trav Posted July 24, 2010 Report Share Posted July 24, 2010 ok i had just finished cleaning my tank and had finished filling it up aswell as tetn in up then i do my testing and i had 4-8 ammonia i was like:0 :evil: so i went i bought the stuff that i can recharge i put it in my fx5 and have been doing 25% water changes every day and it has been 6 days. yesterday i recharged the stuff and my ammonia hasnt changed much still above 4:/ and tips of wat i can do? oh and when i found out i had ammonia i did another 25% water change so did a 50% watre change when i found out:/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver21 Posted July 24, 2010 Report Share Posted July 24, 2010 did you test the ammonia of the tap water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 first of all did you remove bio media then re set up/ bacteria may have died tell us teh process you did, you cleaned out the tank etc? tell us the exacts, this will help us asses your problems and cause i think. the recharging stuff is temporary, they only filter a certain amount of AM concentration. basically useless lol your key here is to find the cause, and cycle the bio media in your tank. stop feeding too. tell us what you did - exactly, from start to finish:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar-photography Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 I agree test your tap water and see if it reads 0 or pretty close to it. a very common problem is incorrect test kits. if tap water reads hi maybe a trip to your LFS to get them to test it for you. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Sorry Trav but your first post doesn't make a lot of sense. Was it a tank you emptied out completely to clean and refill? Was it a tank you did a water change on? If it was a completely new set up there is no way the ammonia would read that high immediately but if it was a tank you did a water change on what was the ammonia before you changed it? At that high an ammonia reading its a wonder some of your fish were not dead. How old is your test kit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted July 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 ok i took evrything out the tank siphoned 25% out started filling back up and puting logs etc in. after ful and had finished putting everything in did my usual test ph ammonia ( btw do i need to test nitrate and nitrite) . put the drops in the test tube and left it for a while while i was tyding up abt 5 mins checked it and it was dark green i was shocked! so wat i did emediatly was call holywood to find out wat to use they recomended the recharge able stuff and another 25% out so i did that filled it back up went to hollywood and bought the stuff came home and took out the fx5 but the stuff in these bags i bought at hollywood rinced them. then i cleaned the fx5 and took some of the media out to make space for the ammounia stuff witch takes up abt a half of the meadia space so 1 and a half of the holders witch uesualy hold meadia put the meadia in water so the good algee etc can still live:) set it back up filled the fx5 25% up then set it up on the tank . some grey stuff came out the outlets witch i knw is the ammounia stuff witch i obviously didnt rince well:/ haha then the next day did 25% but didnt take everythng out the tank this was tuesday . wednesday and thursday didnt do anything friday took 25% out and then saterday took everything out recharged the ammonia stuff did a 25% water change . today havnt done anyhting but testd it and it is at abt5-6ish please would like some help and tips etc thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted July 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Sorry Trav but your first post doesn't make a lot of sense. Was it a tank you emptied out completely to clean and refill? Was it a tank you did a water change on? If it was a completely new set up there is no way the ammonia would read that high immediately but if it was a tank you did a water change on what was the ammonia before you changed it? At that high an ammonia reading its a wonder some of your fish were not dead. How old is your test kit? ok i have just posted wat i did. the tank is a 6 foot not newly established and didnt do the hole tank refil read my new comment thanks. tester kit abt 3 months old not even Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Would you go and do your tests again. This time test pH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrite and then post the readings. When you do your tests follow to the absolute, the instructions re timing of shaking of tubes, shaking of additives and how long to leave the test to stand as this can have an impact on the end results. Do you have fish in the tank atm? How are they acting? When you say 'took everything out of the tank' do you just mean logs and ornaments or do you mean more? Did you do anything to the filter on this clean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted July 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Would you go and do your tests again. This time test pH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrite and then post the readings. When you do your tests follow to the absolute, the instructions re timing of shaking of tubes, shaking of additives and how long to leave the test to stand as this can have an impact on the end results. Do you have fish in the tank atm? How are they acting? When you say 'took everything out of the tank' do you just mean logs and ornaments or do you mean more? Did you do anything to the filter on this clean? ok will go do that knw:) i took logs ornament out so gravel was only left in the tank aswell as water and fish haha:) yes that day i bought all the ammonia stuff and took the fx5 out cleaned then set it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver21 Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 with cleaning you fx5 did you clean the media with tank water or tap water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted July 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 ok i cleaned it with tap water? ok did the tests i dont have nitrate test kit ... tanks water i followed the egsact instructions... ammonia-4.00 nitrite-0.0 ph-6.0 i put some ph up kh- 2 drops so 2 tap water ammonia-0.0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver21 Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 cleaning the filter media generally kills the bacteria living in it as tap water has chlorine in it. ild suggest daily water changes for a while until the ammonia's back down to virtually 0. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted July 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 ok is that all i can do? how long is it going to take? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Hi Trav. i am confused slightly but i think i have it:D txt spk is rlly hrd 2 rd........ c wht i mn? anyway. ok, first of all, rinsing bio media with tap water......killed all your bacteria. you shouldnt erally have to rinse them. also, why did you take all your water out ? im confused, maybe to avoid confusion. do a numbered step by step what youd id lol but if i have what you did correctly you took out the water, ALL OF IT then rinsed and cleaned fx5 contents and media with tap water. then when you re ran the tank... you had a AM spike. ?? none the less, you probably are pretty much starting all over again. fx5 will turn over water quick, cycling is quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Yes, cleaning out the whole fx5 in tap water will have killed off the good bacteria. IMO with a tank that size depending on your stocking I would think you will have to keep a watch on it for 3 -4 weeks. Your other readings will change as well while the tank is cycling. With my fx5 I tend to rinse out one of the 3 filter baskets totally once every 8 - 10 weeks and rinse the others out in water from my tank. Your saving grace I think has been the fact that your pH has stayed low and thats why the fish are still okay (assuming they are). Adding something like prime will certainly help neutralise the ammonia while the cycling is in progress but with a tank that size it might depend on your finances. Good luck - keep asking questions if you get stuck or need more assistance. There are many on this forum way more experienced than I with problems of this kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 hi trav it will take as long as your media takes to get to it. the media will cycle quicker in my opinion cos of the filter being high turn over. but.... your fish are not as dead cos the ph is low, which effectively makes AM less harmful. but thats luck. do daily 30% wc test twice daily, morning and night. monitor the drop, with in a few days it willd rop dont feed fish or if youd o feed extremely little. there is not much youc an do next time, when youw ant to wash and rinse the bio media - use the tanks old water. secondly, NEVER replace all the water of the tank at once like taht unless there is an extreme emergency. which really, i have never encountered unless your AM levels are 10 or more ppm lol You should never use tap water to wash the bio media. Chlorine may be an issue, wher eyou live, your water wotn have high chlorine, we have the same water from the sme resevoir in OKURA i believe if you are in east coast bays. The death of bacteria may come from the shock of temp and ph and water composition than chlorine itself. backteria are simple creatures - sudden and extreme change in condition kills them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Prime is good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted July 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Hi Trav. i am confused slightly but i think i have it:D txt spk is rlly hrd 2 rd........ c wht i mn? anyway. ok, first of all, rinsing bio media with tap water......killed all your bacteria. you shouldnt erally have to rinse them. also, why did you take all your water out ? im confused, maybe to avoid confusion. do a numbered step by step what youd id lol but if i have what you did correctly you took out the water, ALL OF IT then rinsed and cleaned fx5 contents and media with tap water. then when you re ran the tank... you had a AM spike. ?? none the less, you probably are pretty much starting all over again. fx5 will turn over water quick, cycling is quick. hahahahah i didnt say i did a ful water change i said 25%? haha what i did was clean tank k so i took all ornament logs etc out i took 25% out and put logs in and started filling back up k ? then when i had finished i did the test for ammonia and had abt 7.0 so i took another 25% out so al added up 50% out.then went to holywood bought the stuff put it in fx5.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted July 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Prime is good! wats prime? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted July 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 a few qs ok water change how much and when? i put the ph up is that bad?? wats prime ? so can u tell me should i take all ornament out and logs every time i clean? can u tell me step by step wat i should do when i clean my tank? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 The only thing that does not add up is how high your ammonia was instantly on cleaning your tank. It should not have shown up immediately unless it was already present at a high level. However I have had a similar problem earlier this year which killed off most of my discus eventually and I put it down to the hose I was using for the water change. Maybe there is something present in the water in Auckland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver21 Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 water changes every day 25-50% for 2 weeks then reassess whats happening with the recycle leave the ph as changing it will stress your fish more prime is a chemical used to help cycle tanks, same stuff at stress zyme i would leave all the ordaments in when you clean, just gravel vac around/ under if theyr small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 i dont believe its the water in aucks. i ahve been using the same water he has for the last 2 weeks no issues. and i turn over 600 litres a day of water in total in all my tanks automatically. i believe, that washing your bio media with tap water, shocked the bacts, and killed them off. but in saying that, instantly going up...that is weird, amonia will build up over a day or two with relatively heavy feeding if the bacteria died. another thing would be, perhaps your fx5 bio media was not efficient, or arranged wrong..... and your tank already had amonia you just didnt realise. taking your logs and ornaments makes no different, i wouldnt worry about that. this is a learning process trav, we go through this at some stage. its preventing it thats important (thank goodness you dotn have a reef tank!) that would be more devastating to your corals and animals wtih a spike like this. there is much to learn! putting ph up is bad, dont do it. low ph is not bad unless yoru fish requires high ph specifically. my tanks are 5.8 to 6.5, never higher than 6.5! most fish we keep in the fw tropical hobby in nz are from high ph countries. if the amonia went up suddenly over 1 day - then the only explanation is that you alrady had amonia. when was teh last test you did before you did the water change adn clean? ANOTHER QUESTION: what ist he configuration of your fx5. there are 3 trays, top, middle and bottom....what is in the middle roundy bit on the top middle bottom, can you explicitly tell us (preferably not on text spk:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 prime is made by SEACHEM very strong stuff you literally put 5mls per 200 litres! for your amonia concentration put double that works extremely wel! expensive but worth it - it also makes the amonia easily digested by bacteria thus further helpin to cycle the tank again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice222 Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 From how I read it, OP did a 25% water change, then checked the water and found high ammonia.. Then went to HFF, bought some sort of ammonia reducing stuff to put in the filter, and took out the filter media to fit in the new stuff and rinsed it all under tap water. How long has your tank been set up before the ammonia spike? Also how big is the tank and what do you have in it at the moment? As for PH, from what I hear it's generally best to just leave it alone. Better to have stable PH than to mess around with you PH with things like PH up or PH down. I'm not sure how Cichilid keepers get and maintain a steady high PH though. Prime is a water conditioner that removes chlorine in tapwater making it safe for fish, but it also detoxifies ammonia for some time. It doesn't remove ammonia, but it'll buy you some time to fix the root problem and the good thing is it won't mess up any test kit readings unlike many other products. How you should clean your tank really depends how long it's been running, how big your tank is and what kind of fish you have in it. Generally you shouldn't have to move out the tank decorations and/or the substrate though, and don't touch any part of the filter that are meant to store the good bacteria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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