HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

42 posts • Page 3 of 5

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by Okiimiru

I can see the old car, don't worry.

Java moss is a fairly slow growing plant. It'll help, but only a little bit. The faster the plant grows, the more waste it eats. But also the more frequently you have to trim it, which is annoying. It's kind of a tradeoff. The fastest growing plants that double in size in a week need to be trimmed every single week if you want to keep them at one size. But Java moss, which doesn't grow very quickly at all, barely cleans your water. So, tradeoff. Personally I keep medium growing plants in the tank with a low bioload and fast growing plants in my no-filter Walstad style tank where the plants are the only filter. *shrugs* What plant you choose is 100% your own personal preference. Pick one you find pretty :)

If you're looking for a wide variety of plants to choose from, try aquabid.com and sweetaquatics.com
You've got gravel as a substrate, which is pure silicon dioxide. You might not have any luck getting rooted plants to grow. They don't do so well in gravel. Instead I'd recommend a plant that you can attach to a piece of wood, like java fern, anubias, bolbitis, and similar plants. Floating plants like duckweed, water lettuce, azolla, and ricciocarpus natans might also work. Ceratophyllum demersum is neat because it doesn't have roots and you can wrap it around a weight to get it to sink, but it's vulnerable to depleted water. Java fern, anubias, and bolbitis are all slow growers. If the nitrogen runs out in the water column they usually are okay. But if nitrate drops to 0 ppm in a tank with C. demersum it's starving and gasping and because it needs to grow so quickly to propagate itself (this is one of those plants that doubles itself every week in optimal conditions) if ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all drop to 0 ppm then the C. demersum might melt and all die. The best way to keep C. demersum is to also own a test kit and to overfeed the fish whenever ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all drop to 0 ppm.

If you have a digital camera that displays the light's spectrum or have $5 to buy a diffraction grating, it might be worth your time to take a peek at your light bulbs' spectrum. This is chlorophyll's absorption spectrum: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ectra2.PNG You'll see that between 500 and 600 nanometers the line drops to zero. Plants can't absorb light energy that is that wavelength. They reflect it. That's why plants are green, because they reflect green light. If your light bulb is emitting energy in that region of the spectrum, it'll look bright in your tank but your plants won't be absorbing any energy, and they'll slowly starve to death. So look for a light that produces energy in the region from 350-500 and from 600-700 nanometers (blue and red). The plants will grow better.


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by natalie265

Personally, i prefer a natural colored gravel, but other than that, it looks good. I like the plant growing in the wrecked car.

My question is: why did you move your fish from your 75 gallon to this smaller tank? The bigger tank would be much more forgiving and easier to cycle with the fish that you currently have.


jessikaye01
 
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:21 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by jessikaye01

Thank you again O!!

Natalie, this is my 75 gallon tank. Lol, I wanted natural gravel or sand but my other half wanted to keep the silly "canival rocks" as I call them, lol!!

I use my small take to quarintine new fish (right now I have some of my old fish in it waiting for my 75 gallon to fully cycle again)

I am going to check out those plants and see what I can come up with!!


jessikaye01
 
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:21 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by jessikaye01

Okiimiru, question for you...

You stated that you use kitty litter...gave me an idea...

How does that work?? How do you prepare it for a tank??
I use scoopable for the cat, so that won't work. And the generic stuff is full of dust so I'm assuming you have to prepare it somehow.

I'm thinking...when I added the undergravel filter, I did not add all of the rocks back in. Actually there is only about an inch (no more than that) on top of the filter. Can I add the kitty litter with it?? If so, how? And when can I add it?? Assuming AFTER the big tank cycles...???

Natalie made a good point about the "natural" appearance but I (unfortunately to keep peace) have to keep this carnival gravel in there. SOOO...what if I added something to tone it down a bit??

Would this help the plant problem also?? (as a substrate suitable for) or would it be a moot point because I still have the crappy gravel, lol!


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by natalie265

Ha ha, yes, carnival gravel is a good name for it. Maybe if you showed your partner some of the photos of the beautiful, natural looking planted tanks on this website you could win her/him over!

Sorry, i realize there aren't a lot of reference points but that didn't look like a 75 gallon tank to me.


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by Okiimiru

"You stated that you use kitty litter...gave me an idea...How does that work?? How do you prepare it for a tank??"

Yes, I use kitty litter. I use "Special Kitty" brand cat litter from Walmart. Its only ingredient is baked ground clay. There are no fragrances or clumping chemicals added. It costs $4 for 25 pounds and I got the idea from reading http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilize ... jamie.html and http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/subst ... -i-do.html

Here is one video of my tank using Cleveland, Ohio kitty litter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ikKTwTEKs
Here is a video of my tank using Winston-Salem, North Carolina kitty litter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTA7y9Tns5M
You can see they are different colors. The Cleveland kitty litter made my tank pH 7.5, DH 16 to 20. The Winston-Salem kitty litter makes my water pH 6.5, DH 0.

