Super High Ph And Ammonia Even After 50% Water Change

[smudgeman]

high Ive been trying to cycle my tank for a few weeks now and its not going well.
Ive been living in a motel since I was homeless on christmas and we just finally moved into a new house.
In the meantime the fish have been at a friends house who lived over 70miles away.

Now I have to cycle my 55gal tank with no mature media and its not going so well.
I use my api test kit and the ph seemed like it kept steadily increasing so I figure there had to be a culprit in the tank.
I think I traced it to the sandstone that I got when I purchased the 55gal tank........ I had never used it before.
I know its not the tap water because I tested the tap water and I tested my 30gal tank thats cycling and its ph is low.

when I say high I mean like 8.

I did a water change and the ph is still high....... Though I didnt figure out to remove the stone until I completed the 50% change.
Will it come down now that the stone isnt there? I had been using seachems 7.0 buffer powder so I would have thought it would help a bit but it didnt.
what do I need to do???

Also after the water change it seemed like my ammonia reading was still just as high as before the test.

please I need help ASAP.
started to use seachem Stability or whatever its called in an effort to jump start the bacteria but that probably wont help with high ammonia and super high ph....
all fish are swimming around fine with no gasping or anything but its only a matter of time.
thanks.
3 sword tails (1male 2female)
2 molleys
1 pleco (6in)
3 polkadot loachs
2 sunburst (whatever they are)
1 adf

 

[fatheadminnow]

First off, your pH is not that high, it is actually at a really good level to a cycle a tank!

Also, stop adding any products that try to buffer the pH. The only chemical you should add to your tank is a water conditioner.

Also, pH is prone to fluctuate when a tank is cycling, so don't really worry about this right now, (unless it goes over 9).

As for the ammonia, you need to check about an hour after you do the water change as it takes for the ammonia in the tank, and the new water you just added to reach a new equilibrium.

Try to keep the ammonia and nitrite under .25 ppm by doing water changes.

-FHM

 

[smudgeman]

First off, your pH is not that high, it is actually at a really good level to a cycle a tank!

Also, stop adding any products that try to buffer the pH. The only chemical you should add to your tank is a water conditioner.

Also, pH is prone to fluctuate when a tank is cycling, so don't really worry about this right now, (unless it goes over 9).

As for the ammonia, you need to check about an hour after you do the water change as it takes for the ammonia in the tank, and the new water you just added to reach a new equilibrium.

Try to keep the ammonia and nitrite under .25 ppm by doing water changes.

-FHM

ok update.....
ammonia came down its like 2.0 was 4.0
thats why I was freaking out because it seems really high
ph has actually come down... its like 7.4
I guess as I do water changes I'll slowly be removing the buffer I put in there. So maybe it will help it even out on its own.
Didnt check nitrite or nitrate yet as I just got up so I will check in a little bit. Just wanted to update.
thanks.

 

[Assaye]

First off, your pH is not that high, it is actually at a really good level to a cycle a tank!

Also, stop adding any products that try to buffer the pH. The only chemical you should add to your tank is a water conditioner.

Also, pH is prone to fluctuate when a tank is cycling, so don't really worry about this right now, (unless it goes over 9).

As for the ammonia, you need to check about an hour after you do the water change as it takes for the ammonia in the tank, and the new water you just added to reach a new equilibrium.

Try to keep the ammonia and nitrite under .25 ppm by doing water changes.

-FHM

ok update.....
ammonia came down its like 2.0 was 4.0
thats why I was freaking out because it seems really high
ph has actually come down... its like 7.4
I guess as I do water changes I'll slowly be removing the buffer I put in there. So maybe it will help it even out on its own.
Didnt check nitrite or nitrate yet as I just got up so I will check in a little bit. Just wanted to update.
thanks.

As FHM said, don't worry too much about pH. Unstable pH isn't good but at the moment there is very little you can do.

The ammonia is the main worry - it needs to be zero and you don't want to let it get above the first detectable level on your test kit. This may mean multiple 50% or even 70% water changes a day. This will also help keep your pH closer to your tap water pH.

Good luck.

 

[smudgeman]

First off, your pH is not that high, it is actually at a really good level to a cycle a tank!

Also, stop adding any products that try to buffer the pH. The only chemical you should add to your tank is a water conditioner.

Also, pH is prone to fluctuate when a tank is cycling, so don't really worry about this right now, (unless it goes over 9).

As for the ammonia, you need to check about an hour after you do the water change as it takes for the ammonia in the tank, and the new water you just added to reach a new equilibrium.

Try to keep the ammonia and nitrite under .25 ppm by doing water changes.

