It's been about 3 weeks since I did a full cleaning of my aquarium and the ammonia is still really high! Even when I change about 50% of the water the ammonia doesn't even go down! Should I try buying one of those boxes of good bactteria to get the cycling going? I have no idea what im doing!

you could hun, Have you also tested the water out of the tap? you might be one of the few that has ammonia in the tap water.

Also what kind of tester are you using, sometimes they do expire.

It's from aquarium phamesuticals and I just got it like 2 weeks ago so I doubt its expired. Also my ammonia in the tap water is 0... And I just did a 75% water change and My ammonia went from about 1.5 to 1! Shouldn't it have gone down drastically with a 75% water change of 0 ammonia water? I dont get this.

Depending on the wast load of the tank, fish produce the ammonia when the eat. Also test kits do expire on the shelf, some pet stores don't look at the expiration on the box, so anytime you pick on up look at the bottom and make sure it isn't bad.

I would see if you can get some Bio-Spare at the LFS, this will help the tank out. Also whats the temp in the tank, colder waters in the 68F range will make the tank cycle allot slower

Also what is the filter on the tank?

I have an aquaclear mini. And I don't have a thermometer in the water but I'm gonna get one the nest time I go to the pet store. I thought about it and I think I feed my fish too much. They always look a little bloated. I never thought it was a big deal but now that I see the ammonia is high all the time I think I'll fast them for about 2 days and then actually time their eating and see exactly how much they can be fed. Thanks for the help koko!

When you say you did a full cleaning, did you wash the gravel or the filter/media thoroughly? Was the tank cycled before you did this?

I'm with Koko's suggestion of BioSpira, apparently it's the best, if that's not availible I would go for New&Improved Cycle, I can attest that this one is good too!

Hope you get it sorted !

its been 5 months.... my tank has never cycles.... i never bothered with that


i still to ammonium chips.... i do ammonia test and still 0

my tank has never experienced any ammonium

Unfortunately, it seems that BioSpira is temporarily unavailable to most of us in the US.

The next best thing would be to see if you can get a "starter" from a healthy tank of a friend - a used sponge or ask if you can put some lava rock or ceramic pieces in a bag in their tank for a week or two and then transfer them to your tank.

When you change the water it is all a dilution. The test kits still can read high, for you are only diluting the ammonia down a percentage and the tests are really not that accurate - they give a range of the amount of ammonia, not a hard and fast digital number ......

Koko is also right - you could get your ammonia to zero by dilution if you did enough, but your fish are overwhelming your tank and keeping the numbers high.

Sounds like you are on the right track at limiting their intake (and output) and with luck, you can get this tank cycled and working in a short time.