When I first got kitty litter I tried to rinse it. If you pour water through it the small particles (dust) do float away, yes, but then the larger particles break down into new small particles. So you create dust at about the same rate you wash it away and you end up with the same thing as you started, but less of it. Here's an example of what I'm talking about when I say particles. It's kind of like pea gravel, but you can squish the 'peas' with your fingers: gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/EricaWieser/male+in+full+color.jpg.html
gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/EricaWieser/007.JPG.html

So I just dumped the kitty litter right out of the bag and right into the tank. gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/EricaWieser/5+special+kitty+brand+litter.jpg.html
gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/EricaWieser/6+new+substrate+in+empty+tank.jpg.html
It's good to fill the tank about an inch or two with water and then use your hands to compact the kitty litter. It'll release gas at first as water soaks inside the super-dry clay pellets, which will make it very very loose unless you squish it down.
Now for the important part. If you fill the tank by pouring buckets of water into it your tank will be cloudy for about two days. http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/Eric ... d.jpg.html
http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/Eric ... k.jpg.html
http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/Eric ... g.jpg.html
If you insist upon using buckets, then it might also help you to go to Walmart and buy a synthetic sea sponge. http://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Bath-Sour ... t/10322263 If you put that into the filter box a lot of the fine particles in the water will get caught in it. You can squeeze it out into the sink every few hours to clean your tank in only a day. Here's my tank a day later: http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/Eric ... r.jpg.html

Or, you can fill your tank slowly using a sink faucet connection. If you do this it's possible to get a crystal clear tank within hours instead of a day or two. Here's my tank in North Carolina. I had bought a Python No Spill Clean 'N Fill by that time: http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/Eric ... h.jpg.html

Yup. That's about it. If you have any questions about kitty litter just let me know, and I'll answer them. Oh yes, here's a picture of what my tank looked like from the side, with all the roots growing: http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/Eric ... 5.JPG.html
Same tank from the front: http://gallery.nanfa.org/v/members/Eric ... m.jpg.html


jessikaye01
 
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:21 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by jessikaye01

No problem Natalie!!

Thanks again O!! I think I'm going to try that out!! I really like the look of it!!
Very cool to see the roots!!


jessikaye01
 
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:21 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by jessikaye01

Okiimiru !!
(Or knowledgable person, lol!)

My ammonia is beginning to rise again!! I have not done anything to the tank, ONLY water changes and NO chemicals!!

Why can I not get this tank to cycle correctly!! This is what happened last time!!

Should I take out more fish??


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by Okiimiru

The surface area available on the filter media [sponge] is analogous to the number of houses in a town. The more homes available, the more people can move in. The more surface area, the more bacteria. Now this only applies to available surface area. If the sponge gets blocked with detritus and the water stops flowing over half of it, the surface area available to colonize decreases. So it may look like you have a sponge in your filter but because the water's not flowing through it, the bacteria aren't living there.
If you add a sponge to a filter and keep water flowing through it, you can increase your available surface area. You can also increase surface area by adding a second filter.

Tell me a little bit more about your filter. What model is it (do you have a picture?) and what sponges and stuff do you have inside it?

For example, I have an aquaclear filter and I stick the sponge that came with it and two Walmart synethetic sea sponges in it. http://www.mel-co-services.com/ebayimag ... filter.jpg and http://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Bath-Sour ... t/10322263 (without the net)
And I have live, growing plants.


jessikaye01
 
Posts: 26
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:21 pm

Re: HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

by jessikaye01

Ok, I'm going to type exactly what is on my filter lids, lol!

Whisper 30-60
Tetra 30-60
The undergravel filter ??? I don't remember...
Those are the three filters I have.

I use Tetra Whisper biobags (have not changed them since the last upset)-you add carbon to the filter and insert it over the reusable "aerobic frame" and the sponge that came with the filters themselves.
The sponges are black and "holey" for lack of a better word, lol!!

I also have ammonia reducer chips in the carbon bag (per directions on package) and use 2 ammonia reducing cartridges on the tops of my undergravel filter.

Last night my results were as follows:
ph 6.8
alikilinity 0-40 (in between the two)
Hardness 150 (never changes)
Nitrite 10+ (pinker than the darkest pink on the strip)
Nitrate 40
Ammonia 1


Does any of this help at all?? Thank you so much for your guidance!!!

HELP!! I CANNOT get my ammonia levels down!

42 posts • Page 3 of 5

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