Help, think I created an ammonia problem.

[we4wieners]

It might be if you took out too much of your BB...I think its usually called a mini-cycle since it doesn't take as long on account of still having BB in your tank (substrate, decor etc) and in the canister you didn't touch.

When you cleaned the HOB's did you rinse the media in tap water? Replace the media entirely? I would say with that many filters just clean one at a time and it shouldn't matter if you outright replace everything in it, the other two should be able to keep up with your bio while it regrows. Otherwise, leave your bio in-tact, rinse media with tankwater and replace as little as possible.

Thats my .02, I don't know much though.

Thank you. I did, as I always do, clean my media in tank water. But now I just took my parameters again...my ammonia dropped a little, but my Ph looks like its droppin. 6.4 yesterday and 6.0 today. Added some PRIME yesterday...starting to worry...have no room to rehome my livestock. See how it goes today.

 

[Moloch]

Hmmm I don't know anything about what causes a PH crash. Only things I know of so far to affect PH are driftwood & certain rocks/sands/corals etc, basically from leeching certain things into the water as I understand it.

If it were mine I guess I'd just keep up with daily large water changes and hope for the best. Maybe try going through a dosing cycle of stability? I dunno :\ Definitely following the thread now to see if you get it sorted out.

 

[we4wieners]

Since my Ph has dropped to 6., Ive been advised by my LFS to add Alkaline regulator to 7.3. And also to add SAFE START....I am gonna do it now. Any advice for adding safe start?

 

[Chrisplosion]

Pretty sure SafeStart you just add the bottle. I had no luck with it though, make sure the bottle isn't older than 6 months.

 

[viewofthebay]

Since my Ph has dropped to 6., Ive been advised by my LFS to add Alkaline regulator to 7.3. And also to add SAFE START....I am gonna do it now. Any advice for adding safe start?

I would suggest adding a liquid ammonia remover before doing anything. Aqueon makes one that work pretty good. It works best in conjunction with an air diffuser running high temporarily. When you raise you PH the ammonia become deadly in your tank. At least that is what the koi experts told me at the koi shows. If you use a buffer to maintain your PH, PH will never be a question. The cheap way to do it is to add about 1 to 2 pounds of crush coral in your tank. The PH will stay at about 6.9 to 7.0. The crush coral will eventually dissolve and more will be needed maybe in a couple of years. Also, when I vacuum my gravel I do not clean the filter until a few days later. The bacterial in the filter needs to continue to work to balance the new water. Good Luck.

 

[we4wieners]

I would suggest adding a liquid ammonia remover before doing anything. Aqueon makes one that work pretty good. It works best in conjunction with an air diffuser running high temporarily. When you raise you PH the ammonia become deadly in your tank. At least that is what the koi experts told me at the koi shows. If you use a buffer to maintain your PH, PH will never be a question. The cheap way to do it is to add about 1 to 2 pounds of crush coral in your tank. The PH will stay at about 6.9 to 7.0. The crush coral will eventually dissolve and more will be needed maybe in a couple of years. Also, when I vacuum my gravel I do not clean the filter until a few days later. The bacterial in the filter needs to continue to work to balance the new water. Good Luck.

Thank you...I just have to wait and see. I added the bottle of Safe Start and the alkaline regulator.

 

[we4wieners]

here is the parrot Ive adopted for awhile..

 

[Chrisplosion]

Is it the one that passed away?

 

[we4wieners]

No....thank God. But, this guy is a good 10". HUGE!!

 

[Chrisplosion]

Did you ever vent it?