ammonia and nitrogen cycle problems.

[peterw617]

Hello everyone,

So I have been cycling my 20 gallon quarantine tank for about 1 months now. Now I have 2 problem.

1. There is 1ppm of ammonia in my tap water, just figure out today because the api water test thing is really hard to read. And I wanted to see what 0 ppm ammonia look like instead I found 1ppm. lol

2. Will me doing a 50% change effect the fish that I will putting in there (considering the ammonia in tap)? and I am sure the PH is going to be effect too. Will the PH change effect the good nitrogen bacteria that is already in the water?

I also read that dramatic change in PH when fish is healing is bad, what do i do to make it the same.

Thanks,
Peter

I am new to this hobby. Lose a clown and yellow tang for not quarantining. I am learning still. lol

 

[PasstheTorch]

Your best bet is to stay away from your tap water at all costs. Amm is terrible for fish and adding it to the tank from the get go won't help. Doing a 50 % wc would not do anything as it would just add to the ammonia to the water again. As far as the ph test your water in the tank then use a marine buffer to bring up the RO water's ph

 

[peterw617]

I already did the water change. Right now there is no fish in there. I want to see what happens. Mainly to see if the quarantine is fast enough to break the ammonia down. If yes, then in my next water change I will just amquel plus to deal with the ammonia. I have went to petco and they have these zerolites that can remove ammonia in a salt water. Can I just use them for my tap water after I de-chlorinize it? and then add the salt?

 

[Jocko]

Assuming you are using the same salt mix, I would not expect the pH to differ much between the water already in the tank and the freshly mixed saltwater you are going to swap in. Have you tried mixing up a batch and then letting it sit for a day or two and retest the ammonia?

To be honest though even with just a cheesy hang on back filter, if you've only got a fish or two in a 20 gallon QT tank and nothing else, I don't think you'd really need to actually do any water changes if you were only going to keep them in there for a couple of weeks. Heck if the fish looks comfortable and has been eating well, you might not even need it to be that long. All I have in my QT setup is a hang on back filter, a cheap light, a cheap powerhead and a couple of pieces of PVC unions to create "caves" to hide in.

In general though, tap water is a problem because you don't necessarily know what is in it. Especially if you use it to replace evaporation, you could be creating a buildup of certain things over time. What fish do you currently have in your main tank?

 

[peterw617]

Yep, i am using the same salt mix. When I was mixing it on Saturday. I found out there are ammonia in it on Sunday. I had some left today (monday) but didn't check it. I add amquel plus to it and added to my main 75 gallon tank. I guess I should have checked.

For my quarantine tank I have a aquaclear Hang on back filter (it has a sponge and some of those fluval hex rings that help maintain bacteria as media) that is fit for 50 to 75 gallon and a heater and light and about a pound of live rock and some fossil corals and PVC. I am getting a blur hippo tang, since tang are more susceptible to ich. I want to quarantine that. It is about 1-2 inches, so it should not stress out from the space. My quarantine is a 20 gallon long (2.5 ft long).

My main tank is a 75 gallon with a wet/dry filter (not sure how big the sump is), a hang on back protein skimmer (cyclone 2 I think that is what it is called), and another protein skimmer (it is not a hang on back not sure how to describe it, I guess that would be the normal kind lol. It take water from the sump and put it back in), and live sand, rock, and fossil corals. I am working on a refugum this week about 10 gallon, I am also going to add a 75 gallon hang on back filter to that too this week. The fish that is in there now are
1 clown (3 inches full grown),
1 domino damsel (3 inches, I think it is full grown. I have heard some species of female clowns can be bigger than their male counterpart. maybe this apply to dominos too? I did see a domino at a pet shop that is bigger than the one in my tank),
1 sargent damsel (full grown 4inches),
1 velvet damsel (full grown, 3.5 inches)
1 strip damsel (never grew? since i got him, I think it has internal parasite)
1 scooter blenny (3 inches)
1 dwarf lion (3-4 inches)
1 volition lion (3 inches)
1 cleaner wrasse (3 inches)

I know blue hippo tang is too small for this tank as it grows. I am getting a 100 gallon soon. at least it will have the 6 ft length. This will be my final fish. Assuming my lion doesn't eat the rest. lol

 

[peterw617]

I already did the water change. Right now there is no fish in there. I want to see what happens. Mainly to see if the quarantine is fast enough to break the ammonia down. If yes, then in my next water change I will just amquel plus to deal with the ammonia.

So for this experiment, I have a bacteria colony in here but they are not working fast enough. I think it will probably take 2 days to settle (today is day 1). So I went out and bought seachem stability hopefully it will be done by tomorrow.

Also Jocko. I do not mind about leaving the fish int he quarantine for a long period of time, I am just worry about the nitrate, so I am just planning on getting so of those algea that will eat nitrate to solve that problem. And I am going to add those to the refugium too.