4th week ammonia still high

cjd · May 12, 2017

Take a deep breath and relax . You have to wait for mother nature and she doesn't like to be rushed. The rock that you chose unfortunately is know for a large amount of death and decay trapped inside it . It may take a little longer for the nitrogen cycle to complete . It would be almost like some trying to jump start their cycle with a pound of dead shrimp from the grocery store and waiting for the tank to reach zero . After they reach zero your nitrates will probably be very high. I would do as close to a 100% water change after the cycle is complete otherwise I see you battling high nitrates and the problems that come with that right from the gate .

Qasim · May 12, 2017

So I have talked to my supplier I will talk to him in detail but I will ask him get me some clean up crew members like snails hermit crabs and cleaner shrimps and a golden gobby. According to him he will get fish after about two to three weeks until that time Hopefully I will have my ammonia down so that I can hire some cleanup crew and the gobby if possible to get.

KJ · May 12, 2017

Be patient.;Smuggrin

Qasim · May 13, 2017

KJ said:
Be patient.;Smuggrin

Thanks for the illustration. Regarding the water change shall I do partial water changes once ammonia and nitrite go down to zero? Or 90-100% water change is required?

Brew12 · May 13, 2017

Qasim said:
Thanks for the illustration. Regarding the water change shall I do partial water changes once ammonia and nitrite go down to zero? Or 90-100% water change is required?

That depends on how high your nitrates are. I normally would do around a 25% change but I also wouldn't put a fish in a new system that has nitrates over 80ppm and preferably under 40ppm. That would just be my preference though, nothing scientific about it.

Qasim · May 13, 2017

I will still have to wait for the ammonia and nitrites go down and finish with the cycle. Once I got those down I then have to investigate for nitrates if they are high as you said I will then perform 25% water change to get those nitrates down as much as possible.

Qasim · May 15, 2017

14th of April was the first day I added my salt and 16th of April was my first day of adding the rocks. So tomorrow is 30 days of adding ammonia source to the tank. so hopefully in the next 10 days I should see changes from my predictions. Today I tested my water and the ammonia was 0.5 and Nitrite was 2.0 hopefully they will go down zero soon :) still need to wait for the next batch of fish to arrive to my city and hopefully until then my tank will be ready for livestock.

Qasim · May 25, 2017

Yeees ammonia has gone zero. I have got a photo of it. Now have to wait for nitrite to go down :)
This was yesterday 24 may 2017

Brew12 · May 25, 2017

Looking great!

FlyinBryan · May 29, 2017

Here's my day 11 test! It's beautiful and right in line with that graph posted above. This is my 6th new tank build and I don't think I've ever tested ammonia this high before. Only 34 days to go!!

Qasim · May 30, 2017

Yeey my ammonia and nitrite are zero now nitrate is 5.00 and i think biodigest should make it lower now I have to wait for the fish supplier to get some fish and purchase thats 15 more days to go unfortunately :( and on top of everything even the supplier doesnt know what kind of fish he will be getting. Below is the photo of my test results for nitrite and nitrate.

Qasim · May 30, 2017

FlyinBryan said:
Here's my day 11 test! It's beautiful and right in line with that graph posted above. This is my 6th new tank build and I don't think I've ever tested ammonia this high before. Only 34 days to go!!

Thats alot i havent seen that much since the beginning of my cycle. Since you have experience it should be something easy for you.

Brew12 · May 30, 2017

FlyinBryan said:
This is my 6th new tank build and I don't think I've ever tested ammonia this high before. Only 34 days to go!!

That ammonia is way too high. It could be killing your nitrifying bacteria. You should give some serious thought to doing a water change to drop the ammonia and do what you can to keep it under 5ppm.

Qasim said:
Yeey my ammonia and nitrite are zero now nitrate is 5.00 and i think biodigest should make it lower now I have to wait for the fish supplier to get some fish and purchase thats 15 more days to go unfortunately :( and on top of everything even the supplier doesnt know what kind of fish he will be getting. Below is the photo of my test results for nitrite and nitrate.

Looking good!
Nitrate of 5ppm is actually on the low side unless you want to run a ultra low nutrient system. Looks like you are more than ready to me!

Qasim · May 30, 2017

Brew12 said:
Looking good!
Nitrate of 5ppm is actually on the low side unless you want to run a ultra low nutrient system. Looks like you are more than ready to me!

Thanks, Yeah I like the results my only issue is I have to wait for my fish supplier to get some fish and hopefully among them there is Clownfish, yellow tang and yellow bellied damsel blue I like these three and will not be keeping much.