Ammonia

[rocknurworld2006]

what water changes should i be doing im doing 30% water changes daily to knock down ammonia but it is not budgung ive been doing them for at least 4 days now and ammonia is still 4-8 nitrite=0

why is is not budging

thanks

 

[Spooky76]

Hey

How are you changing the water ?
Are you adding tap water directly to your tank ?
Are you messing / cleaning the filter at all ?
What fish are in the tank and what size is the tank ?

 

[Colin_T]

If the tank is newly set up and the filters haven't become established then any food you put in the tank is going to produce an ammonia reading. Cut the feeding back and do a bigger water change. 50-75% will drop the ammonia levels better than smaller changes. Just make sure the new water going into the tank is free of chlorine and has the same temperature as the tank. Monitor the PH, if it is too high then the ammonia becomes more toxic the higher the PH goes.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

it is a 2foot tank 70 litres

they have not been getting fed at all

there is:
1 female betta
2 adfs
1 ancistrus
1 clown plec

this was a stable tank but ammonia levels shot up filter was destroyed!

so for last 4-5 days done 30% water changes dechlorinated water

ph= is 6.4 and is staying stable at this at the moment

ammonia reading is 8 today

why isnt it going down and what can i do to make it go down

 

[TribeOfShroom]

I maybe a long way off, but take a sample of your water to your LFS. You'll want to rule out the possibility of a dodgy test kit.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

had it double checked already and checked this test kit on tap water which shows o ammonia.
so its not the test kit!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

perseverance is the name of the game. remember a fishless cycle can take up to 6 weeks, even more in some cases. your tank is going through the same process and it may well take a few weeks before you see any movement. you just have to stick with it. you can make the water changes bigger which will help dilute the ammonia (although it won't speed up the process)

 

[rocknurworld2006]

has anybody used

interpet bio start (trizyme culture)

its a powder

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it'll be rubbish. it'll contain some ammonia and therefore can start a cycle just liek fishless cycling can. you already have ammonia so don't need any more!

if you want a product to speed it up use bactiness or bio spira and make sure they've ben refrigerated, everything else is rubbish, this is pretty much established fact, not just my preferences!

 

[rocknurworld2006]

cant get any bactinettes in aberdeen, do you know where you can get them online??

 

[Miss Wiggle]

probably can't, they need to be refridgerated and as such to order them online someone would have to deliver in a refrigerated van. no one's gonna shell out for that to make a single delivery, so i think it mostly gets delivered to shops in bulk to make it cost effective.

try googling it though, you never know!

 

[rdd1952]

I think Tetra Safestart is the UK equivalent to Bio Spira but not certain.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

does using ammo lock and a filter feed like bacinettes or cycle effect the ammonia. as ammo lock is locking it and slowly realising it

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I think Tetra Safestart is the UK equivalent to Bio Spira but not certain.

no it isn't the same product. it's rubbish, basically water conditioner with a bit of ammonia in to start a cycle, no bacteria

does using ammo lock and a filter feed like bacinettes or cycle effect the ammonia. as ammo lock is locking it and slowly realising it

ammo lock actually converts ammoni to ammonium, it's less harmful to fish but bacteria can still feed on it. you can use a combination of ammo lock and bactinettes

 

[rocknurworld2006]

can ammo lock affect test kit reading??