Ultimatum !!! Help with tank !

[skjl47]

Hello; I added this link a while back and will add it again.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html

I use it as a reference from time to time. I wish to direct your attention to two sections of the article in particular. The first is titled; Cycling Summary. The first sentence states that..." water changes are helpful during cycling". The author goes on to give fairly detailed explaination throughout the article.

The next portion I will suggest to read is titled; "WHAT TO DO FOR HIGH AMMONIA OR NITRITES (when fish are already present):" More specifically down a few paragraphs to the "Be aware" paragraph just after Aquarium Cleaning; methods (bowls). I am not confident this is what happened to your big tank, but it fits some of the data you have posted. You mention a few times that things went bad after a large water change. You also mention that you feed heavy which likely also meant there was considerable organic matter undergoing decay. Your tanks had a heavy stocking. You added two fairly large fish shortly before the large water change, for which the bb population was not likely to have had time to increase sufficently to take up the extra ammonia. Again I do not know if this is the problem. It may well be that you had a cascade of issues.

In the end, as least so far, we each get to run our tanks any way we want. Correct me if I am mistaken, but it seems that you want to have large fish and that you feed heavy so to have them grow big quickly. You also tend to stock heavy. To me this leads to what I call a "tightrope tank". In the first decades of my fish keeping I ran a few such tanks. Lots of issues and always just a power outage or some other minor thing away from serious problems.

Again good luck

 

[Pataphysicist]

Hello; I added this link a while back and will add it again.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html

I use it as a reference from time to time. I wish to direct your attention to two sections of the article in particular. The first is titled; Cycling Summary. The first sentence states that..." water changes are helpful during cycling". The author goes on to give fairly detailed explaination throughout the article.

The next portion I will suggest to read is titled; "WHAT TO DO FOR HIGH AMMONIA OR NITRITES (when fish are already present):" More specifically down a few paragraphs to the "Be aware" paragraph just after Aquarium Cleaning; methods (bowls). I am not confident this is what happened to your big tank, but it fits some of the data you have posted. You mention a few times that things went bad after a large water change. You also mention that you feed heavy which likely also meant there was considerable organic matter undergoing decay. Your tanks had a heavy stocking. You added two fairly large fish shortly before the large water change, for which the bb population was not likely to have had time to increase sufficently to take up the extra ammonia. Again I do not know if this is the problem. It may well be that you had a cascade of issues.

In the end, as least so far, we each get to run our tanks any way we want. Correct me if I am mistaken, but it seems that you want to have large fish and that you feed heavy so to have them grow big quickly. You also tend to stock heavy. To me this leads to what I call a "tightrope tank". In the first decades of my fish keeping I ran a few such tanks. Lots of issues and always just a power outage or some other minor thing away from serious problems.

Again good luck

Well thanks again for taking the time and posting this , I actually been to this site before and read the articles , i like them so much that I purchased the #1500 model FSB filter from them along with the Sunsun HQ 3500 , which should be arriving in a few days . I probably will b purchasing Purigen , I just dislike the recharging process of it . Also, I don't over feed my fish in the big tank , only my 75 G grow out , I always feed small on my big tank , with 2 days of no food at all. I hand feed my arowana and gars, never drop food to float in tank. Believe me sometime I think that due to underfeeding my fish grown so slow when theyre put in the 220 from the 75

 

[jaws7777]

I was turned off by the recharging process to when i first started using the product. Its not a magic bullet and wont negate wc's but does help keep nitrates down a bit. I would also by safe. Just a more concentrated form of prime. It will last you much much longer.

 

[Woefulrelic]

Get boyd's chemipure then. It's a non rechargeable alternative that is states to last six months.

