Some Filter seeding questions

[batang_mcdo]

I have some filter seeding questions.
I've used filter seeding lots of times before,
but also experienced some problems with filter seeding.

here's the situation, I just got a 350 Gallon tank with a 6 feet sump.
I filled the tank for a week with tap water and run a powerhead so that the water will ciculate, then i removed all the water.

I then filled it up with tapwater again and used API stresscoat to dechlorinate the tank. I also connected the sump so it was running.

then a day later, I added an arowana from my other tank into this 350 gallon tank. I also got 1 of the filter from his old tank, An overhead filter with filter media in it and run it over my sump tank.

a day later i tested and the ammonia was at 1ppm. nitrite 0 , nitrate 0.
It seems the seeding did not work? day 2 i squeezed a sponge filter from my goldfish tank into the sump. the ammonia now is at 2, and nitrite 0.

day 3, I squeezed another sponge filter from my other arowana tank into the tank. ammonia is about 4 now. what i did was i just changed 30% water and added back the 30% from another old tank. not sure if this is of any use, but this makes sure the new tank has no chlorine.

Imeasured ph at 7.5 . today ammonia is at 4. no nitrites i did not measure for nitrate as i might have introduced nitrate from old water tank.

anything i'm doing wrong? I'm using ammolock to neutralize ammonia.

any tips? I'm puzzled.does it mean the overhead filter that i added to seed my filkter did not have any bacteria for nitrification? i'm tempted to use my zeopolite mats in my filter to lower the ammonia. can i use this?
Can't nitrating bacteria live on zeolite?

Also will ammonia kill off nitrifying bacteria?

btw this is what i did to seed

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

I am guessing this is a fairly large Aro.

Seeding usually consist of cleaning out old media in the new tank and letting all the dirt and bacteria from the old media flow thru the tank, and settle in the new media so that it can quickly colonize the new media.

Bacteria does not live in the water column. Just on surfaces.

So when you add a cycled filter to a new tank that filter will try to raise its population of bacteria to handle the bio load. And not neccasarily seed the new media in another filter.

Also beaware that ammonia readings over 1ppm are deadly in the long term. And those ammonia lock additives only change the ammonia to ammonium for a small amount of time. The ammonium will convert back to ammonia in Ph ranges above 5.8-6.2. IF the biological bacteria does not consume it. This may happen in a few hours to a day, but it will happen. And since you do not have a large enough population of bacteria to consume it. The result is deadly everytime.

If it were me I would first do a 75% water change to the tank. And use a good quality conditioner such as Prime.Then I would clean out every old filter you have access to in this tank to seed the biological system. Then I would add a biological additive that works such as Safe Start by Tetra or Dr Tims (aka bio-spira).

Then allow the filter to run normally for 24hrs and recheck the parameters. And at anytime after this you get a reading over .5ppm of ammonia or nitrite do atleast a 50% water change.

The Safe start is sold for around 20 bucks to treat 75 gallons. So you need atleast 4 bottles. And using this your tank will be fully cycled in less than 1 week.

If you choose not to use the Safe start and just use the seeding proceedure then prepare to do daily 50% water changes for atleast 2-3weeks.

Good luck

Also yes Ammonia in excessively high amounts is toxic to all aquatic life forms. I am unsure where the breaking point is but I am sure 4ppm would not be high enough as this is the target range for doing fishless cycle's.

 

[batang_mcdo]

thanks I transferred some more media into the new sump. and squeezed some more sponges. really wish safe start/bio spira was available here the only bacteria available here are Qiahu bacteria 8000, API stresszyme and Sera nitrivec.

I will make a big water change tomorrow and continue to monitor. just hope the bacteria kicks in

 

[batang_mcdo]

btw during cycle, would it be ok to use tap water.
Adding dechorinator into the tank before adding tap water? or will this still kill og the developing bacteria?

 

[asm129]

btw during cycle, would it be ok to use tap water.
Adding dechorinator into the tank before adding tap water? or will this still kill og the developing bacteria?

It's ok to use tapwater. but it's a better idea to put the (warm) tapwater in a bucket first, then put the dechlorinator into the bucket. It saves you a lot of dechlorinator that way. If you put the water right into the tank, you have to put enough dechlor for the whole tank instead of just the new water you're putting in.

 

[batang_mcdo]

thanks. I just used water from my other tank.
Also cleaned one of my chamber from my other sump.

and washed the media in my new sump, also syphoned the dirt in the chamber and added the water to my new sump . hope this does it.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

You should have a good start with all the added dirt/bacteria from the other sump and media.

But you will still realize a cycle for a few weeks. It will just be a shorter cycle, compared to a non-seeded cycle.

 

[batang_mcdo]

You should have a good start with all the added dirt/bacteria from the other sump and media.

But you will still realize a cycle for a few weeks. It will just be a shorter cycle, compared to a non-seeded cycle.

thanks. My ammonia is too high, When i got home i tested and it was above 4, i have fish in my tank so, made a huge water change. I've added some ammonia absorbing mat to lessen the ammonia, but hopefully it won't deplete all the ammonia, only lower the concentration, I've also added it since i'll be out of town for 2 days. so no water changes for my fish for 2 days

 

[batang_mcdo]

ammonia sgill qhite high even with the sque谔谔zing
of filter media, ammonia is still high no nitrite yet currently using ammolock buy seeding doesn't seem to be helping much i only have 2 8 inch arowana and have not been feeding but in 12 hours the ammonia level gets to 4 ppm or higher，

 

[batang_mcdo]

i nust added another powerhead into my sump , ammonia level at 4 ppm stil no nitrites i washed the media d
from a chamber from my other tank which has 2 big arowanas and some severums , hope the bqcteria develops soon