colbywebre47
- #1
Hello I am in some dire need of suggestions. I am an aquarist that has been taking care of aquariums for years and I have an avid understanding of the nitrogen cycle. However, in my 125 gallon cichlid tank (Filters are 2 aquaclear 110's and an FX4) , I noticed that my nitratres were getting much too high, so like any normal person I did a water change. The one thing I did different though is that instead of just rinsing out the sponges of my aquaclear 110's, I replaced them for the first time in about a year. And I didnt replace the biomedia or any of the sponges or media in my FX4 because I knew that would get rid of most of the benefical bacteria. But now a couple hours later my tank is milky meaning there is a bacteria bloom, and I panicked. Im guessing that by replacing the sponges in my aquaclears, I took too much beneficial bacteria out of the tank. I measured my ammonia levels and sure enough, they were at 4.0. I know this is highly toxic for my fish so I added ammo lock by API which is supposed to detoxify ammonia to not kill your fish until your tank can run its course. I am terrified my fish will die, what should I do? How fast will the ammonia kill my fish? Should I add something like seachem stability to add bacteria? If someone could help me it would be much appreciated.