumes ammonia does not thrive well in increased acidic conditions. Your water seems to be very unstable, buffer wise, what is the level of your carbonate hardness(alkalinity) and general hardness?

How can I figure out the level of hardness? I am not familiar with this. I don't think we have really hard water, but I think it is somewhat. I don't use water softener in my water, but I don't know if I need to either. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for your responses.

 

[muffywrx]

There should be gh and kh tests at the petstore you can pick up (or order online). Harder water will make it less acidic I think.

The scrubbies should help immensely as far as bioload goes, as biowheels are not that great. I would load your sump up with them and not rely on the biowheels. They are okay in a smaller setting but probably not enough on your tank.

Now we just have to figure out why your pH is low. If it is 6, that might be okay, but if lower, that is not good.

Do you have a deep sand bed? I think I have heard of sand getting shifted around, and anaerobic pockets coming out and dropping the pH.

You can add things to your sump to raise pH, but I don't want to go there yet until we figure out why.

 

[bjbass]

There should be gh and kh tests at the petstore you can pick up (or order online). Harder water will make it less acidic I think.

The scrubbies should help immensely as far as bioload goes, as biowheels are not that great. I would load your sump up with them and not rely on the biowheels. They are okay in a smaller setting but probably not enough on your tank.

Now we just have to figure out why your pH is low. If it is 6, that might be okay, but if lower, that is not good.

Do you have a deep sand bed? I think I have heard of sand getting shifted around, and anaerobic pockets coming out and dropping the pH.

You can add things to your sump to raise pH, but I don't want to go there yet until we figure out why.

My sand bed is 1-2" inches deep, with 1" being the norm. I try to stir up the sand when I do water change, but maybe I need to be more diligent with it?