Amonia troubles

[danthefishman]

i have a 65gal tank with two 20cm oscars and a 15cm catfish, and i cant get rid of a slight amonia reading.nitrate and nitrite are 0. ive reduced feeding, 60% water changes each week and adding filter booster and amonia remover. my tank has a ehiem cartrige filter and internal box filter. anyone have any suggestions?

[Fishguy2727]

What size tank is the filter rated for? Sounds like you need more biological filtration. Biowheels are the best but a canister with a lot of room for media is also good.

[Lady Hobbs]

Is your tank cycled? If it wasn't cycled and you added fish, you would first have the ammonia then nitrites and finally nitrates.

[jman]

that is true and it will end up causing other problems

[danthefishman]

the cartrige filter was a old one from the 240ltr tank i have and is good for 300l. it was already mature and when they went in the new tank about eight weeks ago i transferred all the water too. the internal one is made by the manufacturers and designed for the tank. its a jewel make, have u heard of them?

[Fishguy2727]

Yes, but I am not familiar with them at all. If you can I would add a Fluval 405.

[turbomkt]

If the built in filter is an overflow type wet/dry filter with bioballs you won't need any other filtration once things get seeded with bacteria.

Which Eheim filter is it? You should be able to ID it at www.eheim.com.

[danthefishman]

i hink is a ehiem 2213

[turbomkt]

So it's the smallest one on this page (http://www.eheim.com/classic.htm)? If so, it's not a cartridge filter. You can pack that with all sorts of media, using filter floss or media bags to keep things separate.

If that's the filter, it's a little underpowered. If it's actually the 2215, you might still be a little short. I'd really want the 2217 for a 300l tank.

I would have to say, however, that if you didn't increase the fish load much on the new tank, it should still be enough for the tank to work with the built in filter.

[jeffs99dime]

if it's the 2215 classic that you're using you're definitely going to need a secondary filter, especially with the huge bioload species you have.

[danthefishman]

The amonia has dropped away and now the nitites starting to rise, once they have all peaked things should stabalise! was starting to get frustrated!

[kimmers318]

Well, continue to be cautious...that is a very large load for that size tank, or at least will be in no time at all. You may not be able to have that tank as the final home for 2 oscars...they will probably need much more space.

[danthefishman]

yeh, its expensive to keep on buying these tanks, why i dont just keep a community tank ill never know. im hoping to buy a 2.1m x 0.6 x 0.6m tank soon.

[kimmers318]

It's alot easier on the budget to buy the size tank you will need for the adult size of the fish you are wanting to keep than to keep upgrading. Plus that gives you the opportunity to cycle it once and only once instead of chancing losing your cycle when upgrading to a new tank and seeing ammonia spikes which could be very harmful to your fish.
Check around for the best size to house your 2 full grown oscars and full grown catfish and set them up in that next. Your fish will thank you.

[danthefishman]

I would have tanks floor to ceiling and in every room in my house if i could but dont think the boss would allow it! lol! Definatly going to to get a bigger one soon, hopefully 175 gallon one!
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