Achilles Hybrid

RBU1

RBU1

Moving on Up
I should be getting my Achilles Hybrid in a week or two and could use some opinions on my QT. About a month ago I broke down and cleaned out my QT to take a little break. I ordered some new bio wheels for the Emperor hang on filter and placed them in the refugium of my 300 gallon display about 4 weeks ago. Last week I set up the QT with water from my main tank and the bio wheels that had been in my main tank for 4 weeks. I wanted to make sure the bacteria was doing its job so I added a half a capful of ammonia to the tank. That was 3 days ago that I added the ammonia and I am still getting an ammonia reading. Any ideas on how to improve this situation? I guess the bacteria on the bio wheels is not sufficient enough to handle a half cap of ammonia. Again I could use some suggestions before the Achilles arrives....In hopefully 2 weeks.....not one
 
Who told you to do that? I have never heard of anyone doing that. If the Bio balls where in the DT I would have left them there until you added the Achilles, There is no need to add ammonia and I don't believe that is the same type of ammonia produced by fish waste. That might never go away. The Bio balls would have had all the bacteria they needed from the DT and the achilles will feed that bacteria. I'm no expert on adding ammonia as I have never heard of this being done in my 16years in the hobby but I think that might have been a mistake and most likely killed off the bacteria on the bio balls.
 
Well if you think about it...Ammonia in a bottle and ammonia produced by fish waste and food waste are almost the same thing. If the bacteria established in the bio wheels (not Balls) was sufficient it would have consumed the ammonia. I am thinking I will have to add a bacteria booster and probably an ammonia detoxifier just to be safe. I would rather do this expieriment prior to adding the fish then to have the fish waste cause an ammonia spike harming the fish.
 
The ammonia in those bottles are man made. I'm not sure it can be broken down like ammonia from fish waste. Think as in oil for your car, You have regular natural oil that can be broken down with the right additives, Then you have synthetic which they have to use different additives to break it down. I know neither are broken down naturaly in this case but, I think that ammonia in the bottle is defintely not the same. They don't have people peeing in bottles lol.
 
It is the same in a chemical aspect....Maybe not the same as peeing in a bottle...LOL...You can use ammonia to start a cycle instead of food or fish...
 
Regular ammonia will work. It is just much more concentrated than we are used to in our tanks. Do you think the oxygen people breath from tanks in hospitals come from plants? Just because it is man made does not mean it is different.
 
mrstihl said:
Regular ammonia will work. It is just much more concentrated than we are used to in our tanks. Do you think the oxygen people breath from tanks in hospitals come from plants? Just because it is man made does not mean it is different.
Click to expand...
No I don't but usually a synthetic is different than a natural product. Like those nice preservatives in our foods yummm.
 
The ammonia in a bottle is fine, I wouldn't worry about that one bit.


What is the ammonia reading that you are getting?
 
Well its an API kit that I can't find the card. I know yellowish is the color I am aiming for and I am getting a bright green. Looking at the charts online I would say its between the 1.0 and 2.0 colors closer to the 1.0
 
Just an FYI, what I would do next time is put in a piece of shrimp or something like that and let it dissolve naturally, like uneaten food would in your tank, and see if you get an ammonia reading. I would think that would work a lot more "naturally" than just dumping in a relatively huge amount of ammonia all at once.

Are you reading any nitrates in the tank? If you really did kill off all your bacteria (which I doubt you did) then you wont have working nitrogen cycle so you wont show any nitrates.
 
You may just need a little time. Thats a lot of ammonia. Keeping filter media in the flow of the DT works very well. I've done this for years with Aqua-Clear sponges and have never had a QT ammonia problem. If the bio-wheels are handled the way you describe, the QT should be instantly cycled without any need for an ammonia source. I just put the filter sponge from the DT into the QT at the same time as the fish; then toss the sponge when through. A tank will not cycle faster with lots of ammonia, all it needs is some and I think you over-loaded. Don't add any more ammonia, I'll bet the reading goes to zero within a couple of days. If not; either the test kit is bad or the wheels weren't in a spot with good flow while in your main system.
 
Recty said:
Just an FYI, what I would do next time is put in a piece of shrimp or something like that and let it dissolve naturally, like uneaten food would in your tank, and see if you get an ammonia reading. I would think that would work a lot more "naturally" than just dumping in a relatively huge amount of ammonia all at once.

Are you reading any nitrates in the tank? If you really did kill off all your bacteria (which I doubt you did) then you wont have working nitrogen cycle so you wont show any nitrates.
Click to expand...

This isn't said often enough, IMO. It is very possible to kill off bacteria with too much ammonia.
 
Recty said:
Just an FYI, what I would do next time is put in a piece of shrimp or something like that and let it dissolve naturally, like uneaten food would in your tank, and see if you get an ammonia reading. I would think that would work a lot more "naturally" than just dumping in a relatively huge amount of ammonia all at once.

Are you reading any nitrates in the tank? If you really did kill off all your bacteria (which I doubt you did) then you wont have working nitrogen cycle so you wont show any nitrates.
Click to expand...

I have not tested nitrates. The water that went in was nitrate free and nothing but the 1/2 cap of ammonia has been added. I will test nitrates tonight and see what I get.
 
If this hobby has taught me anything it is that nothing good happens quickly. Patience, patience............ Fish thrive in mature, balanced tanks. So many fish are lost in QT because these tanks are not.
 
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