Ive Almost Had Enough

[Squidward]

tap water nitrates are the same as the tank 5.0ppm

henriko im way down on the south west coast of devon

so any suggestions as to what i can do?

I'm in Bideford - If you need mature media, and are nearby??

I would take Bigsy's offer of some mature media.
IMO it's probably the best way forward.

 

[phoenixgsd]

To be honest, I've noticed around here similar stories where when the Ph is low people get a stalled reading of ammonia and all of us again suggesting the usual thing: test may be faulty, tap water may have ammonia, etc...

What dechlorinator are you using? Another reason for this could be because your tap water has chloramines that get broken down to chlorine and ammonia. Try a better dechlorinator may be.
If the Ph is so low and depending on the temperature the tank is at(the low the better) 0.25 ammonia reading should be mostly non-toxic so you may try to just stop doing water changes to see if it clears up.
If there were no fish in the tank I would have said raise your Ph but this is not an option now.

i am usimg prime, the tap water reading is 0, i have tried leaving it for a day or two but the ammonia rises to 0.50ppm, the temp is currently at 24

 

[phoenixgsd]

new media only removes any good bacteria that might be growing on the old stuff. you are doing a fish in cycle, so there is no such thing as a "stall" at least not with all those water changes.

I would take Bigsy's offer of some mature media.
IMO it's probably the best way forward.

confused dot com, different opinions there??? so still stumped

 

[Tizer]

mature media is not new media, new media comes out of a packet, mature media comes out of a filter that's been running a while

 

[phoenixgsd]

mature media is not new media, new media comes out of a packet, mature media comes out of a filter that's been running a while

ahhhhh misunderstanding, i meant mature media, but new to me sorry, im still getting use to the lingo, so if i added mature media would that not help as you say fish in cycles dont stall?

im very blonde

 

[Tizer]

They generally don't stall because of the water changes you do, keeping Nitrate (the end product) low in the process.

Your filters should have cycled long ago to be honest, if your media isn't mature/cycled after 3 months i'd be concerned.

 

[phoenixgsd]

so what can i do apart from give up completely, try the mature media anyway, i really am getting fed up with it

 

[Tizer]

i'd probably find a bucket, fill with water, stick a filter in it (one of your two), dose it with ammonia and leave it, checking the ammonia levels every other day (keep it at 3/4ppm). It can sit in the garage, or shed, if you got power. Its quite warm now, so i wouldn't bother heating it. This way you can fishless cycle one filter, while the other filter continues in the tank. One of them has to "start moving" soon.

 

[Nick217]

Id rehome the fish and carry on a fishless cycle...

 

[phoenixgsd]

i'd probably find a bucket, fill with water, stick a filter in it (one of your two), dose it with ammonia and leave it, checking the ammonia levels every other day (keep it at 3/4ppm). It can sit in the garage, or shed, if you got power. Its quite warm now, so i wouldn't bother heating it. This way you can fishless cycle one filter, while the other filter continues in the tank. One of them has to "start moving" soon.

thats a cracking idea, will deffinatly get a tub of some sort and do that

 

[phoenixgsd]

done, will keep you posted on how it goes

 

[Ruskull]

tap water nitrates are the same as the tank 5.0ppm

henriko im way down on the south west coast of devon

so any suggestions as to what i can do?

I'm in Bideford - If you need mature media, and are nearby??

I would take Bigsy's offer of some mature media.
IMO it's probably the best way forward.

I second that opinion. Get some mature media pronto! I've spiked 4 tanks with it so far & nit never fails if you do it right, as in using enough.

 

[soundteaser]

Stop the 50-70% daily water changes. All you are doing is giving the bacteria nothing to work on and your tank will take forever to cycle. If you can get some mature media as others have said, do so. If not, get some Nutrafin cycle or similar and use that. It does work.

 

[phoenixgsd]

I second that opinion. Get some mature media pronto! I've spiked 4 tanks with it so far & nit never fails if you do it right, as in using enough.

i dont know anyone near enough with a mature tank thats willing to donate, i would love to take nigsy up on his offer but unfortunatly hes too far away

 

[phoenixgsd]

Stop the 50-70% daily water changes. All you are doing is giving the bacteria nothing to work on and your tank will take forever to cycle. If you can get some mature media as others have said, do so. If not, get some Nutrafin cycle or similar and use that. It does work.

this does slightly conflict with what already has been said, if i stop the daily water changes the couple of fish i have will die, i am doing a fish in cycle, i believe my cycle is slow because my water has bearly no PH level, although i might be wrong, also i have read that the cycle start products dont work