Ammo-lock? Yes or no?

[eteller]

I'm in the process of cycling two tanks right now. When one sees ammonia is it a good idea to add Ammo-lock? My 55gal had .50ppm last night, with 7 fish in it and my 1.5 gal betta tank had 4ppm. I did a 20% wc on the 55 and a 50% on the 1.5.

[Sharon]

I'd try keeping it under control with water changes first...but I'm one of those who think the less chemicals added, the better! The level of 4ppm is dangerous...If you did a 50% last night, I'd do another 50% today. You really shoudn't let it get above.5ppm

[Northernguy]

You are cycling right now so do not add any chemicals.
WEater changes will do it.
If you are cycling with fish than you should be doing 40-50% water changes to keep the toxins down.Those little water changes are not going to do near enough.Keep up the w/cs doing one daily until the ammonia and nitrites are at 0.

[eteller]

Gonna step up the water changes as suggested then, thanks.

[Northernguy]

Absolutely! Your water is toxic at those levels and will kill your fish.
Good Luck and keep us informed.:22:

[Lady Hobbs]

If you are cycling with fish, I'd be getting some Tetra SafeStart. It's the old bio-spira on the shelf now for adding bacteria to your tank. It will hold those toxic levels down quite a bit and give your fish a better chance at survival.

If you are cycling with fish, it is VERY hard on them, stresses them out, kills them and even if it doesn't you may see a case of ick soon. You need to really be careful with cycling with those guys especially in small tanks to get even more toxic.

Do those water changes but do not clean the gravel or change out your filter media. Feed very sparingly right now, too, as rotting food causes more ammonia.

[eteller]

Have added the Top Fin bacterial booster to both tanks already.

[korith]

Have added the Top Fin bacterial booster to both tanks already.

If you read the reviews on various products that different companies make to speed up cycling, they all work to varying degrees. Let us know how the top fin one works, I saw it at the store, but went with biospira since I was told it worked well.

[eteller]

I bought it BEFORE reading any reviews, seems most of these are the wrong type of bacteria. They are Heterotrophic Bacteria and not nitrifying (Autotrophic) bacteria needed. The correct ones apparently do not live long in a plastic jar with no oxygen. The difference in the two is:

"Unfortunately research has shown that up to one million times more of these heterotrophic bacteria are required to perform a comparable level of ammonia conversion that is attained by true autotrophic nitrifying bacteria, in part due to the fact of Heterotrophic Bacteria to convert many organics into food."

[Wild Turkey]

It works. Its the right "kind" of bacteria. The problem is all of the products work differently, and all results with any of the products will vary because its a bacteria culture. The top fin stuff only seems to work for me if my heat is at the right temp and i dose extra.

As for the water changes, i wouldnt change the ammonia much farther down than 1.0 or else you are never going to actually develop the bacteria and will be doing wc's forever.

I definitely dont recommend using ammonia-reducers ever. But right now you especially dont need them and want to be sure you are getting accurate readings.

[eteller]

Ammonia @ 1ppm, Nitrites 0ppm last night, tank is slightly cloudy. Didn't feed the fish and left it alone. Will retest tonight.

Thanks for all the help,
Ed