Add or take away?

[Goldfish4EVER]

I've been struggling with cycling a tank because of the 0.50 ppm of ammonia. So I decided to do a water change to hopefully get rid of it. How much water change? Also, my tank is not completely full, so should I add more water? Or should I take away some water and then add new water? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Aqua67]

Try reading the links in this thread for help: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/

 

[Goldfish4EVER]

Also, what do I do if my ammonia levels stayed the same EVEN though I changed the water?

 

[Alice B]

test your tap water?

 

[Byron]

Agree, test the source water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to see if any are present. Also, do they use chloramine to disinfect your water, or just chlorine? Choramine is a bond of ammonia and chlorine, and when conditioners break the bond the ammonia remains for a day or two.

 

[Goldfish4EVER]

I don't use tap water, I use bottled spring water. Also, I use conditioners too. I'm really confused because I've been cycling for 3 months?!

 

[Alice B]

maybe test spring water and tell us what conditioners?

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Gold. I've always changed out half the tank water when I perform a water change. If the tank isn't full, just "eyeball" the level and remove and replace roughly half the water. You'll remove half the dissolving nitrogen and what's left in the tank is diluted to a safe level in all the new, treated tap water. Easy peazee.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Naughts]

Is this a fish-in cycle or fishless? If it is the latter, why use spring water and what have you been using as an ammonia source?

 

[Byron]

I don't use tap water, I use bottled spring water. Also, I use conditioners too. I'm really confused because I've been cycling for 3 months?!

Bottled water may be your problem. When we cycle a new tank, the nitrifying bacteria have to appear and colonize the surfaces (filter mainly, also substrate) and then multiply to deal with the ammonia, etc. These normally come in our tap water. Yes, the tap water. Chlorine does not kill most of them; studies determined that more than half the bacteria in municipal water is not killed by chlorine or chloramine, unless the chlorine is extraordinarily high--and it won't be in municipal drinking water by law. I do not know if these bacteria are somehow present in bottled water, but maybe not, it is worth considering.