Ammonia Remover Filter Question?

[mrcobrajet]

I have a new 36 gallon tank an I am learning. I have a Aquaclear 70 filter. When I purchased the tank I never knew about cycling. I have 11 fish in the tank now (it's been running for about 3 weeks now) an I am doing 33% water changes( spring water, no chlorine) everyday to keep my fish alive. The ammonia test kit shows that I still have ammonia in the water (even after every water change but less though) so I purchased a Aquaclear ammonia remover filter. It's been 3 days now an I believe that the ammonia removing filter has done nothing. Do these filters actual work? And how long before they start to help remove some of the ammonia.
THANX
Scott

 

[Easy]

I have a new 36 gallon tank an I am learning. I have a Aquaclear 70 filter. When I purchased the tank I never knew about cycling. I have 11 fish in the tank now (it's been running for about 3 weeks now) an I am doing 33% water changes( spring water, no chlorine) everyday to keep my fish alive. The ammonia test kit shows that I still have ammonia in the water (even after every water change but less though) so I purchased a Aquaclear ammonia remover filter. It's been 3 days now an I believe that the ammonia removing filter has done nothing. Do these filters actual work? And how long before they start to help remove some of the ammonia.
THANX
Scott

Never heard of it.

 

[MrGT500]

ive never heard of that, but i used to use zeolite in my filters until i did some reading. basically the zeolite would only work for about a wee and would then become inactive and more or less become a bio filter from all the stuff trapped in it, and when i changes it i was bassically removing half of my bio filtration and the orginisms that eat the amonia. now i just run dual filter pads with carbon in each side of the filter.

how many fish are in the tank and what kind?

 

[Mauigirl]

Many pseudo solutions out there, hard to fool mother nature!
Follow the cyceling format or report your findings while outside of it.
As I am on a tab can'telaborate. Fully.
Please for the sake of stock visit the cyceling sticky

Nothing store bought will replace your personal attention.
You are now a fish in cycle.
Either return fish and fishless cycle. Or get used lots of work next 5-6 weeks

 

[phoenixgsd]

i had to google it too, to be honest i dont think i would trust it, i prefer to just water change and know for sure that ammonia was being removed

 

[waterdrop]

Without looking, I suspect like the others that you have put zeolite (probably white looking chips) in your AC. As you've found, it probably won't help you and on top of that I'd probably also recommend that you just take it out of your filter to remove the chance it might fool you later (sometimes zeolite can absorb just enough ammonia to make you think you're doing ok, then all of a sudden it will be chemically full and just stop doing that, leaving you with a sudden ammonia spike that hurts your fish - meanwhile the zeolite may have been removing ammonia that would have helped trigger the beneficial bacteria to further develop in your biofilter.)

As said, you are in a "Fish-In Cycling Situation" and you are doing the right thing to perform as many good-technique water changes per day as necessary to lower damage to gills and nervous systems. You need a good liquid test set and you'll find plenty of instruction in the beginners resource center about what you're looking for in your measurements (you could also use my name in an advanced search to find many discussions I've had with beginners about the fish-in cycling process since 2008 in this section of the forum.) I'd also recommend the use of Seachem Prime as the conditioner to be used with the water changes - we've had lots of good feedback about this being somehow even better than one would expect in these fish-in situations. I'd use it at 1.5x to 2x the recommended dose but not more than 2x since your biofilter is still trying to establish more A-Bacs and N-Bacs and the more extreme overdosing of conditioner has in the past been reported to slow N-Bac growth rates somewhat.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mrcobrajet]

Does a carbon filter "house" the same good ammonia eating bacteria that the sponge or a bio filter house? I am going to try to get some USED filter media for my tank to help out my fish.
THANX

 

[mrcobrajet]

I got that Seachem Prime water conditioner today... I put in a cap full (5ml+ for a 36 gallon tank). After a 33% water change , the ammonia in my water is about .25 now, using my test tube test kit. My 7 fish ( had 23 fish to start)and a Pennsylvania crayfish THANK YOU.
THANX
Scott

 

[OldMan47]

Things like ammocarb do indeed work. They chemically remove some ammonia if used in large enough amounts. The problem that you have is that you are producing tons of ammonia and have nothing else to remove it yet. That means that only the water change or the ammonia absorber is doing anything at all for ammonia. Once that ammonia absorber is used up, which can be pretty fast, nothing is left to remove ammonia and you are back where you started, unless you removed media to make room for the ammonia absorber. In that case you will have taken a step backward. Something like that can be useful in the case of a mini-spike in ammonia from a poorly cycled filter but it is no substitute for water changes during a cycle.

 

[mrcobrajet]

I have 13 gallons of 52F (out of the ground) spring water warming up for tomorrows water change... The Ph is 7.5 in this water.
THANX

 

[waterdrop]

Good job mrcobrajet, the water changes are indeed the top priority to stay focused on. When you are in a Fish-In situation and are able to be there and do the changes, they are the best solution. Rough temperature matching with your hand and a 2x dose of Prime (won't be that much of a cap for a 36G) will become second nature as you do these day after day. One good thing to come out of this will be that you will refine all the details of how you do your water changes, making them familiar and efficient for the future. ~~wd~~

 

[mrcobrajet]

I just added some USED filter media to my filter. How much will this speed up the ammonia cycle? And ideas?
THANX

 

[mrcobrajet]

Been 4 weeks... No ammonia... The tests show yellow all the time... No more water changes for a while...
THANX Folks