Ammonia Up In New Tank :(

[Craig89]

Transferd my fish into my new tank today along with the filter media from my old filter into the new. now my ammonia levels have risen to around 0.5ppm what should i do

 

[justjon]

Do a 50% water change straight away then re-test.

 

[Craig89]

how quickly should a tank neutralize ammonia ?

 

[Shelby]

With a fully cycled tank it should process it immediately. There should never be enough to get a reading on.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Thats the ultimate question-there are many variables-how efficient is your filter system? How much stock do you have in the tank -what size are they and do certain fish produce more waste than others? I would do as above each day and monitor your ammonia levels daily and you should be fine.

 

[Craig89]

ok ive just done 50% and its still at around 0.25

 

[Shelby]

50% will only lower the levels by 1/2. You could do another change. Make sure you are using a water conditioner/dechorinater.

 

[Craig89]

ok should i do another 50% now ?

 

[toshapetriji]

ok should i do another 50% now ?

Yup.

Zero ammonia is good. Good = happy fish

 

[Craig89]

this happend last time i swoped tanks

 

[Shelby]

It happened to me too. But you swapped out filters too. I'm sure some of your bacteria was on the actual filter (old one) so you lost some. It should catch up soon. Probably 2 or 3 days. Just keep testing it and keep an eye on it.

 

[Craig89]

so am i aiming for 50% water chamges daily ?

 

[Shelby]

I would say as long as you have any ammonia readings at all, yes. It shouldn't take long for the filter to catch back up. Make sure you have plenty of media for the bacteria to grow on.

Dechlorinator is EXTREMELY Important as chlorine will kill the bacteria in the filter.

 

[coldcazzie]

You might need to do more Craig - think about it this way - if you remove half of the water you also remove half of the ammonia. If ammonia is at 0.5 then removing half of it will only reduce it to 0.25 as you have discovered. Levels need to be as close to 0 as possible, so that may mean multiple large changes (like 80-90%). Leave a small amount of water in the bottom - enough for the fish to swim in - and change the rest out. If it's still high, then do the same again immediately. While multiple large changes may stress your fish slightly, it's better than ammonia poisoning. And perhaps cut out feeding completely until your mini spike has finished. As has been said, it should only take a couple of days for your filter to catch up as you've moved all your media over which was dealing with the bioload fine before. How long did it take last time? Also, now may be a good time to start using a hose to do your water changes, unless you already do!

 

[Craig89]

last time it was around 2 days i think but i didnt have a test kit to check. hose would be a great idea but how do u then use the decholrinator as im currently using the gravel cleaner into a 10l bucket 10 times lol n then filling the bucket back up adding the decholrinator 10 times lol