Vervo Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Sigh. Had an ammonia spike in our discus breeding tank. The sponge filter we are using had been cycled in our community tank for over a month. And left in the new tank for over a week before adding 2x discus. We have been doing 10% water change every day. Adding Cycle as required per water change. (However we didn't add the initial bulk amount) Ammonia levels have gone up to 1. We have done 50% water change, and that brought it down to 0.5 We have added the necessary amounts of cycle for the 'initial' tank cycle as directed on the bottle. Any suggestions what we can do to get it back to 0? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted August 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Im thinking about doing another 50% water change, but use new water from the community tank which has 0 ammonia, and is well cycled with similar ph,kh,gh. Would this be changing to much water in one day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Do you have any filter wool in your existing filter? I have had some success with seeding filters by wrapping filter wool around the new filter and starting it off.. Otherwise just feed less and water change more.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted August 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Do you have any filter wool in your existing filter? I have had some success with seeding filters by wrapping filter wool around the new filter and starting it off.. Otherwise just feed less and water change more.. Hi, no don't have any spare filter wool from the main filter. I want to know if doing another 50% water change using water from community tank would be a good idea. As i really don't want to leave them in a tank with 0.5 ammonia overnight until next water change. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Yeah a 50-75% water change with water of similar parameters wont hurt at all.. Probably better to use pre heated fresh water but if you can't get the parameters similar and it heated it will cause more stress with a big wtaer change.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted August 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Yeah a 50-75% water change with water of similar parameters wont hurt at all.. Probably better to use pre heated fresh water but if you can't get the parameters similar and it heated it will cause more stress with a big wtaer change.. Water parameters from our community tank are exactly the same aside from the ammonia problem. So in this case looks like it should be good. Ill just do another 50% change using the other tank water. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishplants Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Sigh. Had an ammonia spike in our discus breeding tank. The sponge filter we are using had been cycled in our community tank for over a month. And left in the new tank for over a week before adding 2x discus. We have been doing 10% water change every day. Adding Cycle as required per water change. (However we didn't add the initial bulk amount) Ammonia levels have gone up to 1. We have done 50% water change, and that brought it down to 0.5 We have added the necessary amounts of cycle for the 'initial' tank cycle as directed on the bottle. Any suggestions what we can do to get it back to 0? The highlighted bit above could be your problem, while the filter would have been full of beneficial bacteria from your community tank, sitting in clean water for a week without any food (ie fish waste) would most likely have reduced the bacteria levels significantly. A lot of people doubt the effectiveness of Cycle. When I set up a breeding/QT tank, I do what you did and seed the sponge filter in my community tank and then place filter and fish (breeding pair of Discus for example) into the breeding/QT tank at the same time. The bacteria in the filter need the fish waste to survive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Good call fishplants and good spotting I missed that.. The bacteria may (I say may because who really knows? Can we see it) die off somewhat in the absense of ammonia to feed it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ally07 Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 What's the pH of the water? If it is less than 7, the ammonia isn't "toxic" to fish. It isn't good to have it in the water, obviously, but the effects are not so severe that you can't leave 0.5ppm in the water overnight. Beneficial bacteria takes time to colonise. Water changing will help reduce ammonia, but ultimately your goal should be to cultivate a stronger bacteria colony (which takes ammonia). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaLife Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 I'd just do the KISS way to sort it out. 50% fresh warm water changes daily till the ammonia dissapear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vervo Posted August 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Hello, Thanks for the responses, the ph is at 6, so if your saying its not as harmful, i guess ill just do 50% fresh warm change every day till its gone. Im thinking of getting an external canister filter for the tank + use the sponge filter, and as its a breeding tank, id turn off the canister if they breed. Hopefully by then the sponge has some good bacteria growth. I would change the water every 2-3 days with both filters running, and every day when just the sponge is running. - does this sound ok? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaLife Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 If it's just a breeing tank for discus (around, 1.5'x1.5'x1.5') and bare, sponge filter is adequate. All discus breeders in Asia use only sponge. Beside turning on and off the canister is not advisable, as bacteria needs oxygen. A ph of 6.5 would be ideal but that is just a preferance . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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