Ive been fighting with getting amonia out of my tank for about a month now i tried just about every chemical in the stores ta get rid of it, never works. I do 20% water changes every other day, still no changes. can anyone give me alittle help on what ta do??
How to get rid on amonia
- Thread starter dejavu69
- Start date
I am getting the idea (post count) and simplicity of the problem (no offense) that this is a new tank, maybe your first one. At the local fish store that I work at we sell precultured lava and lace rock and it has just been sitting in one of our established tanks for at a mininmum of a month. what this does is it has beneficial nitrifine bacteria all the way through it to break down the ammonia and nitrites that are in your water. Right now the most important thing you can do is use a product called Am-Quel + or if you have used this and are using a generic water test it could give you a false positive. So you should take some of your water to a LFS and ask them if they would do a water test for you (most reputable stores do this at no charge) and ask them if their test phases out products like these. I am in no way advocating the use of chemicals because I personally do not use them but Am-Quel is the only chemical that I ever suggest most disease and problems can be cured with increased or decreased temp a lil salt and a lot of water changes...
I am in no way en expert. As a matter of fact I am new to fish keeping and, until a few months ago, never heard of the nitrogen cycle. However, it appears to me that what you are doing it totally and obviously wrong!
Who told you to use chemicals?
Ammonia should be eaten by bacteria. If it does not you have either no place for the bacteria to live or some other similar problem. I can't possibly imagine how you would solve it with chemicals.
Forget chemicals! I never used any and I doubt I ever will. I do not have a water test kit and never had one. I have almost a dozen tanks with over 100 fish successfully running on four ingridients: WATER, FISH, GRAVEL and AIR.
Adding chemicals to fight ammonia is like sweeping dust under the carpet.
Read an article or two on the nitrogen cycle until you understand it.
And... Do not go to the stores for a while! You seem to have a shopping disorder.
Who told you to use chemicals?
Ammonia should be eaten by bacteria. If it does not you have either no place for the bacteria to live or some other similar problem. I can't possibly imagine how you would solve it with chemicals.
Forget chemicals! I never used any and I doubt I ever will. I do not have a water test kit and never had one. I have almost a dozen tanks with over 100 fish successfully running on four ingridients: WATER, FISH, GRAVEL and AIR.
Adding chemicals to fight ammonia is like sweeping dust under the carpet.
Read an article or two on the nitrogen cycle until you understand it.
And... Do not go to the stores for a while! You seem to have a shopping disorder.
If this is a new tank then just chill,,,are you using an overside filter, if so beg borrow or steal a used filter pad and add it to your filter then wait a couple of days. Then add a molly szed hardy fish about every other day until you are at the bioload you desire, then replace the cheapies with the fish you want to keep. Stop trying to hurry things with additives. From the time I first add water to a new tank it takes me around a month to start adding the "keepers". 3 days with just water and a running filter, another week with plants and a little fish food, another week with a few cheap tetras, guppies, mollies, glass shrimp, etc. And another week to add enough cheap fish and a couple corys or plecos to bring the bioload up. Then I start replacing the cheapies with keepers.
naw its not a new tank i have 3 red bellied pirahnas ina 55 gallon tank its well filtered there about 3 inches long i used ta have 2 tigar oscars in it and never had any problems with amonia but i don't know what ta do thanks for all the help!
Change half of your bio media with new ones... its probably clogged up, reducing its efficiency. Change the bio media to something like Ehiem Substrat Pro, Biohome or Bacteria House dependig on what type of filter you are using. Then wait for a few weeks for the BB to develop and it should solve you ammonia problems. Mean while as suggested above, use am-quel to lower the ammonia levels now or u can also place some zeolite in the tank for 1 or 2 days only. Do not use any of these products longer as it would deprive the BB of ammonia and hence lowering the amount cultivated. Regular water 10% changes would help ease the stress of the ammonia on the occupants.
