Can Bio-Filtration stop working?????

[cchhcc]

How long has this tank been running with fish in it? Sounds like it has never cycled.... even if you have overwhelmed the filtration you should still see nitrates.
It would be great if you could get some "dirty" floss from a friend or lfs to put in your present or new filter, and do daily water changes and reduce feeding until the filtration starts processing ammonia.
Then you will have to watch for the nitrite spike, continuing frequent water changes and adding a bit of salt (1 tsp per 10gal) will prevent "brown blood disease" from the elevated nitrite.

Burt

Good advice!

 

[xspainx69]

How long has this tank been running with fish in it? Sounds like it has never cycled.... even if you have overwhelmed the filtration you should still see nitrates.
It would be great if you could get some "dirty" floss from a friend or lfs to put in your present or new filter, and do daily water changes and reduce feeding until the filtration starts processing ammonia.
Then you will have to watch for the nitrite spike, continuing frequent water changes and adding a bit of salt (1 tsp per 10gal) will prevent "brown blood disease" from the elevated nitrite.

Burt

Hey Burt, the tank has been running for 8 Months now with the same emperor 400 filter.

I have normally always had 0 PPM's for everything and had pH of 7.0 at all times, sometimes I would just randomly test my water and think that there was something chemically wrong with my test kit because in my head its not normal for water to be so perfect all the time.

After I added these new fish catastrophy struck my tank. My pH dropped and my ammonia gradually spiked up. I left the same filter for more than 2 weeks now and the substrate for sure has the bacteria. The sludge always appears on the filter pads and its still in the filter , so I am not sure why my ammonia isn't being converted to nitrite or nitrate.

Im not sure if my filter is overwhelmed or if these new fish are to blame for the sudden spike of ammonia. I plan on buying the Fluval 405 canister today and leaving it running with my Emperor 400 for about 2 weeks or so in order for that bacteria to transport itself over to the canister and establish its mini colonies.


Bu tin any case my water right now is looking very turbulant and the ammonia is at 4.0 , well it was last night, by now it might be 8.0. So I am going to perform another 50 % water change and hope for the best.

Thanks
Manny

 

[xspainx69]

Even now, I just did probably a 70 percent water and the water still looks murky....Im not sure whats going on.

 

[xspainx69]

I was debating whether to get a Fluval 405 or an Eheim 2217, but after careful consideration the Eheim seems to be the choice I am going to stick with.

 

[Aqua Doctor]

I would stop doing such "aggressive water changes" .....50-70% is not recomended.(more frequent WC's with less volume would be the way to go)

I have noticed that amo-lock creates amonia spikes and in turn PH fluctuations; i would discontinue it's use.

Filter floss/foam and some Ceramic rings would be a suggestion as far as your 400 goes.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[fishdance]

Provided you keep up with gravel cleaning, the humble undergravel filter is awesome for both biological and mechanical filtration and is too often over looked. Its cheap but you can also DIY if your budget is very tight.

I dont know much about a channel cat or whether it is an excessive digger though.

 

[cassharper]

those ammo chips are just zeolite, and a terrible long term remedy for an aquarium. They will absorb ammonia until they become saturate and then do nothing. Take them out, add some matrix (made by SeaChem) or Sintered glass. The matrix will be cheaper, the latter work better (but matrix should work fine all the same).

It probably was absorbing ammonia necessary for Nitrosomonas, N. Bacter and N. Spiros to thrive, and when it became saturated started leaking it back out. Zeolite is really just snake oil that is only useful for very short term problems.

When you replace this you aren't going to have a whole lot of bacteria in the tank so you will either have to wait for it to grow or seed it by 1) getting some dirty media from a friend or 2) purchase some Bio Spira (nothing else really works, trust me, I've tried almost all of them).

 

[IMPULSEBUYER]

1.) don't do water changes that big most u should do is 40%
2.) chem. filtration depending on who u talk to is the least used/effective, bio first and most important...most people don't even run chemical like myself and no problems it's been years since I've ran it.
3.) adding fish def. will spike your levels...you have to consider the fact that you're adding more fish and hence you're feeding more too...

 

[xspainx69]

Ok I just got back from the LFS and I bought the Eheim 2217 and I am running it with the Emperor 400.

I asked the guy at the fish store and he said the same thing you guys are saying. Not to do so many water changes because it will be detrimental instead of productive to the tank.

The guy at the fish store also suggested that I worsened the situation by doing so many water changes in one week. He said that the murky water is implying the lack of beneficial bacteria in the water.

After I purchased the Eheim 2217 he told me to buy a bottle of something called TLC which is suppose to rapidly bring back any lose Bacteria and help with the Ammonia in the tank. I am going to just leave both filters running and just add the dose of TLC everyday for 7 days and hopefully things get better.

Maybe it was my fault to begin with. Maybe after having ammonia present I should have taken a different route instead of doing so many water changes.

I guess now I have to start up another cycle in the tank.

Thankfully my Native fish are strong like Oxes!

My Channel Cat and Largemouth Bass probably wanna come out the tank and strangle me for all the disturbance I created this week.

Wish me luck guys!

 

[Burtess]

I asked the guy at the fish store and he said the same thing you guys are saying. Not to do so many water changes because it will be detrimental instead of productive to the tank.

The guy at the fish store also suggested that I worsened the situation by doing so many water changes in one week. He said that the murky water is implying the lack of beneficial bacteria in the water.

See, you are in a catch 22 right now.... If you don't do frequent, large, water changes, your fish will suffer.... but this will slow your cycle...

Note: There is absolutely nothing wrong with 50% water changes! I have been doing 50% water changes weekly in all my tanks for eons with only great health and growth of fish to show for it....

And murky water doesn't kill fish, but ammonia does... keep up those water changes, the cycle may take a bit longer, but your fish will thank you for it...

Burt