-FHM

ok update.....
ammonia came down its like 2.0 was 4.0
thats why I was freaking out because it seems really high
ph has actually come down... its like 7.4
I guess as I do water changes I'll slowly be removing the buffer I put in there. So maybe it will help it even out on its own.
Didnt check nitrite or nitrate yet as I just got up so I will check in a little bit. Just wanted to update.
thanks.

As FHM said, don't worry too much about pH. Unstable pH isn't good but at the moment there is very little you can do.

The ammonia is the main worry - it needs to be zero and you don't want to let it get above the first detectable level on your test kit. This may mean multiple 50% or even 70% water changes a day. This will also help keep your pH closer to your tap water pH.

Good luck.

lost one of the starburst fish.
it was upside down and then would try to swim then sink to bottom.... died....
I feel terrible.. Happened a little after I did a water change. 2hrs roughly.
ammonia is done to where it should be but I dont know why it happened. Maybe the damage was already done.
the other starburst is swimming around fine and so are all of the other fish.

Any ideas?

 

[Assaye]

First off, your pH is not that high, it is actually at a really good level to a cycle a tank!

Also, stop adding any products that try to buffer the pH. The only chemical you should add to your tank is a water conditioner.

Also, pH is prone to fluctuate when a tank is cycling, so don't really worry about this right now, (unless it goes over 9).

As for the ammonia, you need to check about an hour after you do the water change as it takes for the ammonia in the tank, and the new water you just added to reach a new equilibrium.

Try to keep the ammonia and nitrite under .25 ppm by doing water changes.

-FHM

ok update.....
ammonia came down its like 2.0 was 4.0
thats why I was freaking out because it seems really high
ph has actually come down... its like 7.4
I guess as I do water changes I'll slowly be removing the buffer I put in there. So maybe it will help it even out on its own.
Didnt check nitrite or nitrate yet as I just got up so I will check in a little bit. Just wanted to update.
thanks.

As FHM said, don't worry too much about pH. Unstable pH isn't good but at the moment there is very little you can do.

The ammonia is the main worry - it needs to be zero and you don't want to let it get above the first detectable level on your test kit. This may mean multiple 50% or even 70% water changes a day. This will also help keep your pH closer to your tap water pH.

Good luck.

lost one of the starburst fish.
it was upside down and then would try to swim then sink to bottom.... died....
I feel terrible.. Happened a little after I did a water change. 2hrs roughly.
ammonia is done to where it should be but I dont know why it happened. Maybe the damage was already done.
the other starburst is swimming around fine and so are all of the other fish.

Any ideas?

Even a day or so in high ammonia can do serious damage. Fish who have been in high ammonia can seem to recover and then drop dead weeks later from the damage caused.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Keep the ammonia down and you should see improvement.

 

[smudgeman]

First off, your pH is not that high, it is actually at a really good level to a cycle a tank!

Also, stop adding any products that try to buffer the pH. The only chemical you should add to your tank is a water conditioner.

Also, pH is prone to fluctuate when a tank is cycling, so don't really worry about this right now, (unless it goes over 9).

As for the ammonia, you need to check about an hour after you do the water change as it takes for the ammonia in the tank, and the new water you just added to reach a new equilibrium.

Try to keep the ammonia and nitrite under .25 ppm by doing water changes.

-FHM

ok update.....
ammonia came down its like 2.0 was 4.0
thats why I was freaking out because it seems really high
ph has actually come down... its like 7.4
I guess as I do water changes I'll slowly be removing the buffer I put in there. So maybe it will help it even out on its own.
Didnt check nitrite or nitrate yet as I just got up so I will check in a little bit. Just wanted to update.
thanks.

As FHM said, don't worry too much about pH. Unstable pH isn't good but at the moment there is very little you can do.

The ammonia is the main worry - it needs to be zero and you don't want to let it get above the first detectable level on your test kit. This may mean multiple 50% or even 70% water changes a day. This will also help keep your pH closer to your tap water pH.

Good luck.

lost one of the starburst fish.
it was upside down and then would try to swim then sink to bottom.... died....
I feel terrible.. Happened a little after I did a water change. 2hrs roughly.
ammonia is done to where it should be but I dont know why it happened. Maybe the damage was already done.
the other starburst is swimming around fine and so are all of the other fish.

Any ideas?

Even a day or so in high ammonia can do serious damage. Fish who have been in high ammonia can seem to recover and then drop dead weeks later from the damage caused.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Keep the ammonia down and you should see improvement.

does dechlor go bad after a while???
Im using the dechlor I got when I got this tank since I ran out of my usual brand.
Though I look it up online and the product label isnt even the same anymore.
My bottles all orange and states 3 drops per gallon.
The new updated bottle states 5 drops per gallon and is a white label
its called wardley chlor-out
whats a recommended dechlor?? I usually use Aqueon Water Conditioner
thanks again for all the help peeps.