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Home      Reply		Viewed: 347 -- Replies: 17
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Posted	AMMONIA
30-01-2008 02:36 by Josh1604	Hey guys i am new here and also new to fish tanks, I am having this problem with my ammonia levels i keep doing about a 20% water change about twice a week but i cant seem to get the ammonia levels down to anywhere near normal, is there anything i can do beside use chemicals to help bring this level down thanks
30-01-2008 09:54 by Alan	A few questions Josh: 1. How long has the tank been set up? 2. Are there any fish in there yet? 3. What is the ammonia level? 4. Are you treating the tap water with a dechlorinator? 5. How much are you feeding? 6. Are you familiar with the nitrogen cycle?
30-01-2008 17:27 by Josh1604	1. 3 weeks 2. yes there are fish in there about 15 3. the ammonia level is the one before the last level which they have labeled as harmful.I can't get it to go below that 4. Yes i put bechlorinator in the tap water( i have heard something about using distilled water what are you thoughts on that) 5. I feed about twice a day and they eat for about 3-5 minutes 6. no i am not familar with the nitrogen cycle Thanks for the help Josh
30-01-2008 18:19 by Josh1604	i am also having a problem recently with keeping my ph at a low enough level i keep lowering it with some chemicals and it keeps going back up even if i am adding water i dont know what that is about
30-01-2008 18:20 by telboy	new tank syndrome josh,i take it ya filters are as new as the tank?what youve done is added too many fish to an unmature tank size of tank,filters,what fish are the next questions?
30-01-2008 18:32 by Josh1604	it is a 20 gallon tank, i started running two filters when the tank got so dirty one of which is an elite hush 20 and the other is aqua-teach 20-40, i run the hush on a low setting though, i have i balla shark, 1 gold guaromi, 3 platys, 2 mollys, and 8 convict fish which are a cichlid thanks
30-01-2008 19:05 by telboy	from what i can see on the net the filters you have dont have very good reviews im afraid! also you have quite a lot of fish in a tank that size, are the convicts full grown? they will get mean when they pair up + will prob' attack everything else in the tank,balas get very big over12" when full grown,if i were you id do 30% water change now, then 10% water change every 2-3 days, cut down on feeding to maybe once every other day keep this up for a couple weeksyou can get chemicals to help in the short term ie ammo lock etc but ya wanna find out the cause, maybe get a bigger tank better filter, cut down the amount of fish
30-01-2008 20:04 by big cats	telboy ,what a joy it is to read such a great set of replies to the q. asked by josh1604, i will add a little, make sure you turn off your filters for 30 minutes if you are not premixing your fresh water in a seperate container, if you dont then it is possible the chlorine will deplete the good bacteria in your filter(before the dechlorinator works) and they will never mature
30-01-2008 21:36 by Jake Casson	Cut food down to every other day as telboy said and that'll def sort it, give a few more weeks to mature and all will be good. Your feeding way too much even for a mature tank. Once a day all can eat in under a min. Good luck dude
30-01-2008 22:41 by rob r	cons will eventualy kill others
30-01-2008 22:58 by Josh1604	thanks guys for all the replies and no the convict fish aren't big they are pretty much babys maybe a couple months old i have been trying to get rid of them but my gf wants to keep all of them does anyones have some fairly cheap filter alternatives to the ones i already have? What do yall thinka good number of fish for the time being would be. Thanks
31-01-2008 08:42 by Alan	First off feed once every other day for the time being. Second get a good book and have a read about the nitrogen cycle and the fish you have purchased. Third make some serious decision about which fish to rehome. In the mean time you have got to get thesae filters working. As a dechlorinator use ammo lock this stuff stabalises ammonia as ammonium rendering it harmless to fish its not an ideal situation but it may save your fish. To get the filters going by a biological filter start such as cycle or stress zyme this will speed up the maturation process. In simple terms the nitrogen cycle is the consumption by bacteria of ammonia to produce nitrite and then the consumption of this by different bacteria to produce nitrate. Nitrate being the least harmful of the 3. Monitor the ammonia closely and as neccessary carry out partial water changes to keep the ammonia levels safe. Filter wise have them set to the maximum flow rate and never clean the sponges under a tap these should always be rung out in old tank water nothing else. I don't want to blind you with science so to speak so I have been deliberately vague on the nitrogen cycle a book will do this far better justice than I ever could. Also take a look at this website www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk register on the site and you will be able to view articles about basic fish husbandry which should quickly let you know the mistakes you have made.
31-01-2008 23:20 by robert.pope	top advice from the above Josh! Its nice that you have used Test kits and takem action on the result. keep this space updated over the next few days as it will help others to help you and your fish!
02-02-2008 23:56 by Josh1604	okay i got rid of all 11 of the convict fish(there was more that i thought) i did a 30% water change and i have been doing 10% changes every 2 days since then, i have also been feeding them once a day, but the ammonia is still very high whats the deal?
03-02-2008 13:31 by telboy	josh, when you clean the filter sponges, do you clean em under running tap water or syphoned tank water in a bucket?
04-02-2008 15:20 by Alan	How long have you been doing this? Have you used any form of bacterial filter start? Are you using a dechlorinator such as ammo lock 2? Have you been monitoring nitrite and nitrate as well as ammonia?
04-02-2008 15:30 by Josh1604	No i don not clean my filters sponges out under tap water i do it under used tank water I have been doing this for a week and i just started using bacterial filter start, i use another brand called Stress coat for the decholrinator, but no i have not been monitoring the ntrate and nitrite my test kit only cover ammonia thanks
05-02-2008 09:39 by Alan	Without testing for nitrite and nitrate you will not be able to see the filters maturing process you will get a nitrite spike soon.

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