Recycle?

[Goes to 11!]

+1 to not removing the old cartridges.

I would leave your old cartridges in situ until you know what's up with the new test results. Rinse them in used water if need be but replacing them is not a good idea at this time.

LH he has not removed them yet.

To add.......storing water in pails only gets rid of chlorine but it should be aerated to do so and for a couple of days. However, this does not get rid of chloramines.......another product used in city water as a sterilizer and used in many water municipals.

+1
My understanding is that Chloramine is used by many cities precisely because it does not gas off like Chlorine. As mentioned, Prime takes care of both :-D.

[markinnc]

Lady Hobbs,
Part of what you said depicts exactly what I have seen which does not make sense to me. You said " Mixing ammonia water and other water together does not reduce ammonia".

Ammonia is tested with our kits and gives a result in ppm. If I have 50G of water with 1.0ppm ammonia. Then I remove 20G, then I have 30G of water with 1.0ppm ammonia. Then I mix 20G of water with 0ppm ammonia then I should have 50G of water with 0.6ppm ammonia.

Yes, I am keeping the old filters till I get this sorted out. My filter does have two bio wheels which are supposed to support my bacteria colony but I understand that the filters provide a home also.

I should back and revisit my chemistry classes but I thought that the chloramines/chlorine would dissipate over a couple of hours. Now thinking that thought through it does not make sense as it has been sitting in the delivery lines for far longer than that.

Thanks for your advice and patience,

[funkman262]

Mixing ammonia water and other water together does not reduce ammonia. Ammonia is removed by going through the filter media. If your level is 1.0 for ammonia and you do a 50% water change, your ammonia will then be .50. Still to high for the survival of fish. Do a LARGE water change to bring that ammonia down to .25. Or do two water changes, one after the other.

This whole thing is contradictory and may be confusing to some. "Mixing ammonia water and other water" is essentially a water change, and is how we get rid of nitrates, so I'm not sure why you're saying that it won't reduce ammonia. You then talk about doing a 50% water change to remove 50% of the ammonia, which directly contradicts your previous statement.

[Goes to 11!]

Yeah.. What were you thinking with that phrasing LH?

I am certain that she obviously meant it the way you put it funkman.

[fishmommie]

Yes, I am keeping the old filters till I get this sorted out. My filter does have two bio wheels which are supposed to support my bacteria colony but I understand that the filters provide a home also.

I think you meant to say you were keeping the old filter cartridges that contain your beneficial bacteria? If so, unless you keep them in the filter in a tank with fish the bacteria will die off. Simply keeping them moist will not insure the BB will not be lost - at least not for more than a day or so.

So if you've removed them from your filter, put them back in asap before all is lost.
Good luck!.

[Goes to 11!]

Don't think so FM, I think he meant he is keeping them on a tank with fish - Until this is sorted.

[markinnc]

I have a very small quarn. tank and I filled it with original aquarium water to keep my fish in for a few hours I thought. The fish and the two filters are in there. It has a small HOB filter and I put the big tanks heater in.

I plan to get new ammonia solution and test all this evening.

thanks,

[fishmommie]

Don't think so FM, I think he meant he is keeping them on a tank with fish - Until this is sorted.

Oh good. I was worried for him :o)

[markinnc]

Status of my tank.

I stopped off at PetSmart and bought new bottles of #1 and #2 ammonia solution.
When I arrive home I tested my water for ammonia using old solution and got 1.0ppm
I retested using the new solution and got 1.0ppm.
I trashed the two old bottles.
I switched filter elements installing my original two which had been stored in my quarantine tank.
I did a 60% water change.
I waited three hours to allow the filter to mix the water well and retested for ammonia and read a slight color change under 1.0ppm.
I tested for ammonia before work early this morning and I read a further reduction from just below 1.0ppm as compared to the last test last night.
I did another 60% water change but did not have time to allow for mix so I do not know what the last change did.

The downward change in ammonia between the last measurement last night and the first measurement this morning should indicate that either a further mixing took place and I was reading a stabilized number this morning. Or, my bacteria is starting to work again. Or, just a fluke maybe caused by normal test error potential since I'm talking such a slight difference. I should have another data point this evening which should tell me more.

thanks,

[KevinVA]

Waitaminutehere....

I'm confused. Did you actually take out your old filter media already and replace it with new filter media... and then replace the new filter media with old filter media when you got home?