# Amonia levels too high?



## xZipVi3tBoii (Jan 17, 2008)

Okay kinda a newbie. so im cycling my tank. . . and i have like 30 golfish in there i got live plants and a peice of driftwood from mai friends tank thats been cycled already to help it out. i just recently bought the 5 in 1 strip and it looks like the water is very hard? how do i change this so its softer or does it not matter for red bellies? umm also i brought mai water to test at petsmart cuz its free =] and they said mai amonia levels are pretty high... but i have no nitItes or nitrAtes so whut am i supose to do next? i wanna get this tank cycled asap... so i can order everything else for it.

also i have a rena xp3 and i was curious how i should open the canister to add bio scrubs or something in there?

thanks you in advanced.


----------



## rolly_169 (Jul 23, 2007)

xZipVi3tBoii said:


> Okay kinda a newbie. so im cycling my tank. . . and i have like 30 golfish in there i got live plants and a peice of driftwood from mai friends tank thats been cycled already to help it out. i just recently bought the 5 in 1 strip and it looks like the water is very hard? how do i change this so its softer or does it not matter for red bellies? umm also i brought mai water to test at petsmart cuz its free =] and they said mai amonia levels are pretty high... but i have no nitItes or nitrAtes so whut am i supose to do next? i wanna get this tank cycled asap... so i can order everything else for it.
> 
> also i have a rena xp3 and i was curious how i should open the canister to add bio scrubs or something in there?
> 
> thanks you in advanced.


you can add a product called cycle that speeds it up, but other than that nothing you can do. it sounds like your tank hasnt even started to cycle yet.


----------



## xZipVi3tBoii (Jan 17, 2008)

Riley said:


> Okay kinda a newbie. so im cycling my tank. . . and i have like 30 golfish in there i got live plants and a peice of driftwood from mai friends tank thats been cycled already to help it out. i just recently bought the 5 in 1 strip and it looks like the water is very hard? how do i change this so its softer or does it not matter for red bellies? umm also i brought mai water to test at petsmart cuz its free =] and they said mai amonia levels are pretty high... but i have no nitItes or nitrAtes so whut am i supose to do next? i wanna get this tank cycled asap... so i can order everything else for it.
> 
> also i have a rena xp3 and i was curious how i should open the canister to add bio scrubs or something in there?
> 
> thanks you in advanced.


you can add a product called cycle that speeds it up, but other than that nothing you can do. it sounds like your tank hasnt even started to cycle yet.
[/quote]

ive had it up and running for about 3 weeks now . . . sad huh? whut should be the first thing that changes? the nitrItes right?


----------



## rolly_169 (Jul 23, 2007)

yeah nitrites first. whats the temp in the tank? try to pick up some cycle from your LFS and it'll add the bacteria to your tank so the colony grows faster.


----------



## xZipVi3tBoii (Jan 17, 2008)

The temp is 78. how much does that cycle stuff cost? cuz i heard u can buy like live bacteria or something


----------



## MiGsTeR (Jan 19, 2008)

I never check my water parameters, maintaining fishes kinda became 2nd nature to me.. Although I should start checking every now and then..


----------



## xZipVi3tBoii (Jan 17, 2008)

MiGsTeR said:


> I never check my water parameters, maintaining fishes kinda became 2nd nature to me.. Although I should start checking every now and then..


how long u been takin care of fish? lol takes a while for things to become second nature =/ lol


----------



## MiGsTeR (Jan 19, 2008)

Years and years.. Hmm, maybe 8ish?

Edit: 1st time with P's tho...


----------



## xZipVi3tBoii (Jan 17, 2008)

MiGsTeR said:


> Years and years.. Hmm, maybe 8ish?
> 
> Edit: 1st time with P's tho...


Deng im more of a reptile person mai buddie just got me into fishes when he got the red bellies but he ended up moving.. hes coming back tho and he was chatting with me gettin me all excited to turn my my snake tank into a fish tank =] pretty rad.


