Should I add ammonia clear to my new 55 gallon freshwater tank?
Hi, I’m doing a lot of research over the internet on how to maintain the cycle of a freshwater aquarium. On 2-15-10 I bought a 55 gallon deluxe kit. Comes with a 55g tank, submersible heater, hood lights, bio filter with some type of bacteria that comes in it and etc. I also bought freshwater salt, stress zyme and coat and added as directed. Right after that my husband decided that it was okay to add my 10 yr old plecostomus fishes in (2 of them) He believed that maybe it would help speed up the cycle.. I kept an eye on them and they seemed stressed at first, but them started acting normal. We do not know much, and this is my first time ever owning a freshwater tank. Today is the 5th day the tank has been setup. Fishes seem okay. And I also added bubble curtain, and live freshwater plants. I also did a 25% water change and added stress zyme, coat, and salt as directed. The reason I did this was because there is white cloudness in the water, which I believe is ammonia? I bought tests kits for ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate etc. Everything is great except for the ammonia lvl.. Yesterday I bought the ammonia clear tablets, it says that it will remove ammonia fast. I have not added them in yet, because I don’t want to mess up anything, like the cycle.. I was thinking of waiting for the 7th day to do a 25% water change and add these tablets, and the stress zyme which comes with live bacteria which I am to add on the 1st, 7th, and 14th days. Any tips or advice on what to do? I know I must have patience, but I wanted to know if I am doing okay.
Test water every day for ammonia. Do water changes when the levels reach to high. You want some ammonia to be present to successfully complete the cycle.
Make sure your feeding your fish Algae pellets to compensate for no algae on your new aquarium.
The additive your using should help speed along the cycle process but it won’t be instant. Your situation sounds normal just don’t let those levels get to high.
Sounds like your going in the right direction. There is a lquid ammonia remover which works well i use it alot in me 4 tanks. as far as speeding up the cycle never speed anything up. the stress would kill most fish. like a oven u have to preheat before you bake
Your tank is just probably going through “New tank Syndrome” and will need a couple of weeks to get out of it. Ammonia Cycles will get really bad, then get better but I suggest buying a sponge, vaccum, and the Ammonia Medicene. I would scrub the sides, then pick up the acess with the vacumm. (or buy a Cleaning Magent.) Then refill the water jsut like your doing a change and put in the Medicene as directed. (: Hope i helped.
P.S. If you have another tank, I would move the plecos back to it.
instead of doing a 25 percent water change doa 50 and you can buy drops to clear it up, im not sure of what the name or brand of the drops are but they work wonder, your fish could of been stressed for many reasons, don’t add a lot of chemicals for it will stress them out more but using them is never wrong, they could be stressed from when they are caught to be taken to your house form the store they lose their coat, that what the stress coat is for, and protects them from disease. fro the cloudy water it could just be your own water, should be fine….i have a 75 gallon tank, and barely clean it for i have a pleco that cleans it, and gold fish will give it a higher ammonia level cause they are just gross and horrible fish. any question don’t hesitate to ask. and you could use more fish, if that is all you have, but don’t just buy what you want, most bet stores a have tame sections and a aggressive section, the aggressive ones tend to be the bigger, “pretty” looking ones, i hope it healped a little bit haha..
It is ok that you added the fish—because without a source of ammonia, the cycle will not take place at all, as the bacteria have nothing to “eat”.
Keep doing your partial water changes, although you can always take out more water if the levels of ammonia or nitrite are high. The beneficial bacteria that you want only grow on the rocks, decor, and filter media, and are not removed by partial water changes.
It is ok to add the ammonia neutralizer. It does not remove ammonia (it will still show up on your test kit) but rather converts it to a less toxic form, ammonium. Your tank will still cycle after adding the neutralizer, I can tell you from personal experience.
The cloudiness is normal for a new tank, and the only surefire way to remove it is with time and water changes. It will pass. The cloudiness is not ammonia, but a bacterial bloom (not good bacteria). Just keep doing your water changes, adding your bacterial supplement, and have patience.
Like others have said. Test your water everyday. Your tank is cycling so you should see high ammonia, high nitrites and then nitrates. Ammonia and Nitrites are more toxic than nitrates and anything above 1ppm is toxic. However during the cycle you will see this.
Don’t add the ammonia clear. Additives like that are usually for established tanks.
You could try getting a bottle of bacteria from somewhere like Petsmart. This will put more beneficial bacteria into your tank and will help speed up the cycle.
Once you aquarium is cycled and established for a few months, if you get high ammonia readings you could add the ammonia clear, do a water change, or add more bacteria then.