Ammonia Problem Help!

[gball]

Okay so I am in a bit of a jam and really ticked right now. I went to my LFS the other day to see if they had ammonia as I was going to do a fishless cycle on my sons new 20g. the lady at the store told me that there was no need and she gave me tetrasafestart and said add this, wait a week, and add fish. well I did that, even though it didnt sound right, I figured she new. today I tested the tank, 7.4pH, 1.0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 40 nitrate. what can I do to fix the pH and the ammonia, i really dont want the fish to die:scry:

[Northernguy]

Do a large water change at least 1/2 the water.
Do not forget the dechlorinator!Tetra safe start will help but it won't cycle a tank.
Do not feed tomorrow,just a bit every other day.
Test your water later and be prepared to do a lot of water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at a reasonably safe level until your cycled.
Do you have access to a cycled tank?

[Lab_Rat]

The pH is not worrysome, the ammonia is. Large daily wc's will help keep your fish alive. You can also expect to see a nitrite spike in the future.

[gball]

I have another 20 which is well established, it has 3m guppy, 4 rasboras, 2 honey gourami, 1 otto

[jaysee]

What is the stocking? And what's wrong with the pH?

Put media from the established 20 in the new one and you're good to go after a big water change.

[Northernguy]

Then take part of the media out and put it in the new filter.Thats all you have to do besides the water change and keep an eye on your perameters.Do a water change everytime you see a spike in your perameters.

[MonkeyPox]

I don't believe the "wait a week" portion is right. The bacteria need a food source.
If you already have an established tank, you can take some of the media from that and place it in the other tank.

[gball]

Okay cool. I didnt understand the whole wait a week thing either. I new the bacteria needed something to eat, but figured she new what she is talking about. the same lady also sold me the wrong plant last week as well. I will not be working with her again, everyone else at the store seems fine though.

[Northernguy]

I doubt she is wrong all the time!:hmm3grin2orange:

[Lab_Rat]

Generally, I don't trust the advice from most lfs, especially chain stores like Petsmart and Petco. Even my lfs, for the most part, I don't trust. I do have an awesome african cichlid specialty lfs that I do trust everything they say, but those sort of stores are few and far between.

[canumaso]

I know I'm a newbie to this board, so no disrespect to the others who have weighed in, but I try to avoid extensive water changes during the cycling process. IMO it just slows things down. I would suggest keeping your water changes to no more than 20% per week and using either Prime or Amquel Plus to detoxify the ammonia until your tank has fully cycled (note: detoxification only lasts 24 hours to repeat the dosage daily). Adding media from an established filter will definitely speed up the process as others have pointed out. Hope it all works out!

[Lolita]

I know I'm a newbie to this board, so no disrespect to the others who have weighed in, but I try to avoid extensive water changes during the cycling process. IMO it just slows things down. I would suggest keeping your water changes to no more than 20% per week and using either Prime or Amquel Plus to detoxify the ammonia until your tank has fully cycled (note: detoxification only lasts 24 hours to repeat the dosage daily). Adding media from an established filter will definitely speed up the process as others have pointed out. Hope it all works out!

During a fishless cycle you don't do any water changes at all, but the OP will now be doing a fish-in cycle, so often water changes are extremely important to the health of the fish.

The media will of course help speed this up a lot, but they'll still need water changes to keep the ammonia at a tolerable level for the fish.