----------



## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

you might also wanna pick up a liquid test kit, those strips are junk. go buy an aquarium pharmaceuticals freshwater master test kit, it should be about $20 or so and it'll last you a long time. they are much more accurate so they should give you a better idea of where you're at in cycling your tank. if you're in a rush, you can try that cycle stuff mentioned above or bio-spira or seachem stability, but make sure you keep testing your water to make sure the tank is cycled before you throw any good fish in there.


----------



## xZipVi3tBoii (Jan 17, 2008)

joedizzlempls said:


> you might also wanna pick up a liquid test kit, those strips are junk. go buy an aquarium pharmaceuticals freshwater master test kit, it should be about $20 or so and it'll last you a long time. they are much more accurate so they should give you a better idea of where you're at in cycling your tank. if you're in a rush, you can try that cycle stuff mentioned above or bio-spira or seachem stability, but make sure you keep testing your water to make sure the tank is cycled before you throw any good fish in there.


lol good idea im thinkin about going to the store tomarrow to pick up the master kit and maybe the cycle stuff. how does the liquid test it? does it change colors or somthing? and im not really in a rush. i just really want mai piranhas in there.


----------



## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

the liquid test kit comes with bottles of testing solution, glass tubes for the water, color code cards, and an instruction booklet. you just take a water sample out of your tank, pour the water into the tubes up to the line, and then follow the instructions. you'll just be adding drops of the testing solution then you'll shake up the tubes and wait five minutes or so for them to change color, then you just match the color of the water up to the cards and you'll get your results. super easy and it only takes a few minutes so it's a good thing to have so that you know that your tank is cycled and so that you can monitor your water params once you have fish in there so you can avoid any water quality disasters.


----------



## rolly_169 (Jul 23, 2007)

the cycle product is cheap. you dont need to get a big bottle cause you only need to use it one or two times until the tank is cycled.


----------



## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Personally I wouldn't waste my money on "Cycle". There is something wrong because after 3 weeks and no nitrites sounds like you don't have any bio media or your tests are invalid.


----------



## xZipVi3tBoii (Jan 17, 2008)

bio media as in the stuff in the filters right?


----------



## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Dr. Giggles said:


> Personally I wouldn't waste my money on "Cycle". There is something wrong because after 3 weeks and no nitrites sounds like you don't have any bio media or your tests are invalid.


Nope. The term bio-media refers to the stuff the bacteria grows on. You have to add benificial bacteria to your tank, then it colonizes the media. Try AP Stresszyme. It's cheap and it worked well for me.


----------



## remy5405 (Feb 8, 2008)

ok high nh4 lvl are the start or should be of the cycle. test again in a few days to see if the lvls droped and trites are starting to rise. if yes then the cycle is starting. i have read about people claiming a tank to cycle in 3 to 5 weeks. i personaly thing thats crap. i have never had a tank cycle in under 3 months. if the nh4 lvls are still riseing then do a large waterchange 33% or so. that way the fish can live past the hard part of the cycle. trites and traits arnt as hard on the fish but can still kill them in extream cases.
i personaly dont like to use the chem bio stuff. i feel that the tank it be better off doing its own thing (and it will). adding any kinda on chem to the water is a bad idea. how many times in nature are there a guy dumping a truck load of bio bactieria into the rivers (the good kind and not pollution)?


----------



## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Nitrites are as hard on fish as ammonia. You can add a little salt to help them through this part of the cycle. Anything that seeds the tank with bacteria is a good idea...old media or structures from a cycled tank can work....if not added to just new water. Bio-Spira is the only product I have heard about that has actual live bacteria and can help with the cycle...everything else...is crap imo.


----------



## rolly_169 (Jul 23, 2007)

cycle says it has live bacteria.


----------



## Novato (Jan 25, 2004)

There are alot of good articles in the internet about cycling tanks, without using those chemicals. You should look around. You should get the test kid anyways, because they are good to have and come in handy while cycling your tank.


----------



## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Riley said:


> cycle says it has live bacteria.


If the product isnt kept refrigerated....my understanding is that it cant keep the bacteria dormant...so if it started with any bacteria they would have starved to death.


----------

