Very High ammonia while cycling - not dropping

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Ashleigh234
I have done a test after the water change, ammonia is still on 8.0.
Would algae grow in the tank if there was no bacteria??
please test your tap water for ammonia

 

[ashleigh234]

I tested the tap water, and no ammonia

 

[reefkprz]

algae will grow without bacteria. what kind of water conditioner are you useing to treat your tap water?

 

[zeke92]

you need live sand and live rock, plus a nice food souce for the bacteria to cycle the tank.
if yo got all this and a damsel, then i'll let the experts help...

 

[oniel21]

Do another water change Ashleigh. Do a large one - 40%. Think about getting a RO/DI water filter. They run about $130 - $200, certianly worth it.

 

[ashleigh234]

I have to get another bag of salt before I can do another water change, that is why i could only do a small one before.
Yippee, the ammonia has gone down to 4.0. Thats a good start I suppose. Nitrates have also dropped to 20 (down from 40)

 

[renogaw]

how did your nitrates go down? what do you have in there that would do it? (large water change, deep sand bed, very large live rock, macro algae in a fuge, denitrifier?)

 

[ashleigh234]

Our sand bed is about 1 inch in some places, other than that, there is nothing in there from the list you have just said.

 

[renogaw]

1" sand bed won't bring down your nitrates. I seriously suggest checking your expiration dates on your test kits and double checking that they are for saltwater use. there's something really REALLY weird about your test results.

 

[oniel21]

I suppose the water change may have helped bring the nitrates down.

 

[tperk9784]

Someone above asked what kind of water conditioner you used to condition your tap water. I have seen amquel as well as ammo lock cause test kits to give false readings.
I suggest stop using tap water, either invest in and ro/di maker or buy ro/di from a different store than you have been going to and continue to do water changes until your levels have significantly dropped to where a "normal" cycle would be.
I highly doubt there is any need to ghost feed at all due to the high amonts of die off already occurring in the tank from the high ammonia levels.
Good luck.

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by oniel21
I suppose the water change may have helped bring the nitrates down.
she said she didn't do one

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by tperk9784
...I highly doubt there is any need to ghost feed at all due to the high amonts of die off already occurring in the tank from the high ammonia levels.
Good luck.
Yes and no. There certainly is no need now, but once the ammonia drops to zero you want to add a small source for ammonia every few days. If you don't eventually there will be nothing producing ammonia in the late stages of a tank's cycle and you'll be starving the bacteria.
The "cycle" needs to be viewed as a machine. Ammonia fuels it. Without an Ammonia source the machine can't run.

 

[ashleigh234]

I'm not too sure what has happened, but its good news:
Ammonia is now on 1.0
PH is finally on 8.2
Nitrates are on 10 and
Nitrites are on 5.0
It's been 3 days since the 15% water change and 2 days since last test.
I am assuming this is all good news and that the tank is finally doing what it should - If not, someone please tell me

 

[tperk9784]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Yes and no. There certainly is no need now, but once the ammonia drops to zero you want to add a small source for ammonia every few days. If you don't eventually there will be nothing producing ammonia in the late stages of a tank's cycle and you'll be starving the bacteria.
The "cycle" needs to be viewed as a machine. Ammonia fuels it. Without an Ammonia source the machine can't run.
I totally understand how a cycle works. And while I will agree that once the tank runs out of ammonia the bacteria will start to die off I also think that there is only a certain amount of surface area for that bacteria to colonize.
In this particular case I feel that once the ammonia and nitrite levels drop down to zero this tank will have sufficiently established it's biological filter.

 

[oniel21]

Originally Posted by renogaw
she said she didn't do one
In her 5th post she says that she did a 15 % change.
Ashleigh - you're on you way to a complete cycle. Just sit back and watch now. Make sure to test your water every day.

 

[1journeyman]

Continue to do water changes to get ammonia below 1ppm

 

[chilwil84]

journeyman is right on with the below 1ppm it is a low enough amount to allow many of the benificial creatures in your rock to survive the cycle and high enough to allow your tank to develop a good bacteria population to allow you to start stocking your tank when the cycle finishes. remember to stock your tank slowly to allow the bacteria a chance to populate enough to keep up with the increased bioload.

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by oniel21
In her 5th post she says that she did a 15 % change.
read posts 26-28 though. the nitrates continue to go down with no way for them. it is just odd thats all.

 

[oniel21]

Originally Posted by renogaw
read posts 26-28 though. the nitrates continue to go down with no way for them. it is just odd thats all.
LOL - bit confusing! The way I saw it was in post 16 she mentiones doing a water change, post 20 talks about the ammonia but no mention of trates, then 26 is when she mentioned the trates. Maybe she didn't test the trates until #26??

I was under the assumption that bacteria could live with the ammonia level being 1.0 (no higher), but by all means listen to Journey as he has MUCH more knowledge than I!