Ammonia Spikes in my semi new system.

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Black Manta

Black Manta

Exodon
MFK Member
Mar 3, 2017
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Memphis, Tennessee
Ammonia spikes are killing me. I use purigen i do water changes and try to get all uneaten food items out of tank.
I have tested both tanks my 75gal and my 125gal and both are testing way high 2.0 ppm SMH!!!! I am doing water changes now!!!! It has been 5 months since I moved they should be established by now. What processes are you guys using in your ray tanks that maybe i should adopt??? These fish are too expensive to have ammonia issues!!! I can't enjoy feeding for fear of a damn spike help!!! I never had as much of an issue with my old system ever since I moved and started using the 1500 gal enclosed pond filter system i have had issues. The old system was DIY sump system 900 gal pump me and a buddy rigged up. I thought I was doing good to stream line and reduce energy consumption. However, it seems that system worked better than my current pretty one. I also had two aquaon piggybacks as backups
In a crisis what methods do you use to get levels proper and what processes do you currently use as preventives??
So I get a tap water analysis done?? I live in Memphis currently.
Thax.
 
It soundslike you need more beneficial bacteria to help with the nitrogen cycle. Adding more biological "culturing"media should help. Reading about your design, perhaps you could benefit from directing the flow "through" the bio media?

Is there a chance that the water is "avoiding" the media? What kind of bio media and how much do you use?

As the ammonia is very high. Water changes will be your friend to dilite the waste that isnt processed by your filters. Until you get the values in check
 
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Dieselhybrid said:
It soundslike you need more beneficial bacteria to help with the nitrogen cycle. Adding more biological "culturing"media should help. Reading about your design, perhaps you could benefit from directing the flow "through" the bio media?

Is there a chance that the water is "avoiding" the media? What kind of bio media and how much do you use?

As the ammonia is very high. Water changes will be your friend to dilite the waste that isnt processed by your filters. Until you get the values in check
Click to expand...
https://www.amazon.com/XtremepowerU...97633410&sr=1-7&keywords=1500+pond+bio+filter
 
This my filter with a few mods.
It has bio ball in the bottom.
Not certain on the weight of bio balls. However, that may be the reason my diy filter system was more forgiving. It had tons of pot scrubbers, bio-balls, filter pads, chemi pure and purigen mesh filled bags.
 
I am no expert.. but from the little experience i have, i agree that you need a lot more media.

+/- 300L AND +/- 500L in itself is not much water to keep the rays and the fair number of cichlids you have which also makes it more difficult to keep parameters stable

Personally i would add a decent size sump which will increase water volume and more media
I usually add Seachem Stability to help seed/culture the new media quicker and they say it does protect your fish until your cycle normalizes
 
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