API master test kit......

[wesleydnunder]

If your water changes are frequent enough, you can increase the volume to 80 or 90% without issue. I agree with stopping the store-bought water and use your tap. test it to see if you're adding ammonia, nitrate, etc. to the tank with your new water. Keep dosing the prime. Get the ammonia down to below 1 ppm if at all possible. It may extend the time it takes to cycle, but will help your fish.

Mark

 

[Hebily]

I would definitely test your tank again, and test your water supply. Be very careful with making sure you use the correct reagents, drop counts, and timings for each test. It is possible that there are small amounts of nitrAte in your supply water, which would explain these results. Once you know exactly what you are working with for your supply water, and your tank parameters are confirmed, it is easier to recommend the correct course of action.

 

[Hebily]

What kind of filter and media are you running?

 

[jarrett181]

These are today's results as of 10:46pm EST....

The filter is just a HOB filter that originally came with the tank.


....not really sure if this would matter but I think it is significant enough that I should mention.....maybe I drastically reduced the amount of good bacteria when I took one of the filter sponges and the media out of the double sponge HOB filter to put in my 1 week old 29gal tanks filter and just put the new sponge and media in the 55gal......the filter on the 55gal is a double so I didn't think this would hurt it any but just throwing this out as a possible idea?? ........my 29gal reading are Ammonia- .25 Nitrite- .25 and Nitrate- 10ppm (I'm assuming I get these results this quickly because of the old filter sponge and media being used.

 

[Hebily]

If I'm understanding you correctly, than yes, that could have caused your ammonia spike. It looks like your tank is doing a lot better now.

 

[Kannan Fodder]

Yup, changing filter media can cause ammonia spikes, as you remove some of the bacteria when you toss the old media. If I read it right, you only changed one filter pad in a double filter pad system? (That's actually the recommendation - stagger changing filter pads to avoid wiping out the bacteria in the filter.) You will still have bacteria in your tank - on the decorations and in the substrate, so it will recover pretty quickly.

BTW, taking filter media from an established tank and placing it in a new tank is also another recommendation. This helps start the bacteria colonies in the new tank. Just go easy on your stock in the new tank as the tank cycles, then gradually introduce your new fish to avoid ammonia spikes.

 

[jarrett181]

Yea that's what I done.....I took one filter media from the 55gal and put it in the 29gal and put a new sponge in the 55gal. Both filters are the exact same except one is a single system and the other is a double.

 

[Kannan Fodder]

On the double, just stagger them a couple weeks apart when changing them. You can also rinse them out in your dump bucket between changes.

There's been mixed opinions on this, but I usually dump some Tetra SafeStart Plus into my filter when I change the media. My 29g is planted with 3 pieces of mopani wood, and I've never had problems when I change my filter media.

We won't get into the 180g...