Ammonia in fish tank???
- Thread starter SuperRD35
- Start date
Any ammonia is bad for fish. How long has the tank been set up? If it is a new tank then it is not cycled yet. If it has been running for a while then most likely you are over feeding or do not have enough biological filtration.
i have 2 55gallons tat are running. I recently moved the tanks from the garage to my room about a week now. Gor one 55 i used half original water. The other tank i used about 20% of the oringinal water. I added tap water to both the tanks tat were conditioned. There is a 7inch fish in one 55 and a 5 and 3.5 inch in the other 55. I think i do feed them Lot but they eat all the food i give them. I feed them about 3-4 times a day. Could it be my over feeding? Maybe the tank hasnt cycled yet? Could it be my filteration or water movement?
IMO you need to get some better filtration. For HOB filters I like to use ones that have bio-wheels. These are able to house alot more beneficial bacteria therefore increasing your biological filtration. Personally I am a big fan of the Penguin 350. On all my 55 gal I use two penguin 350's.
I've delt with ammonia before and the best thing to do is go to your local pet store and buy some ammonia reducer that will get rid of it and if your looking to speed up your cycle they have a bottle of stuff for that too, of I get a new tank I put a bunch of it in and I put my fish in within 3 or 4 days. If you are looking for better filtration then it is never a bad thing to go over the tank limit for a tank in fact it better if you have a filter that does at least double the size of your tank, I have a 200 gallon filter on my 72 gal and it works like a charm, never had any problems with it.
The reason you have ammonia is because you killed some of the beneficial bacteria in the move. This also happens often when doing large water changes. If you increase your filtration your bacteria colonies will grow larger and able to cope with shocks to the system better. For now I would hold off feeding for a couple days and keep an eye on your levels. Your ammonia should drop down and you will see a spike in your nitrite levels. After your nitrite levels peak they will start to drop and you will start reading nitrate levels. At this point everything should be back to normal and you will need to do a water change. I would definately add some more filtration though.