Amquel+?

[muelleh]

I had to leave town for a week and left my tank in the care of someone else.

My ammonia readings are between 0 and .25 despite 3 30% water changes in two days. Nitrites 0, nitrates between 5 - 10. LFS guy told me to use AmQuel+ but am hesitant to do so after reading contradictory information.

I am concerned about continuing to replace so much water so often.

30 gal tank with two filters. Weekly 30% water changes plus gravel vac. Tap water is well water - 0 ammonia, nitrite, nitrate

2 angelfish
5 cory cats
8 red eyed tetras
2 siamese (not chinese) algae eaters

So, should I use the AmQuel+ to get the ammonia down to 0?

Thanks for your help!

 

[drobbyb]

The Amquel+ does NOT remove ammonia. It converts it into a less toxic form called ammonium which is in turn removed by your filter bacteria. If 30% water changes aren't enough, try 75%. Don't worry about changing too much water, ammonia is far more stressful than a water change.

 

[muelleh]

The Amquel+ does NOT remove ammonia. It converts it into a less toxic form called ammonium which is in turn removed by your filter bacteria. If 30% water changes aren't enough, try 75%. Don't worry about changing too much water, ammonia is far more stressful than a water change.

Thanks for your response! So you would suggest continuing to change the water until I get a 0 reading for ammonia? When I tested this morning, there was just the barest tinge of green (I used a sample from my tap to compare). I read somewhere to continue changing water until the reading got below .25 (which it is) while others say anything above 0 is toxic.

 

[Twinklecaz]

I think it is all toxic but there's no reading below 25 before 0. I had the same thing, I had the faintest trace nowhere near as much as 0.25. I reckon you'll be alright with another couple of water changes.

 

[muelleh]

I think it is all toxic but there's no reading below 25 before 0. I had the same thing, I had the faintest trace nowhere near as much as 0.25. I reckon you'll be alright with another couple of water changes.

Am getting ready to change the water again and will just continue to do so until I get a 0 reading. Could over-feeding have caused this? I had hoped that over-filtering would protect against that.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Yeah, rotting fish food will produce Ammonia. I think you're supposed to remove any food they havn't eaten after 5 mins or something. I've yet to experience the joys of that, I'm still cycling.

 

[JoshuaA]

Yeah, rotting fish food will produce Ammonia. I think you're supposed to remove any food they havn't eaten after 5 mins or something. I've yet to experience the joys of that, I'm still cycling.

You might find it stuck to the silicon seals on the edges of the tank, that's were uneaten food congregated when we had fish in the tank then we had a specific cloth cleaned in hot water only to wipe it off if it got stuck.

 

[muelleh]

I do remove any food I see after five minutes, as well as an remains of algae wafers (after a couple of hours, when the corys are no longer interested.

However, at the recommendation of my LFS, I recently started using a pellet type food that immediately sinks to the bottom, so I suspect that much of it must have fallen into the gravel, uneaten. I thoroughly vacced this morning (down to the bottom of the tank) and was amazed at what came out (ugh). Will the throwing that food out.

For some reason I have thought that as long as nitrates were reading below 10, then there was no need to test for ammonia. The only reason I even tested this time was because I am fishless cycling a 5 gallon for my betta and decided to compare it to my 30 gal. I have been rather panicked about it...

 

[muelleh]

Ammonia now 0. Thanks to all for your help!

 

[stuuk1]

Just because your ammonia says 0 doesnt mean that you are finished with cycling. You may have just changed so much water that it shows 0 but your filter media may still not have matured.

Once you get the magic reading of 0, you need to stop water changes for 7 days, test everyday for those 7 days. If on the 8th day your reading is still 0, you are finished. If your ammonia or nitrite readings go above 0, then more water changes are needed.

 

[muelleh]

Just because your ammonia says 0 doesnt mean that you are finished with cycling. You may have just changed so much water that it shows 0 but your filter media may still not have matured.

Once you get the magic reading of 0, you need to stop water changes for 7 days, test everyday for those 7 days. If on the 8th day your reading is still 0, you are finished. If your ammonia or nitrite readings go above 0, then more water changes are needed.

Thanks! My tank has been up and running for over 6 months so I am not sure what happened. Could have been a combo of aggressive cleaning prior to having to go out of town and overfeeding (and not cleaning up) while I was gone. But in any event, I am going to test the water every day. Today the fish are clearly "happier": no longer lurking on the bottom and hiding