freak78

We'll after chasing my Zebra's around yesterday and adding a new filter and more fish, my ammonia started to rise yesterday. It went up to 1.5. So I did a 15% water change before I went to bed. This morning I checked again and it came down to 1. So I did a 25% water change this morning and I'll see what happen's tomorrow. I see now I did way to many thing's at once. I'll have to chalk this up as a lesson learned! The fish seem to be doing fine so far thank goodness.

HitchHiker

If you add some Prime to the water it will detoxify the ammonia for 24 hours.

harpua2002

I'd recommend changing more water than that. It's helpful to your fish to get the ammonia level down as much as you can. I'd change 50-60% at a time.

freak78

Is prime ok to add? It won't bother the fish at all?

harpua2002

It's a great product, I use it as my dechlorinator for all my FW tanks. It doesn't have to be used just in emergencies.

Just as an aside, isn't this tank still really new? According to your aquarium info, you just started it on 12/17... how was it cycled in that amount of time? I'd suggest taking your time with this project... nothing good happens quickly in this hobby.

freak78

I used TSS and I was getting good reading's after 7 day's. I guess I probably rushed it a bit. Maybe it wasn't totally completely cycled.

harpua2002

Oh, now I get it.
Just remember, even when the tank cycles it is far from being mature. IME stability comes with time... it's a lesson many of us have learned I'm sure. Just take your time from now on.

freak78

Yeah now I see, patience isn't one of my good qualties. But with fish I guess you need some.

harpua2002

Definitely not one of my best qualities either! But, keeping a reef tank teaches me patience for sure, LOL.

Meenu

Yes, with fish... and that new daughter of yours, too! lol...

Seriously, even after the cycling is done. you should wait 2 or 3 weeks before adding new fish, and even then, very slowly, 2-3 at a time with at least 10 days in between each addition. You have to give the bacteria colony time to establish itself.

Jaysee

There's another considderation to how many fish you can add after finishing a fishless cycle, and that is the amount of ammonia that was fed to the tank while cycling. The main reason why using pure ammonia for the cycle is best, IMO, is because you can control the exact concentration in the tank. By adding larger amounts of ammonia, a larger colony will be built. Too much ammonia will stall the cycle. 5 PPM is a good amount and will support several fish.

freak78

5 PPM of ammonia? I was at 1 PPM

Jaysee

Oh I'm sorry, for some reason I thought you did a fishless cycle. If you used TTS and you're over 1 ppm, I don't think it worked.

freak78

I'm thinking chasing all the Zebra's around and moving all my plant's and stuff. Also at the same I added the new penguin 200 HOB filter and added more fish. What bacteria I had I probably removed when I took the old Penguin 150 off. That's the filter I started with. I'm thinking since it's a new tank either the cycle wasn't totally finished yet or I caused a mini cycle. The fish are still very active and getting use to the extra current created by the 200. The tiger's like to stay right in the path of the current.

harpua2002

I didn't realize you had removed your old filter completely... NOT good. I'd say you probably lost the majority of the beneficial bacteria that make up your bio filter. It sounds like this is going to be worse than a mini cycle.

Meenu

I changed my filter in the middle of a TSS cycle once... I know, goofy. I had to start over with a new bottle of TSS because it messed me up so bad.

freak78

Tomorrow I'l get more TSS. Everything is closed.

agabr123

just for further reference, you don't ever have to change your filter media until it's literally falling apart. i'd rinse it in the water that you remove during a water change, but don't actually change it until it's no longer useable. and even then, put the new filter media in your tank 2-4 weeks before you remove the old media to give it time to get bacteria established on it. if you're changing filters, keep the old media in the new filter for a while so it has time to establish bacteria as well. that should help prevent a mini-cycle in the future