ewolfe315

From my previous post on here i have been doing routine daily water changes to get the nitrite level down, I get the nitrites to zero,then had problems with the PH being 6.0.. So now the PH goes back to 6.4(where it always was) and now I get an ammonia reading of .50, did a water change of 30 gallon late last night and it's still at .50.. There has not been no over feeding or dead bodies in the tank. No new fish added, just a Aquarium safe rock formation which is plastic.

Last week I removed the Diamond Blend Mix that I had in 2 of the media's(I have 2 filters that have 4 media's(2 of these had the diamond blend mix in them and 4 cartridges all together) . The filters(each one) pumps out 400 GPH.

55 gallon tank:Current Readings

PH 6.4
Ammonia .50
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

Should I add the Diamond Blend Mix back into 2 of the media's (I just added activated carbon into 4 of these)? Before the removal of the Diamond Blend Mix the ammonia levels were 0 and the Nitrite level was up.

And yes there are fish in the tank, I'm guessing 25 .. neon tetra's,mollies, sword tails,algae eaters,guppies and small catfish along with 2 angel's and 2 clown fish. The tank has been running about 45 days.

It just seems that within the past 3 days with the frequent water changes I can't control the Ammonia level at all. Any and all suggestions would be helpful as I am about to end this. Also when I do the water changes I always use Start Right.HELP

John

Tumbleweed

It is possible that your tank is going through a mini cycle. Do you clean off your filter when you do the water changes and how do you clean it? Also I know in my area the water has chloramine in it and if I do a large water change and test the water right after the change I will get a ammonia reading, but if I test it the next day the level is back at Zero. Check your water again tonight before you do another water change and see what the readings are.

Isabella

When you remove (or change for new) too many of filter media (or too much of one filter medium), you're removing the beneficial bacteria with the media, thereby causing a mini-cycle (or even a wholly new cycle if you cleaned the filter with tap water and changed all media for new ones). Also, cleaning filter media in tap water kills the bacteria, thereby causing a mini cycle as well.