DRock914

The baking soda was used once before fish were in the tank, it's not the problem. You could be right about the stress zyme though. The directions on the bottle of ammo lock say to use every 2 days and if after 7 days you still test high then do a water change. I have also noticed that my rainbow slate rock has brown algae forming on it. What causes brown algae?

Shawnie

well you said you had high ph out of the tap so I was pointing out that the LFS told you to use the baking soda and that will only make it higher ph not neutralize it so be aware of their advice is all

the brown is called diatoms or new tank algae..it looks awful to some but natural to others..it will go away in time and wont hurt anything...some tanks up to a year keep getting it

again, its your choice on water changes of course but you having ammonia at 4 is lethal..im shocked the fish are trooping on..once you finally get a nitrite reading (which is also deadly) the ammo lock will not protect the fish from it I wish you well on the cycle process...most of us have been there ...

DRock914

Thanks for your help. At one time our tap water pH was very low and that was around the time we received that advice. My loach and pleco seem to be enjoying the algae...

Nutter

I agree with the others, the tank isn't cycled properly. In fact, I don''t think the cycle has even started. Ammonia are the food that your bacteria need to multiply, so if you are using ammo lock, the bacteria are not getting the food they need & are not developing in the first place. You really need to stop with the ammo lock & start doing daily water changes. Over time you will see the ammonia turn into nitrite then into nitrates.
Baking soda is for raising PH & more so, KH. The neutralizer is for doing the exact opposite thing. So you have one additive combating the other. Personally I would stop using both the Baking Soda & the neutralizer. A PH of 7.8 is no problem for most fish, especially if they were bought at an aquarium as the aquarium will just be using straght dechlorinated tap water in their tanks except for species like discus that absolutley NEED thier water a certain way. Why on earth your LFS told you to use both together is totally beyond me. I also can't work out why you would use Baking Soda just once. As soon as you do a water change it will remove some of the carbonates that were added & will do so at each water change there after. If you were to use Baking Soda to give you a higher buffering capacity, you would have to continue it's use at every water change & have added it to the water for the water change before the water is added to the tank. I think your LFS is leading you up the garden path & they should not be trusted at all.
As for the bubbles, it looks like it is foaming up in there so it is definitley from a detergent of some kind or one of the additives you have added. It is possible that your LFS has cleaned the tank out with a detergent as well seeing as they don't seem to know very much about what they are doing.
If I were you I would definitley not be going back to that aquarium unless it was to give the person you dealt with a big gobfull of things not very nice!! I would also follow the advice you have been given by the people on here as it is good advice given by people with plenty of experience & not people trying to make money out of you. These people here know what they are talking about & are trying to get you to have plenty of success. They hate it when things go wrong for other people & will go out of thier way to try to help. Have a read up on the nitrogen cycle in the forums here abouts, I think it might give you an idea of where you went wrong. I would also be getting the Gibberceps out of that tank as quikly as you can. That's a fish that gets to well over 40cm & is in no way suitable for a tank as small as 20gallons.
Sorry if I sound harsh or abrasive, I don't mean to be. I just want you to do the right thing by yourself & more importantly, your fish.

Shawnie

I going to respectfully disagree..ammo lock detoxifies the ammonia but still keeps it available for the cycle process...the stress zyme is whats eating the proper bacteria

Nutter

Of course. LOL. Sorry Shawnie my mistake. I meant to type stress zyme but there are so many additives in this tank that I confused which one I was talking about.

DRock914

The bubbles are pretty much gone today. I think the remaining bubbles are just from the air stone. Does the water surface like normal now?

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Shawnie

its definately looking much better! congrats!

I agree way too much going on in that tank...hes doing better tho!

DRock914

When you do a water change, what do you add to your tank and how much water do you take out? I have been taking out 5 gallons from a 20 gallon tank. Is that not enough?

Shawnie

I add prime and stress coat+ with my changes...always the prime a few times a month the stress coat+ ...seeing how you are still cycling with fish, the 5-10g a day will be great...good job and patience is something you will learn with this crazy hobby!