Ammonia reading 8.0ppm, 0 nitrites, 160ppm nitrates

[irisg898]

Hey guys, I’m currently doing fish-in cycling of 2 tanks (not by choice). I came home and my mom decided to completely clean my 65 gallon tank and set up my new 125 gallon tank. So when I came back home, the tanks were clean and she separated my angel fish in between the 2 tanks. I quickly started testing water parameters since I started seeing some of my angels die. I was reading about how to cycle a fish tank and realized it takes weeks to do. I started YouTubing and googling how to prevent anymore fish loss and have been using Prime and Stability to help with the fish tanks (due to a yt recommendation) although I’m having issues with it. My 65 gallon tank and 125 gallon tank have completely different readings and I’m unsure of what to do at this point. The YouTuber said to do a 50% water change after treating the tanks with prime and stability for 7 days then re-test water and re-treat them if ammonia is still high. But I’m not sure what to do. My water parameters are:
65 gallon tank: 4.0 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, ph 7.4 and 80 ppm nitrate.
125 gallon tank: 0 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, ph 7.4, and 160ppm nitrate.
I’m currently on day 3 of daily dosing with prime and stability to prevent fish loss as I think this has been helping but I’m unsure why the ammonia in the 65 gallon hasn’t converted to nitrite, but there’s nitrate present? I think maybe the cycle is complete and I need to do water changes on that tank but I’m unsure. As for the 125 gallon tank I’m starting to think that the cycling hasn’t even started. I fed the fish a tiny bit today since they haven’t been fed in over 3 days and surprisingly they ate! I feel like this could hold them off for another few days. Please help and I appreciate everybody taking their time to read my situation.

 

[brandon429]

I love these posts. adulterants for the test readings (prime) used + inherently misreading test kits= hard to decode cycles

but it won't be hard for us

the way to begin your fix is to remove guess testing + additives that alter test readings from the equation, post a tank pic of the ammonia challenged tank, we need to see:

clarity of water in the pic
degree of surface area
details about fish as they present in the pic (laying on side vs breathing swimming normally)

after pics are posted and two more questions it'll be easy to get your cycle under control. they do predictable things when you align certain variables. need tank pic, of the alert system/the one you think is crashing

 

[brandon429]

one thing I'll discern from pics left out of the desciption is freshwater vs saltwater

few people cycle with saltwater angelfish.

 

[brandon429]

freshwater vs saltwater is so critical, it determines if you're reacting to ammonia at all or not. it determines if you're reacting to nitrite at all or not, each version of aquarium keeping gets to ignore one of those parameters and the other will kill it, so we need to know if freshwater vs salt and/or see a tank pic.

 

[irisg898]

Hey guys, I’m currently doing fish-in cycling of 2 tanks (not by choice). I came home and my mom decided to completely clean my 65 gallon tank and set up my new 125 gallon tank. So when I came back home, the tanks were clean and she separated my angel fish in between the 2 tanks. I quickly started testing water parameters since I started seeing some of my angels die. I was reading about how to cycle a fish tank and realized it takes weeks to do. I started YouTubing and googling how to prevent anymore fish loss and have been using Prime and Stability to help with the fish tanks (due to a yt recommendation) although I’m having issues with it. My 65 gallon tank and 125 gallon tank have completely different readings and I’m unsure of what to do at this point. The YouTuber said to do a 50% water change after treating the tanks with prime and stability for 7 days then re-test water and re-treat them if ammonia is still high. But I’m not sure what to do. My water parameters are:
65 gallon tank: 4.0 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, ph 7.4 and 80 ppm nitrate.
125 gallon tank: 0 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, ph 7.4, and 160ppm nitrate.
I’m currently on day 3 of daily dosing with prime and stability to prevent fish loss as I think this has been helping but I’m unsure why the ammonia in the 65 gallon hasn’t converted to nitrite, but there’s nitrate present? I think maybe the cycle is complete and I need to do water changes on that tank but I’m unsure. As for the 125 gallon tank I’m starting to think that the cycling hasn’t even started. I fed the fish a tiny bit today since they haven’t been fed in over 3 days and surprisingly they ate! I feel like this could hold them off for another few days. Please help and I appreciate everybody taking their time to read my situation.

