Ammonia Emergency in Non-Cycling Tank?

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M

Madding

The Ninth Holostei
MFK Member
May 11, 2009
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My 500 gallon has recently had ammonia flare up to dangerous levels (8.0). The tank has been running for over a year, the filtration is two fluval fx5's and a 30 gallon sump. Aside from water changes I've not done anything to the tank. The tap water is measuring ammonia at 0 to .25 depending on the day, usually 0. Despite 30% water changes, I'm having trouble getting it down.

The tank has ten gars and a lungfish in it, so the bioload is big. I've cut back on feeding over the last couple of days.

The pH is low in the tank @ 6.0 compared to the tap water @ 7.5 pH.

Tonight during the water change I was thinking of cleaning out the sump. Would this help or hurt?

I rely mostly on the overflows and the sump activity for aeration, would adding more surface agitation in the tank help at all?

Any advice is appreciated. I've dealt with ammonia before but wasn't sure how to approach it with such a large volume of water. Should I keep up the water changes or resort to chems to raise the pH and try dropping the ammonia?
 
Have you searched the tank for something decaying? Maybe behind driftwood or down in the overflow box? Your tank is heavily stocked but I would expect high nitrite/nitrate instead of ammonia. I'd continue with large water changes for now as well so the ammonia doesn't cause any damage to your fish. Also, just a thought but do you have enough bio media?
 
KNH said:
Have you searched the tank for something decaying? Maybe behind driftwood or down in the overflow box? Your tank is heavily stocked but I would expect high nitrite/nitrate instead of ammonia. I'd continue with large water changes for now as well so the ammonia doesn't cause any damage to your fish. Also, just a thought but do you have enough bio media?
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Two days ago I took out a big piece of driftwood and cleaned up any excess stuff I found, which was minimal. I can double check the overflows for decaying food. I think they are clean but I might have missed a chunk of something.

My sump has two trays of bioballs getting hit and the fluvals both have a tray each full of the ceramic rings. Otherwise the media is mostly just standard stuff for keeping ammonia down (lol), carbon, etc.

I just started on the ammonia issue about two days ago, but I am guessing it has been going on for about a week (cuban gar has been darker than normal, good water indicator).

After work I'll be doing another 30% water change. Do you think I should clean the sump?
 
Um Below a pH 7 it would be NH4 not NH3, so non toxic , sounds like you have more bio wast produced than you have Bacteria to reduce it. , maybe to many fish for the tank? NH4 is non toxic compared to NH3.
 
It should probably be mentioned that the second fluval fx5 has only been running for about two days. Like I said I realized a week or so ago that there was an issue with the water so I ordered one. So while the new filter hasn't been up long enough to be the source of the problem it hopefully will be helping with the waste levels. Two days might not be enough time to see how much help it is giving.

Um Below a pH 7 it would be NH4 not NH3, so non toxic , sounds like you have more bio wast produced than you have Bacteria to reduce it. , maybe to many fish for the tank? NH4 is non toxic compared to NH3.
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Well this is reassuring, I was not aware of this
 
Check the sump for decaying matter but don't over clean it and disturb the good bacteria you have. I'm not clear on how large your trays of media are but I would add ceramic media/bioballs etc. You have some big beautiful gars in there and it would be a shame to lose any of them. Do you use filter floss of some sort to catch debris going into your overflow?
 
Adding the second fluvial should help but it will take time. Did you seed it from your other media? It should be fine if you didn't but seeding seems to speed up the process. I gave away my gars awhile ago so I haven't seen any pics of your tank in a long time. I'll have to go check some of your posts.
 
I don't have filter floss in the overflows, I can look into that. Also easy enough to add more ceramic media to my sump.

KNH, click the poem in my signature to go to my youtube page. My most recent stuff is there.

Thank you for your words on my stock, I would hate to lose any of them, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get the levels down. I had to take the eel and the catfish out of the tank because they are not as hardy as the air breathers. I could tell the water was giving them trouble, again about 5-7 days ago it started.
 
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