Cloudy Water With High Ammonia

[Cocomojo]

So one hour after water change I test the water again.

Ammonia 2.0
Nitrite .50
Ph 7.5ish
Nitrate was somewhere between 0.0 and 5.0 ?

Using the API freshwater master kit.. So nitrate is either some or none on their chart?

 

[drobbyb]

Make sure you shake those bottles well. The color chart works for nitrate test.

 

[Cocomojo]

Hour after 2nd water change today

Ammonia looks like 1.0
Nitrite .25
Nitrate 5.0

 

[Cocomojo]

Checked this morning right after waking up..

ammonia 1.0
Nitrite up to .50

 

[Cocomojo]

Is the fact that I have green algae growth on drift wood a good thing? lol

 

[waterdrop]

What are your light timers set at?

Are there still fish in there?

 

[Cocomojo]

I have the light on from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, been shortening the day a bit because I was guessin that was promoting algae growth.

Had 5 tiger barbs in the tank, LFS guy said would be good to put 5 together now... blah blah blah

Needless to say I won't be taking much advice from them. I have 1 big male (big of the smallest you will find) left.. he decided he didn't like his tankmates and one day I came home and 4 of them were barely flopping around in water since they had less than 10% of their fins...

 

[waterdrop]

Life with tiger barbs!

12 hours of light is great if you have tons of plants and are feeding those plants all the right nutrients and are putting CO2 in there and have a plant oriented substrate. But if you have a typical beginner tropical tank with maybe a few plants then you'd probably be better off with fewer hours of light. How much fewer depends...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Cocomojo]

Well Michael Stripe is finding new home, (yes I named the jerk barb after the lead singer of REM) I am going to fishless to try and get tank cycled. If I am way off on doing this please let me know, but at the moment after 12 hours between tests, I went from

ammonia 4.0 to 2.0 ppm

Nitrite .50 to 1.0 ppm

Nitrate 5.0 to 10 ppm


Is that sounding like things are going proper?

 

[fatheadminnow]

Well Michael Stripe is finding new home, (yes I named the jerk barb after the lead singer of REM) I am going to fishless to try and get tank cycled. If I am way off on doing this please let me know, but at the moment after 12 hours between tests, I went from

ammonia 4.0 to 2.0 ppm

Nitrite .50 to 1.0 ppm

Nitrate 5.0 to 10 ppm


Is that sounding like things are going proper?

Yes.

It looks like you have some beneficial bacteria working in your filter!

-FHM

 

[Cocomojo]

The filter I have is an aquaclear over the side thingy

Was thinkin, should I take out the carbon pack that came with it, and get another smaller sponge and another bag of the white mint lookin things?

 

[fatheadminnow]

The filter I have is an aquaclear over the side thingy

Was thinkin, should I take out the carbon pack that came with it, and get another smaller sponge and another bag of the white mint lookin things?

Yes, you can take out the carbon, as it has no real benefits for the bacteria in your filter, and it looses its effect in about 3 days anyways.

I would get some more foam and bio-mass like you said.

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

(yes I named the jerk barb after the lead singer of REM)

ha,ha, in the late 70s/early80s?(can't remember exactly) there was this unknown band that used to come frequently to a train station bar in carrboro just next to chapel hill where a lot of us went to dance/listen. We got to saying to each other that these guys were really fun and we hoped they'd come back even more.. they had this weird name of "rapid eye movement."

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Cocomojo]

My ammonia has stayed pretty steady at 2.0 ppm last couple of days, have not seen any drop in it, but my Nitrites continue to climb.. should I keep pushing the ammonia up to 4.0 ppm? or should I let it get down closer to 1.0 yet.

 

[guppy77]

I've been adding more conditioner than what is recomended to the water before putting it in the tank, dont' know if that would have a negative effect? Says to had 5ml per 10 gallon and I think I've been more like 15ml per 10 gallon.

With the python, you just add the conditioner after you put it back in the water? I'm assuming the conditioner runs it's course before I would be powering the filter back on.

O and I haven't touched the filter other than turning it off to not destroy the pumps when doing water changes, as it's only 3 weeks and some days old.


and to rewlyn, that is one pissed off lookin lil kid.. lol

hi. dont know what conditioner you use. i use aqua safe and they recomend 5ml per 10 LITRES. just thought id mention that in case your not adding enough