Aquarium Problems: HELP!!!

Keep changing water until your ammonia levels drop. Once they drop, you should be seeing a lot of nitrite, keep up the water changes. When you've got no nitrite left, you're out of the woods.

If your ammonia's at 10ppm, perhaps you should double the frequency of your water changes. It's a pain, I know, but it's cheaper than replacing dead fish.
 
I agree. Keep doing water chanegs daily until the ammonia drops to zero. Also you need to be doing enough of a daily change to get the ammonia to less than 2 ppm. This may mean numerous 50% changes to begin with.

As for the brown algae. That can often happen in new tanks. It will eventually go away and though it is ugly I wouldn't worry about it for now. The high ammonia levels are helping it to grow.

And the filter is working fine if there is proper water flow. Don't forget that a filter only works once a bacterial bed has grown int he filter media. That isn't there just yet but is growing.
 
OK, cool. Is there any such thing as too much water changing and tank cleaning? Not that I'm guilty of it, just wondering. I'll continue with the 50% water changes. You're saying I should up the changes to twice a day? I am treating the water with a BioSafe Water Conditioner everytime I change the water, should I be doing this too?
 
As Happychem says, you really can't do too many water changes in a standard setup. I am not saying 2 changes a day are always needed but do enough changes to reduce the ammonia to less than 2 ppm each day. That may be 2 or in the beginnign even more depending on the lelev of fish and waste. I would also say to feed every other day until the ammonia starts to drop off by itself. The fish will do fine without every day feeding.
 
OK. Just to give you a better idea. I've included my latest test readings. I bought a new Mardel Test Kit (2 strips, one for ammonia and one 5-in-1 strip). Here are the results:

Ammonia .5
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 10
Tot Hadrness 120
Tot Alkalinity 0
pH 6.4

Looks like with all the water changes the Alkalinity and pH are going down. Should I add something like pH plus?

Also, when I do a 50% water change, on this 20 gallon tank, I remove 10 gals water and add in 10 gallons fresh water treated with 1 teaspoon of water conditioner. 1 teaspoon treats 10 gallons. Is what I'm doing correct or should I be adding 2 teaspoons? Basically I'm asking, I'm treating the new water not the old correct?
 
In reverse order, no, it looks like you've got it right, unless you're treating for ammonia as well.

Don't add any commercial buffers. Test your tap water, what is the alkalinity out of the tap? If you do need to buffer your water, you can add a little baking soda or place a little crushed coral in a mesh bag into your filter. But let's make sure that it is needed first.

How often have you been changing water? Your NO3 reading looks fairly high. With those NO2 levels, you need to be upping the frequency.
 
I've been doing a daily 50% water change. No worries with the pH going down then? Yes, the Nitrate and Nitrite is concerning me.
 
looks like you are doing things right and the people here will offer lots of great advice. I prefer drop tests over strips sometimes a bit easier for me to read. Good luck. I would not worry about the ph if thats what the tap shows. I suspect it could be ascew because of the gases in the water from the tap.
 
Test your tap water as well. For the pH test, place some tap water in a shallow bowl for a few hours (or overnight), then test the pH. It is possible to have some small amount of nitrate through the taps, but I'd be really surprised if as much as 40ppm was coming from the taps. Don't worry about the nitrate too much though. The NO2 is what we want to address.

Start by doubling your water changes, 50% twice daily, once in the morning, once at night. Next, add about 1tsp. of salt for each 5 gallons of tank water. This will help compete with the NO2 in the fishes' gills. It's not strickly good for the cories, but balance the presence of Cl- vs. NO2, I think that salt is the lesser of the evils. Bring the concentrations up slowly. At your next water change, add 1 tsp. for every 10g. The next change, after the water change, add the same amount. After a day, bring your dose up to 1tsp. per 5 gallons.

Someone should double check my dose recommendation, I erred to the side of caution, but I always forget the exact amount.
 
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