65 gallon tank:

 

[irisg898]

I love these posts. adulterants for the test readings (prime) used + inherently misreading test kits= hard to decode cycles

but it won't be hard for us

the way to begin your fix is to remove guess testing + additives that alter test readings from the equation, post a tank pic of the ammonia challenged tank, we need to see:

clarity of water in the pic
degree of surface area
details about fish as they present in the pic (laying on side vs breathing swimming normally)

after pics are posted and two more questions it'll be easy to get your cycle under control. they do predictable things when you align certain variables. need tank pic, of the alert system/the one you think is crashing

Hi Brandon,
I added a picture to my own reply on the post. Thank you for checking my post out ! I think my 125 gallon tank is not cycling since I have 0 ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates but I’m not sure.

 

[irisg898]

one thing I'll discern from pics left out of the desciption is freshwater vs saltwater

few people cycle with saltwater angelfish.

It’s freshwater, I apologize.

 

[brandon429]

its ok let's still work with it we like all cycling science here and we don't get much practice usually

post pics

 

[irisg898]

its ok let's still work with it we like all cycling science here and we don't get much practice usually

post pics

the first image is my 65 gallon and the second image is the 125 gallon. I added a lot of aerators to help since I read online it could help with prime. The reason the 2nd tank is foggy is because I had added API 7.0 pH to keep it around that range and has helped me decrease pH from 8.0 to 7.4. Thanks.

 

[brandon429]

are you using tap water in the setups, or, RO water/drinking water (in the setup you're trying to alter pH)

 

[irisg898]

are you using tap water in the setups, or, RO water/drinking water (in the setup you're trying to alter pH)

I used tap water, used prime on the water, then the API proper ph 7.0 2 days ago and has helped keep it at 7.4. I read somewhere the filter should clear out the fogginess soon. I have a fluval Fx4 canister on the 125 gallon tank.

 

[brandon429]

do you have highly rinsed and clean granular activated carbon to run in a canister filter to help remove that clouding/stop adding ammonia controllers as well/don't use prime any further.

 

[irisg898]

do you have highly rinsed and clean granular activated carbon to run in a canister filter to help remove that clouding/stop adding ammonia controllers as well/don't use prime any further.

No I don’t have granular activated carbon, I have the carbon foam inside the canister filter. Ok I’ll stop using prime, I was just using it so i wouldn’t lose anymore angels

 

[Garf]

do yo highly rinsed and clean granular activated carbon to run in a canister filter to help remove that clouding/stop adding ammonia controllers as well/don't use prime any further.

I think using it as a dechlorinator for the tapwater changes is a good idea.

I used tap water, used prime on the water, then the API proper ph 7.0 2 days ago and has helped keep it at 7.4. I read somewhere the filter should clear out the fogginess soon. I have a fluval Fx4 canister on the 125 gallon tank.

not remembering anything about freshwater but isn’t the API pH reducer just an acid? Doesn’t that play havoc with your general hardness? I’ve got it in my head that low pH tanks used a mix of tapwater and RO.

No I don’t have granular activated carbon, I have the carbon foam inside the canister filter. Ok I’ll stop using prime, I was just using it so i wouldn’t lose anymore angels

i wouldn’t just put straight tapwater in it.

 

[irisg898]

I think using it as a dechlorinator for the tapwater changes is a good idea.

not remembering anything about freshwater but isn’t the API pH reducer just an acid? Doesn’t that play havoc with your general hardness? I’ve got it in my head that low pH tanks used a mix of tapwater and RO.

i wouldn’t just put straight tapwater in it.

