Question about ammonia

Discussion in 'Goldfish' started by fantails, Jan 4, 2010.

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  1. fantails

    fantails Plankton

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    Hi. I just wanted to know a tank with a temp of 68 and a PH of 7.8 what is the highest ammonia that I can have without a water change. Thanks Mike
     
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  3. bje

    bje Long-fin Bannerfish

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    if you're not in the middle of setting up a new aquarium (first nitrogen cycle) you should have 0/ppm of ammonia (NH3) present. iirc with goldfish i think they can tolerate 10-20/ppm nitrate. years ago when i had a goldfish tank i gave it new water bi-weekly. params never were over 10ppm nitrate. though at the time i was a total newbie and using the test strips still which are not totally accurate from what ive come to learn.
     
  4. bje

    bje Long-fin Bannerfish

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    if they're producing enough ammonia for it to be present in the water and the bacterial colonies cant keep up then you're probably overstocked, overfeeding, and have lack of filtration or a combination of things.

    what kind of filtration setup do you have, tank size, established for how long, substrate type/depth, and how many fish?
     
  5. fantails

    fantails Plankton

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    I had to use antibiotics in my gel food for my fish that were in my main tank. I did not have a hospital tank setup at the time I am in the process of cycling a 10 gal for a hospital tank. so i was told that it would compromise my cycle a little. I think my PH is about 7.8 - 8.0 and I know that I don't have much lead way I just was not sure how much lead way that I had. I am at about .12 or less. Mike
     
  6. bje

    bje Long-fin Bannerfish

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    if you have sick fish that you're putting into this 10gal id wait for the ammonia to be 0 before you put them in.

    goldfish thrive in 7.2-7.6 PH. if its 7.8-8.0 you're going to stress them and potentially kill them during acclimation to the 10gal.

    whats the PH they're in now?
     
  7. bje

    bje Long-fin Bannerfish

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    another thing, make sure the tanks well oxygenated. as for tank temp i always kept them in 72degree water. but i know they have a crazy temperature range of like 50-100 degrees so long as you dont change it drastically at any one given time they can survive.

    the main tank should be well oxygenated, and have a very very good filtration system. goldfish are messy eaters and leave alot of debris. it was always in the filtration that killed my goldfish....
     
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  9. bje

    bje Long-fin Bannerfish

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    yer making me want to bust out an unused tank and set it up for some fantails lol
     
  10. fantails

    fantails Plankton

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    I use 2 aqua clear 50's but I am going to change that to one aquaclear 50 and one aqua clear 70 the 70's have more room for the media.

    I will be running 500 gph. I baffle my filters for current reasons. I leave about 5/8 inch on each filter so that the water does not over flow.

    I have to sponge filters that create bubbles and a round air stone and I keep the tank about 70. Is that enough oxygen?? I use a 40g breeder tank 36 long X 18 wide and 16 high.
     
  11. bje

    bje Long-fin Bannerfish

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    just make sure the air pump is rated for a 40gal tank. and you're fine as long as you have some air exchange in the water going on. in my tanks i always just used one airstone with a air pump rated for the tank size. now, my freshwater tanks get air from the same pump because i was trying to cut down on overall power consumption.