ammonia vs. ammonium HELP!!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
You need to clean your filters more OFTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The crap slowing down the flow might be causing the problem.

Waiting until your water flow slows down to clean them WAY TOO LATE!

Pick one filter each week and clean it in the TANK WATER ONLY!

Yes, clean all the media (sponges etc.) in that one fliter. Clean it out fully. Break it down, scrub the intakes, insides, all of it with your sisters toothbrush! lol. I bought one jsut for my filters.

The other 3 filters you have will reseed the newly polished filter. By next week it will be ready to take over and support the tank as you clean the next one. If you want add some cycle to the just cleaned filter.

This will bring ammonia and or ammonium to it's knees!!!

FWIW I only have 2 filters on each tank and I do it one every 2 weeks. Since you have at least 4 filters you will be able to clean one a week and keep your tank it great shape.
 
fsc46 said:
You need to clean your filters more OFTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The crap slowing down the flow might be causing the problem.

Waiting until your water flow slows down to clean them WAY TOO LATE!

Pick one filter each week and clean it in the TANK WATER ONLY!

Yes, clean all the media (sponges etc.) in that one fliter. Clean it out fully. Break it down, scrub the intakes, insides, all of it with your sisters toothbrush! lol. I bought one jsut for my filters.

The other 3 filters you have will reseed the newly polished filter. By next week it will be ready to take over and support the tank as you clean the next one. If you want add some cycle to the just cleaned filter.

This will bring ammonia and or ammonium to it's knees!!

FWIW I only have 2 filters on each tank and I do it one every 2 weeks. Since you have at least 4 filters you will be able to clean one a week and keep your tank it great shape.
Click to expand...


i have to disagree i clean my filters every 6 months and the eheim wet dry canistor never my water parimitors are perfect.
 
I have been considering the fact that my substrate is fairly deep so I think I am going to really clean it out. I think alot of organic material might be in there.. after that I am going to go through my filters SLOWLY and replace everything in them. I will also be adding more ceramic rings to my emporers and xp3's. I will spread this out into a long period of time and watch my water parameters.. I think this is where I have to start.. As for cleaning my filters I only cleaned the filter pads before and never touched my ceramic media..

one other question in the xp3 filters the bottom tray is foam pads of different grade. Do you think I would benefit from replacing this foam with ceramic media and use the foam on the top tray? I don't know how much I really need the foam and I think they are what clogs up the fastest and redices my flow...
 
Looks like you are on the right track. only removing the plants that are not doing well and are trapping waste is good and you could even replace them with something else like a ludwigia. Cleaning the gravel and making sure to get the spots under the edges of the driftwood will also help. The next time you clean your filters try giving the housings a good wipe down as you sometimes get a layer of slime there, It is a mix of partially decomposed waste and dead bacteria sealed under living bacteria.
 
well I have some good news I think. I was gravel vacuuming the hell out of my tank and I picked up a piece of driftwood and there was a HUGE piece of krill up inside the hollowed out part of wood.. My substrate wasn't very dirty but I think that krill had somthing to do with this problem.. I will test my water for a few days and see if my ammonium level rises again.. I really hope this was the problem
 
That was probably it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom