Reducing Ammonia without Prime

[starypotter]

Hi everyone,
Due to some issues with TTM I had to do an emergency transfer to a 29 gallon. There's a pretty solid bio load in there because my two QTs had to be combined, but I've been pretty much exclusively been feeding live foods to at least avoid rotting food issues. Brine shrimp and rocks with algae on them. I've got two rocks in there that have been in my sump, baseball and softball sized. I've got some filter pads that have been in my sump for a couple weeks. I've also got the Petco ammonia reducing pads in there, two layers. And I've been putting bacteria in, Microbe Lift. But I'm still having a hard time keeping my ammonia in the safe section of the seachem badge. I've got some bio media soaking in some more bacteria with a quarter of a drop of ammonia and some small rocks from the sump. I'm hoping to really grow the bacteria on those items to put them in there soon. I'm probably going to put another rock in there and hope it helps.
The rocks will all move to live in my frag tank that is being siliconed right now so I don't mind the rocks needing to be out of the display, they're all coming from the sump anyway and I have more dry to add back in to make up for any loss.
I'll be doing a partial water change to at least siphon off all of the poo from the bottom so that'll help but do I have any other options to add to the mix?
Oh I don't want to add prime because I'm hoping to start copper treatment soon but I do have some on hand if things get bad.

 

[ZoWhat]

but I've been pretty much exclusively been feeding live foods to at least avoid rotting food issues

What in the world does that mean? Rotten live food?

Plz Explain....... bc to me throwing live food in the garbage is better than throwing a bunch of it in your tank just because......



.

 

[UCF Alum]

Not quite sure I understand what your question is.
Are you asking how to reduce ammonia without using Prime?

 

[starypotter]

What in the world does that mean? Rotten live food?

Plz Explain....... bc to me throwing live food in the garbage is better than throwing a bunch of it in your tank just because......



.

I've been exclusively feeding the fish living foods so that anything that goes uneaten doesn't just sink to the bottom and start breaking down into even more ammonia.

 

[starypotter]

Not quite sure I understand what your question is.
Are you asking how to reduce ammonia without using Prime?

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out other ways to boost biological filtration in there.

 

[ZoWhat]

I've been exclusively feeding the fish living foods so that anything that goes uneaten doesn't just sink to the bottom and start breaking down into even more ammonia.

Then feed LESS and less often

Fish can go days and days without food

 

[starypotter]

Then feed LESS and less often

Fish can go days and days without food

I'd love to but it's not an option since I have some very thin fish in there that need fattening up. I'll try to reduce what I can but I have some fish that need to be fed several times daily which is why I'm looking for a way to increase my biological filtration as much as I can.

 

[WWIII]

I would just do water changes and siphon out the food/waste. You can also buy bacteria in a bottle and dump that in there. Dr tims, bio spira, etc...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-control-in-a-hospital-tank.296119/

 

[ZoWhat]

I'd love to but it's not an option since I have some very thin fish in there that need fattening up. I'll try to reduce what I can but I have some fish that need to be fed several times daily which is why I'm looking for a way to increase my biological filtration as much as I can.

JUST MY OPINION..... you shouldnt poison your tank with food just bc you have convinced yourself your fish are starving to death.

You don't put 20 quarts of oil in your cars engine bc you've convinced yourself the engine really really needs to be well lubricated.



.

 

[starypotter]

I would just do water changes and siphon out the food/waste. You can also buy bacteria in a bottle and dump that in there. Dr tims, bio spira, etc...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-control-in-a-hospital-tank.296119/

I do have some bacteria I've been adding, I'll keep doing what I'm doing then thank you for the helpful link.

 

[starypotter]

JUST MY OPINION..... you shouldnt poison your tank with food just bc you have convinced yourself your fish are starving to death.

You don't put 20 quarts of oil in your cars engine bc you've convinced yourself the engine really really needs to be well lubricated.



.

I really don't appreciate the assumption that I'm poisoning my tank because of something I have 'convinced' myself of. Your opinion is based on your assumptions about my fish. I know what a starving fish looks like and I know how to bring it back to health. Stating that something is your opinion before you make an assumption doesn't make whatever follows fit into your narrative. It just means that you know it doesn't fit but you're going to say it anyway.

 

[ZoWhat]

I know what a starving fish looks like and I know how to bring it back to health.

Then it sounds like you don't need any help from R2R. go do what you do brother....

 

[starypotter]

Then it sounds like you don't need any help from R2R. go do what you do brother....

My point was simply that the fish feeding problem wasn't the problem my original post was asking about. I found out how to bring it back to health from the folks on R2R, I found something that worked for the fish and I'm sticking to that until the fish is back in good health. At least for this one particular fish I know how to help it and what steps to take. But I do have a current problem which I was asking about that has only been answered in part by one person who helpfully posted a link to a good resource. Sometimes you just don't come up with the right keywords to find the threads like that yourself or just look past it repeatedly in your search like I did apparently.

 

[mike werner]

I really don't appreciate the assumption that I'm poisoning my tank because of something I have 'convinced' myself of. Your opinion is based on your assumptions about my fish. I know what a starving fish looks like and I know how to bring it back to health. Stating that something is your opinion before you make an assumption doesn't make whatever follows fit into your narrative. It just means that you know it doesn't fit but you're going to say it anyway.

I could not agree with you more.I ignore this member just for this reason.I have seen to many of his responses that are not so friendly or positive!.Most of us here give friendly helpful advice when asked for help.NEXT POST!
I would keep up with the water changes.Feed what they like to eat in moderation and test the ammonia every other day if not each day.I wish you luck in this adventure my friend.

 

[eb_reef]

Stating that something is your opinion before you make an assumption doesn't make whatever follows fit into your narrative. It just means that you know it doesn't fit but you're going to say it anyway.

Wait a minute, What? In my opinion, you can use logic like this to ignore anything and convenience yourself that your beliefs were right all alone.

 

[starypotter]

I could not agree with you more.I ignore this member just for this reason.I have seen to many of his responses that are not so friendly.Most of us here give friendly helpful advice when asked for help.NEXT POST!
I would keep up with the water changes.Feed what they like to eat in moderation and test the ammonia every other day if not each day.I wish you luck in this adventure my friend.

Thanks for the advice, I plan on keeping up with water changes as I can I just want to get that bacteria doing it's job ASAP. I've splurged for an ammonia alert badge to help ease my mind on that. I think I'll pick up another bottle of bacteria tomorrow for good measure, I'm researching on more on which ones seem most effective now.

 

[Stigigemla]

To me this looks like the common problem on facebook. You get a lot of answers. Some of them do not have a friendly tone. Some other is difficult to follow. So just wait til You get the answer that You did want from the beginning. Being right or wrong.

Normally on this forum You will only expect answers in a friendly tone.

In order to manage a tank with this problem I should have done some things.
1. Connect a sump to the tank.
2. Move Your live rock to the sump. Add more.
3. Dim the light a bit to make the fish calmer. A non decorated tank is stressful for the fish.
4. Add a bag of Zeolite in the sump. Its not commonly used but it will take up ammonia (and maybe potassium).
5. Siphone the food rests from the bottom of the tank every day. Without decoration in the tank that will be easy.
6. No reef fish will enjoy living alone in a tank without decoration so max 2 weeks this way.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Reduce feeding amounts and increase water changes until levels remain low.
Feed sparingly ( what can be consumed in 2-3 minutes). It is Easier to add food than remove it. If you have to siphon food- You are Over-feeding !