I've got a 29 gallon fish tank how do I get all the amoniea out?

Question

I've got about 15 fresh water fish in a new tank and have tryed cleening about 5 times and i still get the same results

Answer 1

the reason your ammonia is so high is because you did not give the tank a chance to build up it's benefical bacterial colonies to break down the ammonia. It is a pretty common mistake, don't dispair, you should do daily water changes 25%(off of the top of the tank-do not syphon) for about 2-4 weeks, each day add a capful of cycle or eco-start or some other benifical bacteria culture available at your local fish store. If your fish are septicemic (red streaks along the body) then you need to increase the water changes to 40-50% daily (off the top-do not syphon for 2-4 weeks) and get some ammo lock or amaquel to convert the ammonia into a less toxic form for the fish. The ammonia readings will still read high,untill the tank cycles but it will be a less toxic ammonia, then what the fish are excreting. Make sure that you treat the water with a conditoner that removes chlorine & chloramines before adding the new water to the tank. You can still save your fish, but it is going to be lots of work for the next few weeks. Next time only put 1 or 2 hardy fish in the tank for the first few weeks to get the bacteria established, then after your ammonia readings are down to 0 you can start to slowly add more fish. Live & Learn! good luck!

Answer 2

Well to start off I am assuming you mean ammonia. Secondly you have too many fish for your 29 gallon tank. Depending on what kind, let's say oscars all but two should be taken back. If they are guppies, their cool. With that said:

You have cleaned it 5 times and the ammonia is spiking. When you cleaned your tank you drained it and filled it back up? Problem number 2. You cannot drain your entire tank. That is NOT how you clean a tank. No more than 25% of the water at anyone time should be taken from your tank..

Your ammonia is spiking due to overcrowding and improper tank cycling. DO NOT remove all the water from the tank. Test your ammonia levels, and nitrates. If the ammonia level is still high, you can do a 20% water change each day until the level drops and the tank cycles.

Since you already have fish your tank will begin to cycle and quickly. DO NOT take someone else's filter from their tank. This will invite parasites to your already stressed out tank. (even if your tank had no fish this is NEVER a good idea to do).

I am not going to explain the entire cycling process since you are basically beyond that now. Just keep an eye on your water quality and do (no more than 20%) changes if needed. You should be fine.

Answer 3

Your tank is not cycled. You should not have 15 fish in a new tank - the fish's gills are now burning due to ammonia.

The first thing you need to do is get a product like Prime that detoxifies ammonia and nitrites. If you think ammonia is bad, wait until nitrites arrive :(

Make sure to do daily water changes of about 50% until your ammonia AND nitrites are down to zero and your nitrates are below 40. This usually takes 2-4 weeks. What someone else said about a max water change of 20% is wrong. I've done even 75% changes on my grow out tanks...the bad thing to do is tear down the entire thing and start fresh, because it only restarts the nitrogen cycle.

Also, research fishless cycling for future endeavors and waste money on products like cycle because they don't actually work.

Answer 4

when you're going with the 29 gallon tank, i ought to follow African Cichlids. many of the South American varieties receives too tremendous on your tank. With African cichlids also decide on to maintain a better Ph round 8.2, and also have quite a number of rocky hiding places for them. no count number what with a tank that length you'd be restricted to what number fish you may put in there. prevalent rule of thumb is a million" of fish per gallon of water, yet given the aggressiveness of many cichlid species, you ought to decide on to flow slightly a lot less. I have a 37 gallon tank with 3 Jewel Cichlids and a couple of Ice Blue Zebra Cichlids, and thus far they're getting alongside swimmingly (pardon the pun). desire this helps!

Answer 5

Itsfroggy and Souma have the best answers of the three that were there when I decided to answer your question. I had the same problem when I first started having aquariums, and my fish kept dying and I kept having to go to the pet store and buy some more. They finally figured that the frequency and thoroughness of my cleaning the tanks is what killed them. The aquarium has to develop it's own "cycle" or environment, and if you keep cleaning it, you keep killing the environment, so QUIT CLEANING IT!! I know you mean well, but your good intent is killing the environment, and eventually, your fish. I had three aquariums, a 20, 35 and 58 gallon ones, and a lot of fish had to die, sorry to say, before I realized the truth to what the pet store people were saying, so, realize that what itsfroggy and I are saying is VERY TRUE. And get some of those testing strips or kits that Souma was talking about to make sure of your chemical balance in the water, and then just rest and relax and enjoy your aquarium. That's one of the biggest reason people get them. I hope all goes well with you in this. God Bless you.

Answer 6

Too much cleaning is the problem. You can't clean a tank "squeaky clean." That's why you keep getting bad ammonia readings. You need to let the tank cycle. Proper cycling is what gets the ammonia out and that involves allowing more than half of the old water to remain in the tank, rinsing your filter in the old water, getting a good substrate and allowing the beneficial bacteria to build up in it and the filter. And then you need to know how to do proper water changes. Read up on cycling and water changes so you'll know what is involved in getting a balanced tank.

Answer 7

Sounds like your tank has not been fully cycled. There are some products you can get to help neutralize the amonia, but really frequent water changes (25%) daily will help until the cycle is complete. Do a google search on aquarium cycling or get a book that will explain it. You will have healthier and happier fish if you do.

Answer 8

Use a bottle of purifier...at Walmart..cheap..If it is a new fish tank..your problem is because of just that..it's new..It has to build up an environment, usually takes about 6 months...stop cleaning it..let it get brown and mucky, especially under the rocks...Then after the environment is set, you will probably only have to vacuum the rocks every now and then...My tank in 85 gallons, I clean it once a year...have had the same sharks for 12 years...leave their environment alone for awhile and it will go away on it's own.. also when you buy new fish...don't dump the water from the pet store (in the baggie) in your tank...that will kill your fish quick..different pH levels..good luck!

Answer 9

Here's what you need to do. Find a buddy, a friend or a local fish shop with a well established healthy aquarium. Get them to give you one of their DIRTY filter pads. Not a clean one, a dirty one. It will have the well established bacteria culture that you've been trying to create. After one or two days, your tank should be cycled. Beyond that, don't over feed and change 20% every two weeks or so.
Good Luck.

Answer 10

If you are using test strips, change to a liquid test kit. The strips and in-tank alert things are notoriously wrong. 15 fish is also a large load for a 29 gallon tank.