[rpc07]

Hey all i need some advice on why my ammonia is hanging at .25-.50 i will try to explain everything to my best knowledge.
Tank is about 4 weeks old i cycled for 2 weeks with 2 fish then added bio spira monitored the levels everyday ammonia spiked, nitrite spiked, now the nitrite and nitrate are at 0, but the ammonia hangs at around .25-.50 and wont come back down

29 gallon tank
whisper 30 ( Since new )
Fluval 205 ( added 2 days ago )
150 watt heater
ph is between 8.2-8.4
temp is steady at 77
15% water change weekly

I am using an aquarium pharmaceuticals liquid test kit
buffering ph with cichlid salt

currently housing
1 yellow lab
1 acai ( sp? )
and 2 ob peacocks

black gravel for substrate and lava rocks for hiding

I am feeding 2 times daily small amounts

Thanks for reading i hope i answered any questions you might have about the set up any advice would be appreciated
,Ryan

 

[djrichie]

to complete the cycleing procees it takes about 6 to 8 weeks even with adding a product or seeding the tank with old gravel or filter loss. As you know the cycling porcess is what converts the ammonnia.

 

[rpc07]

to complete the cycleing procees it takes about 6 to 8 weeks even with adding a product or seeding the tank with old gravel or filter loss. As you know the cycling porcess is what converts the ammonia.

This is my first tank so im kind of taking things in stride, So this little bit of ammonia is somewhat normal for the age of my tank? is it anything to worry about for the fish in the tank at these levels?

 

[susankat]

In a cycled tank you should also have some nitrate readings, especially since there is no plants in the tank. The bio spira should have worked but you should still have nitrates. Any amount of ammonia is hard on a fish. You need to do a water change to help bring it down. Have you tested your tap water also, sometimes there is ammonia in tap water.
Are you using test strips or liquid? The strips have a tendency of being inaccurate.

 

[djrichie]

Yes & yes...... Ammonnia is deadly to fish. Now that you have the fish in the tank and they are the fish you want to keep, you need to tested daily and do a WC whenever they get to high. A 20% of the water is good and do not gravel vac. Only gravel vac. once a week and than do it in a four section layout, a different section each week with you weekly maintence. Don't overfeed the fish, feed twice a day and opnly enough for them to comsume all the food within 3 to mins, if the food settles on the gravel your feed ing to much, unless you have bottom feeds. Which I don't think you have any now.

If you are not using a complete freshwater testing kit,,,, (liquids) buy one. It one of the best investments you can buy. I twill last you at least two years, depending on how often you test or how many tanks you have. You can buythem at any pet chainstore or LFS. They are cheaper online but you don't have the time to wait for delivery.

If you have ammonia in your city water system call you local water service it should not be there. If you are using well water than you should call the EPA because there is a leaching process in you water table somewhere and it need to be found and corrected.

 

[rpc07]

ok so ill bump up my water changes to 2-3 times a week until the levels come down, and i will only vac once a week, right now the amount i feed twice a day is gone before it ever touches the ground. I am using a liguid test kit as mentioned in the first post

thanks for the help

 

[djrichie]

you got it, except only do the WC's when the levels get dangerous, you don't want the tank you just keep cycling.... you need some of the ammonnia for the cycling process... what you doing now is tring to save your fish from death or permenate damage.

 

[rpc07]

you got it, except only do the WC's when the levels get dangerous, you don't want the tank you just keep cycling.... you need some of the ammonnia for the cycling process... what you doing now is tring to save your fish from death or permenate damage.

ok so what would you consider a dangerous level? right now its been hanging around .25-.50

 

[djrichie]

2.0ppm or the green area on the color chart

 

[lagniappe]

Change 20% of your water daily. If you are using a chlorine remover....stop. If your water has chloramine in it ,this will break the bond by removing the chlorine and leaving the ammonia.
I set tanks up all the time and, when the temp is right , fill them with fish. But I do 20-50 %water changes every day untill the sponges can handle the bio-load.

 

[rpc07]

The levels seemed to even out now, i suppose the filter media has built up enough good bacteria to handle the bio load in the tank, ammonia is at 0, nitrite is at 0 and nitrates rise slowly but i do my 15% water change weekly and it seems to keep them low i do test the water during the week usually wed. and if levels arent right i do a 15% water change, and my normal weekly routine is done on sunday

 

[susankat]

Congrats, you made it through a cycle with fish. The next tank will be a lot easier now that you know what to do.

 

[rpc07]

Congrats, you made it through a cycle with fish. The next tank will be a lot easier now that you know what to do.

I'm pretty happy i dont have to test the levels everyday, and im a little ocd sometimes i was testing twice a day. but everyone in the tank seems happy and i did notice a huge difference in the clarity of the water and how fast it clears up after a feeding with the fluval 205 aswell as the whisper 30. I dont think the whisper 30 was doing to much for filtration and im sure once the fluval builds up its own bacteria (its only been running a week w/ the whisper 30 ) i will have no problems keeping a safe aquarium