ammonia spike and new fish.

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milkman407

milkman407

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Jul 15, 2006
5,163
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in a house
I've been hesitant to even post this question on here, as I've been a member for a extremely long time and have seen some people get blasted.

filteration :

fx6 with a mass amount of biomax and sponges
ac 110 hob filter
diy sponge filter that also holds 2 boxes of biomax hooked up to a air pump

tank: 60 gallon growout tank. ( yes I have a bigger tank, yes I know my arowana needs a bigger tank, No I can't put anyone in that tank yet because they will get eaten)

Stock list prior to ammonia spike:
1x leichardti arowana 8"
6x clown loaches 3-5"
1x ngt datnoid 2.5"

I didn't even think about this when I did it, as I've done this multiple times in the past and never had a issue where my ammonia spiked, but I'm guessing that was because it was in a much larger tank ( growout tank to main tank )

I added 7x 3-4" datnoids on friday the 18th, fed them some bloodworms maybe 4 hours after getting them, all eating and healthy, was nice to see they ate right away.

This tank filtration wise is overkill and I know that the beneficial bacteria needs to catch up to the new bioload that's in the tank. My PH stays round 6.5 so a lot of my ammonia is actually ammonium and it's reading at about 1.0ppm, I did have a small Nitrite spike when I first tested, but that is no longer the case. I've done 1x 50% w/c and every day after i've been doing about 10 gallons a day and using prime.

main question I guess is, how long does this usually take until the bacteria takes control and the tank settles back down. Everyone is doing fine minus my leichardti nipping at everything that comes near the top of the tank. I've kept the lights off, and have reduced feeding to 2x a week and small amounts ( they consume what's in the tank in maybe 60 seconds).
 
milkman407 said:
I've been hesitant to even post this question on here, as I've been a member for a extremely long time and have seen some people get blasted.

filteration :

fx6 with a mass amount of biomax and sponges
ac 110 hob filter
diy sponge filter that also holds 2 boxes of biomax hooked up to a air pump

tank: 60 gallon growout tank. ( yes I have a bigger tank, yes I know my arowana needs a bigger tank, No I can't put anyone in that tank yet because they will get eaten)

Stock list prior to ammonia spike:
1x leichardti arowana 8"
6x clown loaches 3-5"
1x ngt datnoid 2.5"

I didn't even think about this when I did it, as I've done this multiple times in the past and never had a issue where my ammonia spiked, but I'm guessing that was because it was in a much larger tank ( growout tank to main tank )

I added 7x 3-4" datnoids on friday the 18th, fed them some bloodworms maybe 4 hours after getting them, all eating and healthy, was nice to see they ate right away.

This tank filtration wise is overkill and I know that the beneficial bacteria needs to catch up to the new bioload that's in the tank. My PH stays round 6.5 so a lot of my ammonia is actually ammonium and it's reading at about 1.0ppm, I did have a small Nitrite spike when I first tested, but that is no longer the case. I've done 1x 50% w/c and every day after i've been doing about 10 gallons a day and using prime.

main question I guess is, how long does this usually take until the bacteria takes control and the tank settles back down. Everyone is doing fine minus my leichardti nipping at everything that comes near the top of the tank. I've kept the lights off, and have reduced feeding to 2x a week and small amounts ( they consume what's in the tank in maybe 60 seconds).
Click to expand...
I would say a few weeks maybe? I would also feed way less and do more wc
 
[/QUOTE]
Fishyboy🐟🐟🐟 said:
I would say a few weeks maybe? I would also feed way less and do more wc
Click to expand...

the feeding only consists of 2 cubes of blood worms. I wasn't expecting a " few weeks " I'll take the filter off of my hospital tank and add it on to this one I suppose.

eddit: apparently I can't see colors very well, my partner is saying it's .5ppm which is a little less stressful.
 
Last edited:


the feeding only consists of 2 cubes of blood worms. I wasn't expecting a " few weeks " I'll take the filter off of my hospital tank and add it on to this one I suppose.
[/QUOTE]
Like 1 cube every other day or 2 days and remove uneaten blood worms and if u want add more bb to speed process.
 
If the filter is seasoned (been on a stocked tank for a long time) it shouldn't take long.
If the hospital tank doesn't contain fish, that extra media won't matter.
If the filter and its media are all new (unseasoned) it could take 2 months..
The amount of media is not all that critical, its whether or not the media has been on a similarly stocked tank, to the one its going on, then, only a small amount of media is sufficient.
The beneficial bacteria does not grow because there is more media, that bacterial population reflects, and it grows or ebbs according to its food supply, and aerobic conditions.
 
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the feeding only consists of 2 cubes of blood worms. I wasn't expecting a " few weeks " I'll take the filter off of my hospital tank and add it on to this one I suppose.

eddit: apparently I can't see colors very well, my partner is saying it's .5ppm which is a little less stressful.
[/QUOTE]
Fishyboy🐟🐟🐟 said:
the feeding only consists of 2 cubes of blood worms. I wasn't expecting a " few weeks " I'll take the filter off of my hospital tank and add it on to this one I suppose.
Click to expand...
Like 1 cube every other day or 2 days and remove uneaten blood worms and if u want add more bb to speed process.
[/QUOTE]

those 2 cubes get eaten with 0 left over in less than 60 seconds. are you saying I should do 1 cube every other day? or were you asking if I do that.
 
duanes said:
If the filter is seasoned (been on a stocked tank for a long time) it shouldn't take long.
If the hospital tank doesn't contain fish, that extra media won't matter.
If the filter and its media are all new (unseasoned) it could take 2 months..
The amount of media is not all that critical, its whether or not the media has been on a similarly stocked tank, to the one its going on, then, only a small amount of media is sufficient.
The beneficial bacteria does not grow because there is more media, that bacterial population reflects, and it grows or ebbs according to its food supply, and aerobic conditions.
Click to expand...

The filters have been on this tank for a year, give or take. The hospital tank has a sponge filter ( that I will leave in, and a hob) there's a breeding population of black mollys in it. I understand the amount of media isn't critical, I just have all that extra filtration ready for when I set up a new tank, which in this hobby, is always going to happen.
 
milkman407 said:
the feeding only consists of 2 cubes of blood worms. I wasn't expecting a " few weeks " I'll take the filter off of my hospital tank and add it on to this one I suppose.

eddit: apparently I can't see colors very well, my partner is saying it's .5ppm which is a little less stressful.
Click to expand...

Like 1 cube every other day or 2 days and remove uneaten blood worms and if u want add more bb to speed process.
[/QUOTE]

those 2 cubes get eaten with 0 left over in less than 60 seconds. are you saying I should do 1 cube every other day? or were you asking if I do that.
[/QUOTE]
.5 ppm isn’t too too bad how often do you feed 2 cubes? If everyday switch to every other and if already every other just feed like 1 and 1/2 or every two days
 
milkman407 said:
I've been hesitant to even post this question on here, as I've been a member for a extremely long time and have seen some people get blasted.

filteration :

fx6 with a mass amount of biomax and sponges
ac 110 hob filter
diy sponge filter that also holds 2 boxes of biomax hooked up to a air pump

tank: 60 gallon growout tank. ( yes I have a bigger tank, yes I know my arowana needs a bigger tank, No I can't put anyone in that tank yet because they will get eaten)

Stock list prior to ammonia spike:
1x leichardti arowana 8"
6x clown loaches 3-5"
1x ngt datnoid 2.5"

I didn't even think about this when I did it, as I've done this multiple times in the past and never had a issue where my ammonia spiked, but I'm guessing that was because it was in a much larger tank ( growout tank to main tank )

I added 7x 3-4" datnoids on friday the 18th, fed them some bloodworms maybe 4 hours after getting them, all eating and healthy, was nice to see they ate right away.

This tank filtration wise is overkill and I know that the beneficial bacteria needs to catch up to the new bioload that's in the tank. My PH stays round 6.5 so a lot of my ammonia is actually ammonium and it's reading at about 1.0ppm, I did have a small Nitrite spike when I first tested, but that is no longer the case. I've done 1x 50% w/c and every day after i've been doing about 10 gallons a day and using prime.

main question I guess is, how long does this usually take until the bacteria takes control and the tank settles back down. Everyone is doing fine minus my leichardti nipping at everything that comes near the top of the tank. I've kept the lights off, and have reduced feeding to 2x a week and small amounts ( they consume what's in the tank in maybe 60 seconds).
Click to expand...
Just add something like seachem stability every day for a couple weeks and you should be fine
 
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