I have a 65-gallon saltwater aquarium for about a couple of months. After cycling for three weeks i added about 5 fish. One died in 24hs. Aquarium store staff told me my ammonia levels probably spiked and this is what killed the fish. Since then, I've already done several water changes (over 20 gallons), used prime, stabilizer and reduced feeding. But no mater what I do, the ammonia levels stay constant at 0.25/0.5. It's been 3 weeks. Any suggestions? I would like to get more fish, but they tell me it needs to go down to 0 before I introduce new fish.
Help with ammonia levels
- Thread starter Europa
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Iván Olalla
Well-Known Member
How do you know the tank cycled? It seems that it is still in the process... Do you have rock, aragonite or filter media? The biological filter needs time to adjust when you add inhabitants, seems like you need to slow it down a little...nitrite and nitrate needs to be checked in order to determine if your biofilter is working or lacks something (time, bacteria, media, etc) let us know...
Mykawl
Active Member
If your tank wasn’t cycled it definitely is now, if your using API it will always read 0.25 especially if you use Prime, but you can conclude it’s 0 as ammonia wont be stable like that. And API is known for always reading 0.25
Also, API will give false positives if there is Seachem Prime in the tank
You can’t add 5 fish all at once in my opinion you can start adding more fish but 2 per month max. Each new fish needs a month to stabilize depending on size of fish and tank etc.
also understand your first 4 fish most likely suffered ammonia burns sothat may require more attention
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So, I cycled it for 3 weeks, and at the end of the 3 weeks ammonia was 0. I do have about at least 80 lbs of rocks, a canister filter. Maybe it needs to recycle after adding the fish? How long that normally takes?
Mykawl
Active Member
what type of fish do you currently have and plan on getting? I wouldn’t put too much in a 65 at least not that fast. And how exactly did you cycle your tank just want to make sure it’s cycled did you observe nitrite rise and fall?
This tank is cycled and prime causes ammonia misreads. you 100% have no free ammonia, its not possible after this long underwater. This thread is now added to the microbiology of cycling thread where we dont make wrong calls about ammonia 
never relying on test kits to make the final decision. we rely solely on length of time underwater, which first sentence provides.
there is no mechanism possible in reefing for .25 or .5 ammonia to hold day by day, with all other fish and animals doing ok. zero ammonia tank, post pics for the follow up proofing. at any point in reefing we can have a fish die or snails and cause a spike. but its a spike, then back down, it never holds at the magical searchable numbers for api of .25, ergo this tank doesnt even have a dead thing in it causing today's issues. nitrate and nitrite dont factor in 2019 cycling, only ammonia and time underwater, which is met here for sure. post pics and we can make many other proofs from your fish behavior, water clarity, n more
B
*your tank can have more fish, but if you are adding them without a disease prevention protocol, thats the locus of concern / not the active surface area in your tank. Fish losses at this point will never be a free ammonia issue, you have no free ammonia.
never relying on test kits to make the final decision. we rely solely on length of time underwater, which first sentence provides.there is no mechanism possible in reefing for .25 or .5 ammonia to hold day by day, with all other fish and animals doing ok. zero ammonia tank, post pics for the follow up proofing. at any point in reefing we can have a fish die or snails and cause a spike. but its a spike, then back down, it never holds at the magical searchable numbers for api of .25, ergo this tank doesnt even have a dead thing in it causing today's issues. nitrate and nitrite dont factor in 2019 cycling, only ammonia and time underwater, which is met here for sure. post pics and we can make many other proofs from your fish behavior, water clarity, n more
B
*your tank can have more fish, but if you are adding them without a disease prevention protocol, thats the locus of concern / not the active surface area in your tank. Fish losses at this point will never be a free ammonia issue, you have no free ammonia.
I know people make up stuff all the time on the web it sounds so easy to just state no ammonia and move on, but ammonia is a really critical tank wrecker. We know 100% your tank is cycled fully bc all your fish will die in 10 hours when input into a partially cycled or not cycled tank.
ammonia must be seen as a tipping point to doom in reefing, its never some minor annoyance. The whole design of the reef is made to eat it up, fast, seneye users 1000% agree.
not one time in history has a seneye user reported consistent free ammonia in a display tank when the unit was working and calibrated perfectly, thats one way we can proof these claims in addition to the biological cues that require no testing (cloudy water, death of animals, smell, a wrecked tank)
look at the cycle ump section here, there's 15 other exactly occuring tanks we fixed right up.
the end proof of a good cycle call is in the next ten hours fish dont die en masse.
www.reef2reef.com
it sounds so easy to just state no ammonia and move on, but ammonia is a really critical tank wrecker. We know 100% your tank is cycled fully bc all your fish will die in 10 hours when input into a partially cycled or not cycled tank.ammonia must be seen as a tipping point to doom in reefing, its never some minor annoyance. The whole design of the reef is made to eat it up, fast, seneye users 1000% agree.
not one time in history has a seneye user reported consistent free ammonia in a display tank when the unit was working and calibrated perfectly, thats one way we can proof these claims in addition to the biological cues that require no testing (cloudy water, death of animals, smell, a wrecked tank)
look at the cycle ump section here, there's 15 other exactly occuring tanks we fixed right up.
the end proof of a good cycle call is in the next ten hours fish dont die en masse.
The microbiology of reef tank cycling.
You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...
www.reef2reef.com
