silly high ammonia

beetlebz

SO... after I got my penguin 200 filter on my 30 gallon tank I just sorta... left it as it was. For those who dont remember I had a hell of a time getting the tank to cycle because I kept doing too many/big water changes and adding fish. so for about 2 months now I have not added any fish and just done small 10% weekly water changes. I dont feed a silly amount and what I do feed, even if its alot gets hoarded by the 8 cory cats and snail.

So today just for kicks before work I checked the params for the first time in a long time and the ammonia was still up around 2ppm :( what gives? should the tank not have cycled by now? the water is even crystal clear.

I did change filters, but the old filter ran along side the new one for several weeks before it was removed.


stocking is 1 PB dwarf gourami, 12 glowlight tetras, 6 trilineatus corys, 2 peppered corys, and 1 blue mystery snail.

filtration is now just 1 penguin 200 biowheel filter.

lighting is i think a 25watt florescent bulb, whatever came with the all-glass hood, and is on only 10 hours a day.

heating is 1 150 watt heater (i think, its the one it came with) running around 78F.

feeding is a mix of tetramin color crisps, and regular crisps, frozen brine shrimp once a week or so, freezedried blood worms, and sinking tropical and algea wafers for the cats. feeding 2x a day, the morning feeding is a bit bigger to allow the corys to go nuts.

I didnt have a chance to get the other params because I was running late for work, but I can get them if needed.

thanks in advance folks!

willow

hay :)
i wonder if your over feeding a bit,
if hording is going on,then maybe the food is rotting,
maybe for an experiment cut the feeding to
once a day,and see if that makes a change,
i have got a problem with my little tank at the moment,
all the readings are off the wall,the only thing i can think
of is..is that i feed too much.

omordn

I would cut the feeding to every other day. I am currently having some problems with my water levels as well and I was told to try feeding my fish every other day. Also, I was recommended a liquid called Prime and it lowers your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate without affecting your pH. You should check it out.

beetlebz

Actually, I stopped using the prime some time ago, as I was told it can slow down the cycle of the tank. I only use a little bit to treat water for water changes. I dont know if its true or not, but I have well water anyway :)

But speaking of that, I had an idea. Would anyone think that I could do a water change on my 110 gallon (that has 0 ammonia) then the following day use water from the 110 to fill the 29 gal? I am aware that the TDS and nitrates would still be there, but thats gotta be better than ammonia, and im thinking it might help the cycle of the tank along. what sayeth the forum?