Ammonia Problems

Terrance · Post by **Terrance** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:46 am

Hey guys,

I need help with my 29g. In short, I've been doing emergency cycle for the last 2.5 months (doing water changes every other day to keep numbers untraceable on API test kit) and this is my first tank. All other tanks has gone through fishless cycle, but I'm still struggling with this fish-in cycle.

1. I feed my turgidus puff every other day with no visible food left over on the floor.
2. Tap water is clean (parameter of 0/0/0) and been using water conditioner.
3. All of my other tanks are doing fine and have the same setup as my 29g.
4. No other fish has been in this tank and no plants and no algae (since I don't turn on the tank lights at all).
5. Everything inside the tank looks clean (filter pads, sand substrate, glass of tank, etc).
6. Been doing at least 50% water change every 2-3 days.

Water gets ammonia the day after feeding. Everything seems fine and I can't think of any other reasons to why I'm still getting ammonia ~0.50 today (fed puffer yesterday).

Tomorrow I'll send my cutcutia puffer back to the LFS and put my Turgidus inside it temporarily until I figure out what else I can do.

Could it be the bioload of this 3.5" Turgidus puffer too much for a 29g?

Pazuzu · Post by **Pazuzu** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:52 am

Have you tried transferring some media from one of your established tank into the new tank? In the past I have filled a media bag with the ceramic bio-filtration media and left it in an established tank for about a week, and then switched that to a new tank to seed it.

Are you showing Nitrites or Nitrates yet?

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:57 am

What's the tank and tap water KH?
3.5" puffer may very well put out that reported heavy duty bioload.

Terrance · Post by **Terrance** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:10 am

I use to see NitIte, but not anymore (stopped 1 month ago?). I have a biowheel from an established tank floating around in the 29g. Should I switch it out again with another established tank?

Btw, the tank is well oxygenated and at least 300gph flow rate. All decor is fake.

Temp always runs around 78F.
Ph is around 7
I have never checked kH before.

Pazuzu · Post by **Pazuzu** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:15 am

Yes, you could put the bio-wheel into another established tank. Personally I would try and find some ceramic or another porous media and fill a media bag (available at Petsmart) or a nylon stocking with it and sink it into an established tank. You want as much surface area as possible. Those bio-balls they sell for ponds would work too.

You could even take a handful of gravel from an established tank, stick that into a media bag or stocking and shove it into your filter or sink it to the bottom of your tank.

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:19 am

Terrance · Post by **Terrance** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:26 am

Plus, I added Tetra Safestart (good for up to 30g) 9/10/11 PM. Its now 9/16/11 PM, and I can't believe I don't see much changes yet (only see ammonia with no nitrIte).

I did everything as instructed on the back of the bottle (shake well and pour whole bottle directly into my filter pad area).

I'll try the mesh bag idea with porous media.

Pazuzu · Post by **Pazuzu** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:29 am

Petsmart.com doesn't have the media bag anymore. The store may not anymore either. But this is what you want. It shouldn't be too hard to find at a fish store.
http://www.petco.com/product/7363/Petce ... SiteSearch

And something like this- available from many brands. Depending on what type of filter you use they may sell one specifically for it. Also widely available. I know the Shoreline Petsmart and the Ballard Petco carry a variety.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2752374

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:30 am

Is the tank and tap water above 6.5 pH?

Terrance · Post by **Terrance** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:38 am

Terrance wrote:Btw, the tank is well oxygenated and at least 300gph flow rate. All decor is fake.

Temp always runs around 78F.
Ph is around 7
I have never checked kH before.

Yeah Ph is more than 6.5 in the tap and tank. I have no buffers.

I bought 2 mesh bags from Petsmart 2 months ago (using it to store trimmings of java moss). I'll try to get those media.

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:48 am

Sorry, I'm on a phone so it's a tiny screen, I tried to look for your pH reading, but I missed it.
I don't know what's going on then. I had that problem after a heater malfunction wiped out my cycle, but my KH is low, my pH was low, so it took forever for it to recycle, I didn't know pH effected the bacteria as such.
Safestart also did not work for me, but I attributed that in retrospect to the low pH. But now I wonder if their product has changed and is no longer as efficient.

Post by **RTR** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 8:03 am

At and above pH 6.5 the bacteria should be fine. It is not optimum, but will grow okay. Between 6.0 and 6.5 they are slower/ Below pH 6.0 the growth rate is glacial if any. It will not generally kill them, but they will just sit there.

The questions on the KH are very apt - without KH the bacteria cannot metabolize. Bicarbonate is primary to their energy metabolism, without that they starve.

If you could either get a KH test kit (liquid only) or at least get a reading from a store (numbers please) it would be reassuring.

Terrance · Post by **Terrance** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:57 pm

Wow you're brilliant RTR!

I found some water test strips laying around. It says kH and gH is really low. Although its not 100% reliable, it gives me a general idea of the kH and gH.

What's a good way to raise kH in my current setup? I want a long-term solution to keep a good level of kH.

xrayjeeper83 · Post by **xrayjeeper83** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 2:17 pm

How old are those strips, they are less then reliable and with age they will get even worse. Sorry Im useless when it comes to how to raise kH

Reaperpilot2014 · Post by **Reaperpilot2014** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 2:48 pm

+1 to trashing the strips. I would get a liquid test kit. The best way I know to raise Kh is by dosing baking soda.

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