chemicals

omb00757

I am new here. I am trying to setup an 90 gallon Oscar tank. I cant find some pure ammonia.
my question is when i do find the pure ammonia. do i still add all the water chemicals as in start right. start zyme, stress coat? its a new tank but its not setup right. I had fish in it but they all are dieing from all the ammonia thats already there, so I also need to clean everything and start all over. what can i clean the filter medea with?

thekoimaiden

Hi! Welcome to the hobby and the forum. What it sounds like you're doing is something called cycling. We have a great article that explains the whole process here: A Beginner's Guide to the Freshwater Aquarium Cycle

You will need an aquarium water test kit (sold at most pet stores) to track you progress as there is no other way to know other than testing. Since you already had fish in there, you might have already cycled the tank, so hold off on cleaning the filter media (as this is where the good bacteria that make up a cycle live).

As for finding pure ammonia, you should try looking at hardware stores. It's often used as an industrial cleaning agent.

omb00757

What if I just let the tank alone? The tank has 2 oscars in it. they are about to die. If I remove the fish and let the filters keep on running with the ammonia test at around 2.0 with no nitrites or nitrates what so ever. would the ammonia recreate nitrites and nitrates needed?

Yogi

If you lose your fish and you still have high amounts of ammonia I would try to do a few water changes that is the only real way to get rid of ammonia I believe. Keep your filter running like the last poster said there are beneficial bateria in the filter that you need to be able to properly cycle your tank. I have a 60 gallon that I've had up and running for 6 months now and once you get it cycled trust me it will be worth it.

thekoimaiden

If you remove the fish and just run the tank with the ammonia that's in there, it won't cycle. You need a constant supply of ammonia for extended periods of time. What is in there right now probably won't cut it. If you want to try to save the oscars you should start doing large water changes to reduce the amount of ammonia.