how to get my ammonia down

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KATALEKEEPER

KATALEKEEPER

Dovii
MFK Member
Nov 18, 2020
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Brooklyn, Ny
So my fish Peri died. And like often when a fish dies, the ammonia in my tank spiked. It is currently at .25-.50 pmm. This is a hard water African cichlid tank, and I just did a water change. I currently have one penguin 350 running on it, and 9 2-3 inch peacock. It is 3 months old. How should I get the ammonia down?
 
You can use products like seachem prime to neutralize the ammonia.
Keep doing regular water changes till your biological filtration catches up.
Additional biological media will give you more bio capacity.
 
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What do you have in the penguin for filtration?
I take the cartridges out and replaced them with foam blocks.
It vastly increase biological space and saves from buying the cartridges.
I just rinse the foam and put it back.
 
BIG-G said:
What do you have in the penguin for filtration?
I take the cartridges out and replaced them with foam blocks.
It vastly increase biological space and saves from buying the cartridges.
I just rinse the foam and put it back.
Click to expand...
I bought pinky floss, and have bio rings in there. i replaced the catridges.
 
BIG-G said:
You can use products like seachem prime to neutralize the ammonia.
Keep doing regular water changes till your biological filtration catches up.
Additional biological media will give you more bio capacity.
Click to expand...
good idea! i have already added stabilityl
 
KATALEKEEPER said:
good idea! i have already added stabilityl
Click to expand...
I’m not that familiar with all these products.
Does stability do anything to lock or neutralize ammonia like prime? Or is it just to kick start the biological process?
If it doesn’t neutralize the ammonia quickly you may want to add something else.
 
KATALEKEEPER said:
... And like often when a fish dies, the ammonia in my tank spiked...
Click to expand...
At face value, this is a strange statement to me. I am failing to see a connection... unless, I guess, you keep feeding a dying fish that doesn't feed and you don't remove the uneaten rotting feed.

The ammonia appears for one reason: bioload / bioproduction exceeds the biofiltration capability.
 
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thebiggerthebetter said:
At face value, this is a strange statement to me. I am failing to see a connection... unless, I guess, you keep feeding a dying fish that doesn't feed and you don't remove the uneaten rotting feed.

The ammonia appears for one reason: bioload / bioproduction exceeds the biofiltration capability.
Click to expand...
I just assumed that If the fish were to start to decompose it could add directly to the ammonia spike.

I suppose the ammonia could be the cause rather than the effect.
 
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