 

[Pataphysicist]

Just finished testing water , results are the same by API Kit . 8.0 ammonia, 0 Nitrate , 0 Nitrite 7.0 PH. Ammonia levels read by Seachem Ammonia Alert 0.02 PPM Safe. Tank is definitely not cycled yet . I will b receiving my 2nd shipment of TetraSafe Start either Monday or Thursday . So I will be doing a water change today 50% to try and bring ammonia/chloramines down . Current fish in the rank are 1 x 15" Wild caught Arowana , 2 x 15-18" Spotted gars and a 15" Endli Endli Bichir . Fish are showing no signs of ammonia burn , loss of appetite is being seen, they are not as eager to eat as they usually are. Specially the Aro and Gars . Leads me to believe discomfort by Ammonia/Chloramines. Water clarity is unreal , mirror like water , not a single sign of bacteria bloom . I haven't fed them in 4 days , this morning I gave each 1 chunk of tilapia with tounges and called it the day .

 

[Pataphysicist]

You guys told.me.to give you results on Tap water Nitrates , it read 0 Nitrates on the water coming out of tap . Also I was asked if I fed anything unusual lately and I forgot to mention the last meal they had was 10 cray fish I put in the tank as a treat, they ate them all. Not sure if important or not , just throwing it out there just in case

 

[jaws7777]

What was the ammonia readings on the tap ?

Im going on a road trip in 10 min so i dont have time to check. But read up on the safestart and email tetra. They got back to me when i contacted them. Find out if the product will work under these conditions i would hate for you to waste your money.

 

[Pataphysicist]

What was the ammonia readings on the tap ?

Im going on a road trip in 10 min so i dont have time to check. But read up on the safestart and email tetra. They got back to me when i contacted them. Find out if the product will work under these conditions i would hate for you to waste your money.

Tap water Ammonia/Chloramines readings are 3.0

 

[skjl47]

Just finished testing water , results are the same by API Kit . 8.0 ammonia, 0 Nitrate , 0 Nitrite 7.0 PH. Ammonia levels read by Seachem Ammonia Alert 0.02 PPM Safe. Tank is definitely not cycled yet . I will b receiving my 2nd shipment of TetraSafe Start either Monday or Thursday . So I will be doing a water change today 50% to try and bring ammonia/chloramines down . Current fish in the rank are 1 x 15" Wild caught Arowana , 2 x 15-18" Spotted gars and a 15" Endli Endli Bichir . Fish are showing no signs of ammonia burn , loss of appetite is being seen, they are not as eager to eat as they usually are. Specially the Aro and Gars . Leads me to believe discomfort by Ammonia/Chloramines. Water clarity is unreal , mirror like water , not a single sign of bacteria bloom . I haven't fed them in 4 days , this morning I gave each 1 chunk of tilapia with tounges and called it the day .

Hello; Keeping in mind that there are too many cooks in the kitchen and that we are some times giving contrasting opinions, consider this with a large grain of salt.

My take about your most recent post is to ignore the ammonia results of the API KIt. The seachem Ammonia alert at 0.02 safe reading is felt to be more reliable by some members following this thread.

If considering the 0.02 safe reading from the seachem ammonia alert to be the actual free ammonia level, indicates that the rest of the ammonia (around 7.98 parts) has been chemically bound into a non-toxic form by the new safe/prime type water treatment product. The water treatment product is doing it's job.

My understanding is this bound ammonia will not harm the fish as long as it stays chemically bound. Thinking back to my link and in particular the part about low pH water. This is where I take back track a bit my statements about large water changes. It seems possible that with low pH water a large water change can trigger the release of that bound ammonia back into free ammonia. I forget the pH readings of your water. At any rate if the pH is indeed low, then from what I read yesterday, it may be that more frequent but smaller percentage water changes can help to avoid the un-binding of the ammonia.

My understanding is that once the bb population has been re-established to good levels they will begin to consume both the free ammonia and the bound ammonia.

I also wish to confirm my wrong thinking about your feeding. I re-read the thread and indeed you have described careful feeding proceedures for the big tank.

Hoping this does not add to the confusion of this thread and again good luck.

 

[RD.]

The OP just stated that his pH is 7.0

Honestly this thread is becoming too painful to read for me. Info from the OP is scattered at best, and he seems like his own worst enemy. Instead of staying on course he's feeding his fish and planning on which new filters he's going to buy. Constant fiddling with this system is what f'd it up the first time, and I suspect that it's heading that way again. I'm out.

Good luck!