HELP! Ammonia lvls too high!

[alexmuw]

Ammonia removing products aren't only useless in a long-term setup, they starve the beneficial bacteria you are trying to grow.

BINGO!

Your colony of BB needs to grow, add more bio-media and do w/c until everything is good.

ALSO, a lot of ppl don't know this. Don't add salt to a tank when using zeolite (ammo-remover) to remove ammonia. Salt causes zeolite to release its contents back into the tank.

Good luck!!!!

 

[hereticlosmorte]

BINGO!

Your colony of BB needs to grow, add more bio-media and do w/c until everything is good.

ALSO, a lot of ppl don't know this. Don't add salt to a tank when using zeolite (ammo-remover) to remove ammonia. Salt causes zeolite to release its contents back into the tank.

Good luck!!!!

phew, glad i didnt add any salt in then.


I did another water change tonight, 50%. Will continue doing daily WC's till it normalizes.

I took out the zeocarb and nitrite remover tonight. I just put in regular carbon in the bottom compartment, brought the top compartment into the 2nd slot (has held my BB bio media the longest), so i figure it can filter up into the 2nd newest biomedia compartment (#3 in line now) and the newest one (#4 before going back into tank).

So now i have just the sponge filter -> carbon -> 3 compartments of biomedia. all 4 compartments have filter floss before the media to catch fine sand bits.

that sound good?

 

[q_fish]

what i do with my FX5 that has 3 compartment is.. from top to bottom is... 2nd and 3rd tray is bio star, ceramic ring and lava rock and all carbon on 1st compartment.. in my brother's girlfriend tank, she has a xp4 so we did from top to bottom.. 1- carbon 2- carbon 3- bio star and ceramic rings and 4- is sponge from thick to thin.

never had any problem with that setup yet

 

[knifegill]

I like carbon in brand new tanks because it starts out strong but then lets the fishkeeper and nitrifyers take over as it weakens and eventually quits working. Sort of like training wheels.

 

[Just Toby]

Cycling the tank empty for 2 months is a waste of fish keeping time, it needed to cycle for a couple of weeks but with some form of bio load or ammonia producing food in it.

This is just the standard begginers problems, the LFS should have spent more time explaining but I used to run a LFS and after a year of saying the same thing 10 times per day it can be quite tiresome.

The tank has sat idle for 2 months then you have added some ammonia machines (RAYS) and now the system is beginning to cycle.

Test for Ammonia and Nitrite daily, when you get nitrite then you know the bacteria are starting to work, the nitrite will peak and then nitrate will begin to be produced.

Feed lightly now and keep testing, when the readings get medium to high then you need to do a large water change to save the fish.

LEAVE the filter well alone with just mechanical and biological media and when it does come to cleaning time (will not be 2 months from now) only wash out the media in water removed from the tank...DO NOT wash under the tap or the cycle will start again.

I hope the Rays make it!

 

[hereticlosmorte]

Cycling the tank empty for 2 months is a waste of fish keeping time, it needed to cycle for a couple of weeks but with some form of bio load or ammonia producing food in it.

This is just the standard begginers problems, the LFS should have spent more time explaining but I used to run a LFS and after a year of saying the same thing 10 times per day it can be quite tiresome.

The tank has sat idle for 2 months then you have added some ammonia machines (RAYS) and now the system is beginning to cycle.

Test for Ammonia and Nitrite daily, when you get nitrite then you know the bacteria are starting to work, the nitrite will peak and then nitrate will begin to be produced.

Feed lightly now and keep testing, when the readings get medium to high then you need to do a large water change to save the fish.

LEAVE the filter well alone with just mechanical and biological media and when it does come to cleaning time (will not be 2 months from now) only wash out the media in water removed from the tank...DO NOT wash under the tap or the cycle will start again.

I hope the Rays make it!

no no, i've HAD the tank going a few months, including with the rays in it.

i didn't leave it idle for that long.


i used the fishless cycle method, where i through in some frozen fish, flake food, and added in a sponge filter from an already existing tank.

once the ammonia and nitrites had spiked and dropped back to 0, i waited 24 hrs, did a water change, and went and got my stingrays.

the rays have been in there a few months now.

i haven't washed the BB media under the tap, i knew not to do that (other than fresh out of the box to rinse off the dust on the ceramic rings). the only thing i rinsed was the carbon.

i check my readings at least twice a day, once in the morning, and once in the evening. i do a 50% WC every evening (my water bill is gonna suck this month, but i don't care lol). i have been feeding them small portions once a day.

i had done alot of research into the nitrogen cycle, keeping rays, etc.
i just followed some bad advice on using ammonia and nitrite remover, instead of all biomedia.

 

[Just Toby]

Ok, got the wrong end of the stick BUT I am surprised it "crashed" even with those media mistakes.

It will be like starting again though, only a little quicker as there will be bacteria else where in the system.

The fishless cycle is fine but it has not prepared the filters fully for the Rays waste, just the bioload that you put on before.

Anyway, seems like you are on the right road now so keep us posted.

 

[hereticlosmorte]

thanks

yeah, it's not like a over the top spike either. the ammonia lvl has risen into the "uh oh" stage, so to speak, not so much the death of all rays stage. it sits between 0.6 and 1.2 on my readings (nutrafin ammonia testkit).

just used to having 0 ammonia, so it was a freak out (first time i've owned anything other than small tetras and betas.)

the nitrite levels remain at steady 0's, even after the removal of the remover packs. if it IS redoing the cycle, i expect to see them rise, of course. so far, nothing much.

keeping up w/ the 50% WC's each night, rays seem fine. they're still doing their everyday thing, swimming, digging, burying, eating.

will keep you guys posted.

 

[hereticlosmorte]

Checked the water tonight, the ammonia level is actually quite a bit lower, i didn't even have to do a WC.

nitrites are still 0. nitrate is at about 10?

so far so good

 

[hereticlosmorte]

Toby, I forgot to mention that in doing my fishless cycle, I was dumping in concentrated ammonia to help cycle it. So the ammonia load of the 2 rays shouldn't be overloading it. (other than because of the ammonia remover starving.)