# biological filter gone??



## Efishency (Nov 29, 2010)

hello

i have just setup a new tank. i transferred existing and running biological media from my other tanks (without drying it or leaving it more than an hour without food) into an external filter for it. added the fish i had in the previous tank and yup, ammonia! then added two liquid bacterial 'immediate' startups to the filter..nada. brought more lib#ve bio filters media from 2 LFS, added in the filter, still have ammonia.. i dont get it. my hardness and ph havent changed from new to old tank. what is going on??? I also have little zeolite (after the bio media in the filter), which i thought would pick up any ammonia that goes through the bio media. after seeing ammonia, i added more. at the moment im feeding them very scarcely and using liquid ammonia absorbers to keep it low, not zero.

immediate help please!!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

First thing, STOP adding all this stuff to the tank. What exactly did you transfer from the other tank? What did you buy from the store...mention of bio filters? Ammonia doesn't disappear instantly. What levels of ammonia are you reading?


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## Efishency (Nov 29, 2010)

i know. im not pro this but getting desperate. i transferred the bio media, ceramic rings and lava rocks that i had runnign for a year in the previous tank. got the jbl and sera biostart stuff, yep, waste of money. also got ceramic rings for two separate petstore tanks. ammonia read up to 0.6 first few days, then around 0.2, its been about 6 days now. the drop may be to the lower feeding though. nitrites now arent bad, although again that might be to the lower feeding and nh4/no2 absorbent solution stuff. a bit worried to leave the nh4 to get any higher without reducing it. have been doing pwc too.


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

You are cycling a new tank so you will still run through the ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle, though it may take place faster with your trasfered bacteria. It takes awhile for a bio-filter to get established in a new tank. Just give it time. Any added chemicals with just mess up you bio-filtration. I would recommend running vigourous aeriation and run a filter with charcoal pads (helps reduce the ammonia spike). Change you none bio-filter pads frequently until cycling is complete.


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## Kibblemania1414 (Feb 13, 2011)

i agree, i don't think you went through the cycle process. you have to wait like 2-5 days for a 10 gallon and like 2 weeks for a 100 gallon. just try to cycle first, it makes things way easier.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Kibblemania1414 said:


> i agree, i don't think you went through the cycle process. you have to wait like 2-5 days for a 10 gallon and like 2 weeks for a 100 gallon. just try to cycle first, it makes things way easier.


Cycles take 2-8wks. The size of the tank doesn't really mean much. Larger tanks can take longer, but only because people don't drive the ammonia levels high enough when cycling with fish. For fishless cycles a 10g tank can take just as long as a 150g if the ammonia levels are maintained the same.


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## Kibblemania1414 (Feb 13, 2011)

oh, thanks for clearing that up.


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## Efishency (Nov 29, 2010)

Thak you for all replies. is charcoal filter pad equivalent to activated carbon? also, would zeolite help with ammonia spikes?

Thanks


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## verdifer (Sep 8, 2010)

you could have took the water from the old tank also, I have moved my tanks a few times and always get a spike but since I have filter media with the needed bacteria it goes away pretty fast, I would cut back on the treatments you have added and power away at water changes till it settles, I don't have much experience with all these quick fix add to your tank and it sorted stuff but a while back I got a spike of Amonia in my tank and added some amquel as a quick fix and it worked a treat, I would have stuck to more water changes but I had marine and had to buy my water from the LFS and was running low on salt.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Efishency said:


> Thak you for all replies. is charcoal filter pad equivalent to activated carbon? also, would zeolite help with ammonia spikes?
> 
> Thanks


Yes, a charcoal filter pad acts like activated carbon. Only effective for less than a month. Zeolite additves are supposed to remove ammonia, but personally think it should only be used when you have a spike or some sort of casualty further down the road. It's not something to add while cycling. Just do water changes. Adding all of this stuff is just going to prolong the process and cause even more issues than a normal cycle has.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Your ammonia isn't that high. It is possible you may only be going through a 'mini cycle' if you added enough used filter media, in which case the ammonia will just drop to 0. Otherwise as others have said you will go through a normal cycle, hopefully a little shorter due to the filter media.


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## FishDash (Feb 18, 2011)

well, With all that. Your GRAVEL has the most surface area for bacteria and thats where most of the ammonia breakdown happens. Its just cycling. Aquarium keeping is a hobby that involves patience. Youll be alright. Just stop adding those crazy miracle fixes and everything will work itself out. *pc


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

One of the dangers of the liquid ammonia locks is that even though the ammonia is locked (and hopefully safe) it still tests as ammonia with most normal test kits. And the locks also lock up oxygen so if you keep adding ammonia lock you keep locking up more and more oxygen so the fish can suffocate.

Stop adding the ammonia lock, stop adding food for a week or so and let things settle down. 

and if you can add fast groiwng live plants like anacharis.

If you must test use the seachem multitest kit that measures both free and total ammonia. I think the round ammonia dots you put in the tank also just measure free ammonia as well. If those show no ammonia even though test lits (like the api) show ammonia, then you chould be ok.


my .02


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