Hi everyone love the site.im having a problem.i have very high ammonia in my established 55 gallon.i do weekly water changes of about 50%.i have 2 filters a emperor 400 and a 280.this tank is 3 years old and never had problems or water issues til now.do to ammonia problems i have chcked and cleaned my gravel thoroughly.i have cut back on feedings and im adding ammo lock and prime constantly and am still getting the same readings.at this point i am not sure what else to try.my fish appear to be still thriving and healthy and continue to eat.i have no live plants.just a few large silk and and some small plastic plants and some rocks and pvc for hiding spots.my stock list is:
4 angles
1 blue gourami who is 3 years old
2 silver catfish
1 pleco
3 silver dollars
2 long finns
3 red tail sharks

How old is your test kit? are you using liquid or strips?

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I have been using the liquid test kits for about a month.but not exactly sure how old it is.

Your test will still read positive despite using anti-ammonia products. Checked your tap for ammonia?

Yes i have in my tap there is a small trace of ammonia at.25. My tanks reading have been 4.0

1. Others should definitely weigh in on this too, but your tank sounds a bit overstocked to me, so your fish might be producing more ammonia than the system can handle.

2. I'd get some live plants if I were you. They will help with this and other water quality issues, plus they're nice and don't have to be expensive.

3. You say you've been using a liquid test kit for a month, so do you really know whether this is a new problem or whether you're just newly aware of it? You'd be surprised what fish can sometimes endure, even long-term, especially if it's a gradual problem. Not that we should force them to do that, obviously.

OVERSTOCKED IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT....for one red tailed shark it is STROBGLY recommended to have a 45 - 55 gallon tank!.... all ur other fish r just LUCKY they have survived under these conditions...

2nd.. LIVE PLANTS A BIG YES... I THINK remove all fake plants and replace with live plants... you should maybe look at giving up some fish.... or ....... :(........upgrading space.... ($$$$$$$$$)

3rd.... more water changes if nothing else!! i would recommend 2 times a week ATLEAST with that many fish in a small place.. i think water changes will be your best friend...

AMMO LOCK will NOT remove ammonia.. u have to know that.. so ur READINGs will always SHOW ammonia.. it just converts it to a "non toxic" form... but i believe in treating things a natural way cuz now you will NEVER really know TRUE ammonia readings... :S....

hope this helps...

Any reading of ammonia is bad, As long as you have enough filtration to handle the bioload, I wouldn't worry about being overstocked. What is your water turnover rate? The fish that you have that will get too big you might eventually have to re-home. Is your pleco a common? Those get pretty big too, and even at a small size they are pretty big waste producers. Way too big for even a 75. Adding ammolock won't really help. I don't use chemicals in my tanks. Adding live plants would really benefit because they use ammonia as fertilizer. I would say that you should just do water changes more frequently until you can either get the ammo down or figure out what your going to to about your stocking.

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Frontosa Fanatic

Yes i have been testing all along and it was fine but as of lately the readings have been off the charts.as for the plants what would be ok to use and easy to maintains to help with this issue?as of right now space is a issue to upgrade to a larger tank.thanks for all the help

I believe with the fiters i have the turnover rate should be 680.i believe i have another emperor 280 filter i could add to this tank if that would help also.

You say you cleaned everything thuroughly? That could have added to your issue if you washed all of your bacteria away, therefore slowing down your cycle immensly... And your filters are 3 stage filtration divices? If its just mechanical filtration, adding another won't really help.

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Frontosa Fanatic

Yes i did when i started having the problem i went through the gravel to make sure i didnt have any dead fish and also to make sure i wasnt overfeeding.so that could have started this.also all the filters are 3 stage filters.as far as helping with getting bacteria back what products if any should i use.i just want to make sure i get it right again.

As long as you didn't actually rinse/wash the substrate, your bacteria should be fine. If you did do that however, there are a few bacteria start formulas that could speed up the cycling process, but it will still take a toll on your fish.

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Frontosa Fanatic

Ok i didnt do that.just a really good siphoning.i appreciate all the help n will do all i can to get it right again.are there any plants you would suggest or will any will do?once again i appreciate all the help

Ammonia generation is usually the result of the decomposition of protien. Make sure you don't have any rotting fish in your tank. Another possible source is your tap water. Farms can often generate high levels of ammonia in ground and surface water. If you think your ammonia readings are correct, make all future water changes and water adds with Distilled or Demineralized Drinking water. Both of these sources of water have zero Ammonia and using them should cause your Ammonia readings to slowly disappear. Angels and Red-Tail Sharks are very sensative to Ammonia and it can kill them.

There are quite a few low maintenance plants out there. one of them being java fern. I would just google it to get agood list(I'm not too much of a plant expert, sorry)

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Frontosa Fanatic

Before you get all upset get a test kit the measures total and free ammonia.

As stated before liquid ammonia test kits only measure the total ammonia which is both the safe(r) locked ammonia plus the (more) dangerous free ammonia.

It very well could be all the ammonia is locked. With normal kits you can still test ammonia, add more lock and so one. the danger is the ammonia lock also locks up oxygen and with hearvier dosing dosing can suffocate the fish.

Additionally adding fast growing plants like anacharis will consume the ammonia very quickly.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Thanks for all the help.i did as you all advised and got some plants for the tank.did my first test and anmonia has gone from 4.0 to 1.0..so a big improvement but still not out of danger yet.i stopped using the ammo lock as well for now.i also ordered the seachem free/total ammonia kit and will take another test when it comes.

By the way my nitrates and nitrites continue to stay at 0

That sounds really really good.

In addition to consumeing the ammonia the plants also consume phosphates and carbon dioxide while returning oxygen. And filter out heavy metals as well.

NitrItes should remain low but nitrAtes could bump up because the plants are getting thier nitrogen from ammonia so any nitrates from the substrate for instance may increase.

My .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden