I have a problem , I have a 75 gal. tank and cycled it for 3 months using guppies unfortunatly I am new to this and I checked the water after a couple weeks and seen amonia and added chemicals and chips to get rid of it wth no luck, I do regular 1 week 50% water changes and it's been 6 months and still show 0.25 amonia with a PH of 8.0. I'm wanting to get the water right to get oscars ( I love te size and colors of these awsome fish ) but I need to get the water right first, I'm almost ready to drain the tank nd start over what can I do to fix this.

Hi, there.
did you test your tapwater for ammonia?
What kind of test do you use?
How big is your filter and what kind is it?
chips and chemicals should not be nescecary if you filter is working correctly.

Noddy wrote:


X2...test your tapwater...my tapwater has a 0.25 ammonia level in it so if you are testing right after a water change you could be reading the ammonia level from your tap water.

If you have got an established biological filter then it doesn't matter whether there is ammonia in your tap water, the filter should sort it out just right.

What fish have you got at the moment, still guppies? If you have only got guppies then I don't think a 50% water change once a week is really necessary, I can't believe they will build up your nitrate that much. Have you been cleaning your filter at all, if so, how have you been doing it?

Tap water test good, I use the liquid chemicals with the test tubes, and the filter is a canister that is good for up to 100 gal tank.

Yes still just guppies ad my nitrate evels are 0% only the ammonia is present. I have cleaned the filter once and just changed out the cotton sections and not the sponge because I was told that is what holds all the bioloical bacteria that is needed.

How many guppies have you got? Do you ever get a nitrate reading? What about nitrate and pH, have you tested those? I think you said your pH was 8.0, is that correct? What type of filter is it?, As in canister filter, what make?

Yes the PHis 8.0 and no detection of nitrate. The canister filter is a Cascade and I have 7 guppies. Ive tried to put in a plecostamus and a bala shark after about 4 months of setting up the tank but they only lasted about 1 month.

I really don't think that you have enough fish to maintain a good strong biological filter. You say that your nitrate is 0 , this is not normal, you normally have some nitrate present. Basically fish produce ammonia which is then converted to nitrite, then into nitrate, if you are never seeing nitrate than it may be that your biological filter is not working properly, or it really doesn't exist. Because of the amount of fish you've got, and the fact that you do such a large water change once a week, there is never enough ammonia present to start the biological filter.

It may be an idea to going gets some slightly larger feeders that will create more ammonia for you, hopefully this will actually kickstart your biological filter. Don't do any more water changes for the time being.

personally I wouldnt do any more water changes for a bit...

let things settle down, it seems to me as though even after all this time the bacterial side of your system is still up the swanny...

now correct me if I'm wrong, but surely you should have SOME nitrates..

i thought the idea was bacteria A ate the ammonia and produced nitrITES, bacteria B ate the nitrITES and produced nitrATES....

therefore, no nitrATES means your missing vital bacteria...

if you can borrow a large sponge from an established biological filter with no knows infections in the tank just squeeze it out into your filter, that shoud do the trick..

my 4x2x2 tank was left 3 days then a sponge full of bacteria was squeezed out into the filter, and so far (touch wood) I have had no issues... Oh and I put the oscars in the same time as I squeezed the filter sponge out...

I KNOW this may not be the normal way to cycle a tank, but it worked for me...

you may also be able to get a bacteria laden sponge from your local fish store for a couple of quid...

the key here i think is no nitrates, you really should have some...

hope this helps, I know its maybe not conventional, but what have u got to lose by trying it..

Tony

you had been covered from the normal way and with the seeding way of cycling.
i just want to check... have you clean your filter.... untimely cleaning or
too much cleaning sometimes negate all the effort in establishing good bacteria.
just want to know....

One of the strongest fish alive and the most adaptable is the carp, the goldfish. Try about a dozen or so. They're only goldfish. My water is from the city line, but my landlord adds salt with chlorine in it. Since I don't pay for water hot or cold, I let my hot water run for a few, put it in a bucket, let it cool down to room temp., then add it to my tanks. I add a de-chlor additive, but the best results are when I let the water sit. In one of my 10 gal. tanks I have a couple of newts. They pee a lot. I tend to use the "white" ammo rock and carbon rocks combined in my filters. This seems to work. The best part is that ammo rocks (the white ones) are recycleable. Just put them on a clean cookie sheet in the oven for abaout 20 min. at 400 and they're done!! For ALL of my undergravel filter tanks I use both carbon/ammo rocks. Back in the 80's, I raised over 100 Eastern Newts because the water had almost NO chlorine nor floride!! I almost, NEVER actually changed the water, I just kept it level through the cycling. Do you know how hard it is to raise these newts? I just hope my experience from my past pets will allow me to get some "grand-kids" from my Oscars: "Ollie & Olivia"!!!!!!