thanks for all the help and suggestions guys. unfortunately when i got home from work tonight the salvini had died. the ammonia cleared up from the filter i added as i thought but i guess it was just too late. as if that wasn't bad enough, to add insult to injury after i set up and started the new eheim pro II 2026 that arrived today one of the clamps just snapped while it was running, the seal between the top and the canister was broken and about 5 gallons of water dumped onto my floor before i was able to stop it. man, not my day today.