question about water-changes...

[solomon415]

I was in a panic on here a couple weeks back because I set up a 20 gallon tank without properly cycling the tank and my ammonia levels were a bit high. I bought extra filtration on top of the filter my tank came with and continued changing the water every other day or so. the ammonia levels were going down steadily each day and I was convinced my tank was established.

a couple of days ago I did a pretty large water change, about 50%. since then I noticed my ammonia levels have spiked dangerously high. Is it possible that I changed the water too much and removed some beneficial bacteria, thus letting the ammonia spike out of control? Of course now, my natural instinct is to change the water again, now that ammonia is so high, but I don't want to mess things up worse.

I bought some ammo lock by API and some disolving drop-ins by tank buddies to remove ammonia, but nothing is working.

help me out. I don't want all my fish to die..

 

[jcardona1]

its possible that the tank was never cycled. how long did it run for? the ammonia going down could have been due to the daily water changes, not because the bacteria in the filter was consuming it.

during the cycle process, ammonia will peak for a few days then gradually come down as nitrites start to peak. once nitrites peak and go down to 0, then the tank is considered cycled and you can begin water changes as normal.

i think your still in the middle of the cycle process. have you tested your other parameters?

 

[solomon415]

i think your still in the middle of the cycle process. have you tested your other parameters?

Not in a couple of weeks.. I really need to..

 

[jcardona1]

i guess it all depends how long the tank has been running. a normal with-fish cycle using brand new filters and NO seeded media will take 4~6 weeks. you will hear all kinds of funky numbers, but regardless of what people say, this is the normal timeframe.

 

[cambo01]

its possible that the tank was never cycled. how long did it run for? the ammonia going down could have been due to the daily water changes, not because the bacteria in the filter was consuming it.

during the cycle process, ammonia will peak for a few days then gradually come down as nitrites start to peak. once nitrites peak and go down to 0, then the tank is considered cycled and you can begin water changes as normal.

i think your still in the middle of the cycle process. have you tested your other parameters?

agreed

 

[solomon415]

i guess it all depends how long the tank has been running. a normal with-fish cycle using brand new filters and NO seeded media will take 4~6 weeks. you will hear all kinds of funky numbers, but regardless of what people say, this is the normal timeframe.

One of my filters is seeded.. so hopefully that will help me out a bit..

 

[jcardona1]

One of my filters is seeded.. so hopefully that will help me out a bit..

yeah it should. if you took a seeded filter from an established tank then its pretty much instantly cycled - as long as the filter can handle the bio load in the new tank.

other possibilities: if the tank was in fact cycled, you could have killed your bacteria by not treating your water when doing a water change. did you treat your water for chlorine/chloramine before or during the water change?

 

[solomon415]

other possibilities: if the tank was in fact cycled, you could have killed your bacteria by not treating your water when doing a water change. did you treat your water for chlorine/chloramine before or during the water change?

I do, and I'm pretty religious about it too. I use that stuff by Tetra. I think it's called Aquasafe..