problems with 60 gallon please help

[Jon-AL]

I have read about fishless and fishy cycling on here and can't really find exactly how to fix my problem. My father has bought a 60 gallon tank. He got it up and running and probably put fish in way too early. It has been running since the 4th of July and he is continually having ammonia problems. His specs are as follows.
Ammonia-5.0 (off the chart)
Nitrate-20
Nitrite-0
hardness-120 (which is normal,but on the high side)
alkalinity-0
PH- it didn't read meaning it was below 6.4
He has treated for ammonia. He probably treated too much for it and it keeps coming back. He used a chemical to treat and then bought a cartridge that goes into your filter to help treat it. Still nothing. It comes down but seems to go right back up. He had several fish. But of course, all keep dying. He now has only two left. A dwarf gourami and a black skirted tetra. He has done water changes at 50% levels a few times. But problem keeps coming back. There was a inch thick layer of white foam on the surface of the water for a few days that went away a day or two ago.
As far as the tank equipment goes....he has a whisper 60 and another single filter running on the other side for extra filtration. He is also running an under gravel filter that we had an air pump running it. But, we recently added a power head to it trying to filter the water as much as possible to try to get his cycle completed. I feel that is exactly his problem. His cycle won't complete. I think he has treated for ammonia too much. I don't like adding chemicals to an aquarium. But it is hard to keep a grown man from doing what he wants to his. Especially with me living 400 miles away now. I have three aquariums in my house and have never had a problem with a cycle. Whether it be fishless or fishy. It has me stumped on how his won't complete. I don't believe it is his city water either. I used to live there and my sister does now too and I didn't experience anything like this. I am sorry to ramble on, but I am trying to give all the info I can to hopefully get an answer. Thanks for any info you can give. If there is any more info you need just ask.

Jon

 

[misscrosson]

Get him to do 60% water changes daily.... that's what I had to do for afew weeks when my water went all crazy in my 70gallon....

 

[Stefanie]

I think your problem is the the low kH. It explains the low pH... do you happen to know your tap water kH? If it is also this low, you should find a way to increase your kH. Otherwise the pH will crash and this will stall your cycle.

 

[Blueiz]

A note about treating your tank with chemicals for ammonia. I did this same thing and here are my experiences. Number one a regular ammonia test will not work to show you the "true" ammonia levels in your tank, you need an ammo alert to place in your tank. Reason being is the liquid and strip tests test for total ammonia in your water, the only harmful form of ammonia is the gaseous ammonia. On the botle of ammo lock which is what i used, it states that the bio filter will readily remove the ammonia after it is locked into this harmless state, I disagree with this. The only way I have been able to remove the ammonia from my tank after using this product ws through water changes. I have an ammo alert in my 30 galon tank which has been set up for a little over 3 months. This tank is fully cycled. I am still showing a total ammonia reading of 4 through the liquid test, I have an ammo alert in this tank and it indicates that the ammonia that is in there is not harmful, the nitrites on this tank are at 0, nitrates are at 15. I do weekly water changes of 30 percent and it has been a little over 4 weeks since I last used ammo lock. My ammonia was reading with the liquid tests at 8 ppm at that time(when i last used ammo lock). My conclusion on this product is it works great to lock the ammonia out, however the claim that the bio filter wil readily remove it I believe is not so. Keep in mind that prime does the same thing, however I have never had a problem with that product not living up to its claims. Conclusion, the only way you are going to get the ammonia levels down is to do water changes, however unless you have the ammo alert in your tank, you will not know what type of ammonia you have in your tank therefore you will not know if it is actually harming your fish (the gaseous form of ammonia is the only form that will harm fish). Go out and buy an ammo alert, or order one off the intenet, they are average 7 dollars, it is worth it. Happy Fish Keeping!!

By the way if your nitrites are 0 you are cycled, its tricky in your case because he has usd the ammonia treatiment and it can get confusing to you, but TRUST ME I have done much researchon this

 

[Jon-AL]

Thanks for your info so far. My idea for his solution was going to be a lot of water changes over a few weeks, too. I am trying to talk him into buying a python to save him some time and back pain from carrying buckets. He is gonna be out of town for a week. So starting then I am gonna try to talk him into starting the changes. Thanks again.

 

[Blueiz]

one more note about the "false" ammnia reading from using ammonia dtosixiers, by the way you cant really use to much of this. If the ammonia is locked, it will not unlock. Therefore your fish will not be suffering from its affects, but i dtrongly recomend getting an ammo alert to place in the tank, that way oyu will know if you have the harful ammonia. IMO there is no rush to get the locked out ammonia out of teh aquarum. Also if you do get an ammo alert to put in you tank, you will no longer have to do the liquid tests.