I used API proper pH, apparently it maintains pH at 7.0. I slightly dosed the tank that way I could see if it was true and it did decrease my pH from 8.0 to 7.4. After that, I haven’t touched it really. I do believe it messes with general hardness as it decreased from 180 to 120 I believe. But besides that it seems stable. I’m just unsure whether my tank is safe for my fish since I’m not too sure how long a canister filter takes to fully cycle a big aquarium like that. According to the tests the 125 gal seem fine, but that wouldn’t explain why my fish seem stay at the top of the tank breathing heavily. After using the prime, I noticed they started swimming more towards the center and lower tank so I’m kind of annoyed since I don’t know what’s going on.

 

[brandon429]

for the tank holding the angelfish, they're not huge and giant ones that's not a terrible bioload at all for the holding tank and the rocks + dilution provide enough surface area to house them a while, all you do to keep them alive is don't litter the tank with feed/feed sparingly compared to how you'd feed a display with hungry fish, this emergency time is a little bit less feed than normal.

you would only do water changes plus keep a capful of the stability added with each water change, no prime used in that tank at all and I would not bother with pH adjustments. tap, though not everywhere, tends to run hard water in most localities and those pH reducing additives lose power quickly and it just rebounds to 8 ish in many areas. some have acidic tap water but not the majority, the majority is hardwater especially if the inside of faucets in the tub and sinks in the home have white caking or stains (calcium and magnesium salts, hardwater)

freshwater tanks who want to keep pH low need to be using RO water AND an accurate pH probe, not an API or color guess kit those are wildly off base at times.

don't dose prime in the clear holding tank it's a sales gimmick it's not helping with ammonia, that bottled bacteria sure is though, it's dual for fresh and saltwater.

throw one ground of pinch of fish food, ground into powder, into your cloudy display tank. don't add any more pH additive there nor any prime

await it's cloudy clearance then net the fish over, may take several more days. do water changes in the big display to assist cloudy remediation

 

[brandon429]

regarding water management on that tank I guarantee you on my old freshwater setup that size I managed pH hardness etc without ever testing by just doing this:

using five gallon clean buckets for water, I'd take about 5-8 of them in the back of the pickup to a drinking water RO station

I'd fill each bucket up 2/3 of the way with clean fresh ro

the other 1/3 was my hard tap water + a little dechlorinator

start doing water changes on your main display with that mix and don't worry where the pH or hardness lands if you're in a hard water area, it'll work out just fine for angels and the common fish you'll add along with them. no need for tedious testing.

**if you just use tap water/high pH they adapt just fine as well after that tank is aged and cycled.

you don't need to test any further in either tank, once the display tank is self cleared/no longer cloudy after you've added in that one pinch of ground up fish food, that clarity change is the marker for the cycle being closed, it'll take a few more days. quit adding things to the water that may be contributing to the clouding, and hold course on the holding tank with simple water changes and some stability each time. easy fix here.

 

[Garf]

I’m not too sure how long a canister filter takes to fully cycle a big aquarium like that.

Is this the same filter that was on the 65?

 

[C_AWOL]

I would ditch the use of that proper pH 7.0 for starters and see if you can purchase some cycled media (sponge filters preferably) from one of their displays (preferably the same ones you got the fish from). Stability > going through a roller coaster of adjustments for exact numbers in the sense of pH (within reason) for basically all captive bred freshwater fish in the hobby now days.

Typically a lot of freshwater lfs that utilize sponge filters would have very established bacteria thats used to weekly/bi monthly influxes of 50+ fish which can easily handle the bioload of a few angelfish to basically instant cycle your tank.

I would also definitely suggest a few water changes to lower that ammonia and nitrate though (strange how both are registering sky high vs just the ammonia but maybe thats because of the prime or source water?)

 

[irisg898]

Is this the same filter that was on the 65?

No, my 65-gallon tank has a hang on the back filter. 2 separate tanks with 2 separate filters