Stingray & Ammonia Troubles

[jim barry]

I can see this being an issue. I messed with the filtration all night amd brought the flow rate up dramatically. Pipes are clean and there,nothing lodged everywhere so hopefully this will help. How often should 20% water changes be done twitch a Sting ray?

Maybe only do every 3 days until the cycle gets going and you are producing nitrates

 

[jim barry]

I can see this being an issue. I messed with the filtration all night amd brought the flow rate up dramatically. Pipes are clean and there,nothing lodged everywhere so hopefully this will help. How often should 20% water changes be done twitch a Sting ray?

Maybe only do every 3 days until the cycle gets going and you are producing nitrates

 

[Pitty27]

More media, more flow and less water changes of 20% max.
Your filter is constantly in a mini cycle and can't handle the bio load.(compounded by big water changes)
You should be getting Nitrate readings and if not then the filter is not working efficiently yet.

After messing with everything last night, I did a water test this morning. Ammonia is .50. Nitrate is about a .3 It's not yellow, but it's not orange. Nitrite is .25. Since I didn't have any nitrate readings, and I do now, is this better direction?

 

[Pitty27]

You should think about converting to the sump to a K1 reactor. If you did, the lower turnover rate that you have now could be sufficient. The K1 carries a tremendous amount of surface area, is self cleaning, and the bacteria is infinitely expanding (in theory).

See this thread in the Stingray sections dedicated to reactors.
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/reactors-filtration-for-stingrays.526704/

I'm going to have to take my time reading this. Thanks for the thread!

 

[Pitty27]

Maybe only do every 3 days until the cycle gets going and you are producing nitrates

Where should the nitrate level be?

 

[tlindsey]

Where should the nitrate level be?

If you get a level of 5 ppm that is a great sign that that the Nitrifying Cycle is starting to stabilize. The Nitrate level should be kept as low as possible.. In the wild Nitrate is non existent in most cases. In large home aquariums nearly impossible not to have nitrates.

 

[Pitty27]

If you get a level of 5 ppm that is a great sign that that the Nitrifying Cycle is starting to stabilize. The Nitrate level should be kept as low as possible.. In the wild Nitrate is non existent in most cases. In large home aquariums nearly impossible not to have nitrates.

Thank you for filling me in on this. I wish I knew this before hand, I would've saved many years on my life. What about nitrites?

 

[tlindsey]

Thank you for filling me in on this. I wish I knew this before hand, I would've saved many years on my life. What about nitrites?

You want 0 ppm of Nitrites and 0 ppm of Ammonia as well.

 

[Galantspeedz]

Just put more media and wait it out with regular water changes...

 

[jim barry]

Thank you for filling me in on this. I wish I knew this before hand, I would've saved many years on my life. What about nitrites?

zero nitrites, zero ammonia and as said in home aquarium with rays anything up around 40 and above nitrates is not unusual.
You would benefit in learning about the nitrifying cycle and water chemistry,
Look after the water and the fish will look after themselves