Hello everyone- thanks for being so informative! I'm going nuts. At first I was told it was okay to use tap water, but now i read on... my Kh level seems low. I'm cycling with 2 young lionheads, if only i knew! Okay- i don't like the idea of adding chemicals to my water and it comes out of the tap 0 nitrite and amonia, ph around 7.6. So my fish seem happy and healthy. A little amonia spike today, over 1.0, so i changed the water 20% or so, now 0.5-1 so I got amquel + and will go with that tommorrow to give the filter a chance first. What do I treat my water with? How do i do it? I'm so confused. The Kh seemed around 144. There is a chlorine neutrilizer in the kit with no directions (given to me). Does that even have to do with it? Just don't want to lose my cuties- seems like so many people have great intentions do. Ii've read so much trying to be a great owner, but it's co confusing. Thanks to anyone who responds- you are all very helpful and informative.
ps-30 gallon tank, not really practical for me to let water sit

I'd test water daily and do partial water changes to take ammonia down to .5ppm after the water change. Then I'd use more amquel+ to bring ammonia down to 0ppm. Keep an eye on your KH and pH, as amquel has been known to eat up KH and cause pH to crash. The Amquel+ info from Kordon indicates that the detoxified ammonia is still available for your biobugs to eat. KH should stay above 80ppm to keep pH stable.

When you change out water, keep the replacement water within a couple of degrees of the tank water and be sure to dechlorinate. You can use amquel+ for that. It takes out chlorine, breaks chloramines into ammonia and chlorine and makes the resulting ammonia less toxic. Try not to disturb your gravel or filter. You can use a turkey baster to remove any visable poop or uneaten food.

Thank you so much for your advice. That was last night, this morning my friend said add the Amquel right away, so i did. I was at work all day, then school, it's 10pm and i did another amonia test and it's so high! Maybe a 6 now, when it was only a one last night. I'm so scared for my fish! I did disturb the gravel last night during the water change, trying to get out all waste. I'm not sure what to do or if my test is Nessler (is that a brand?) it's a green test kit i've seen commonly made by aquarium pharmacueticals. Should I keep adding water and Amquel +? It says only once every 24 hours... Thank you again for any advice.
HMPH- to think i wanted fish because i thought they were lower maintenance than most pets!

i checked the booklet and in one little part it does say it's Nessler based! I think that's good...it's probably a false postitive, but I'm still concerned. Tomorrow to the pet store.

Okay- if i use Amquel + to dechlorinate then isn't it inadvertantly going to cause a Ph crash?

Your tank is not cycled, thus you are experiencing ammonia spike which is quite normal..

First of all, what's the size of your tank and what sort of setup you have (such as filter, air stone, plants, etc)..

During this period (cycling period) which going to last for 4 -8 weeks, avoid feeding your fishes too much.. best reduce amount of food fed and change 20%-30% of the water frequently.. Use only treated water or water that have sat overnight...

As you change water, you dun have to worry about the ammonia level.. jus ensure you keep the ammonia level below 1 through frequent water change and by reducing feeding.. do add some salt of 0.1% (1 teaspoon per gallon of water) to stablise your fishes and replaced the salt lost through water changes too..

Lastly, I wont recommend any chemical at this stage since your fishes are in good condition.. so not to complicate the cycling process as too much chemical will prevent the water from cycling properly..

that's it.. simple.. hope this helps..

Honestly, we bought the tank used, washed it with baking soda. From what I believe, it's a 29 gallon. The hang-on filter that came with it had one of those spongy inserts from an established tank, so I ran it with that for a day or two but the water wasn't clearing so I replaced it. I had to bring the filter insert with me to replace it- the match was an Emperor in a larger size, maybe for a 50 (E size), it's got a nice aeriating effect, the filter. When I have $ I plan on getting an air pump though too.

We bought some nice medium-sized, pre-washed rocks and plastic plants (though I might get bigger rocks as gf get bigger, per Koko) I know I totally overfed them at first and a lot of food is stuck in the rocks when I vacuum, a little better now. At first they gave me flakes at the store, but now I'm using Bio-blend sinking pellets, soaked. I was giving them frozen blodworms (1/2 cube)and a few cooked, peeled peas too (not every day), but I'm tring to cut back on food for a few days. The thing is they are small and growing and I want them to eat lots to grow big. (not too much, I know! :0 ) I'm going to order some Pro-gold when I have $ too. Thinking about spirulina or salad wafers (any recommendations?) too. That was a LONG story, sorry.

Treat the water with what though? My roomate has a doggy that will drink the water- so I can't leave it out. And do i have to get a special salt? How do I add that? Should I put anything in what I think is a media container?

Thanks to all your advice, my two young lionheads look very happy so far!

As long as you keep an eye on your KH levels, and use the amquel+ with partial water changes you should be ok as your tap water most likely has a decent about of carbonate (KH) in it given KH is 140ppm in your tank. I'm not so lucky. my tap water isn't that high in carbonates, so I use baking soda to keep KH up back when I was cycling and having to use lots of amquel to keep ammonia down. I still use baking soda weekly to raise KH up to about 120ppm to keep pH stable and up in the 7's. My tap water also contains ammonia, so that made things more difficult when I was cycling. If KH gets down below 90, that's when you have to worry about pH dropping too low. If it does get that low.. In a 30 gallon tank, 1/2 teasoon of baking soda will raise your KH by about 15ppm. predissolve in tank water, then add slowly making sure it disperses well.

Where you'll get in trouble with pH/KH is if you get lazy on the partial water changes and try and rely on amquel+ to keep ammonia under control. Been there... done that. only once.

also, you don't need to let your water sit. That used to work when cities only added chlorine to disinfect your tap water. Now many use chloramine which that doesn't work for. Another reason people let water sit is to degass it when they're lots of dissolved gasses (e.g. carbon dioxide in well water) or if your city adds a lot of CO2 to lower the pH of your tap water. I doubt that's happening for you cuz your tap water's pH is the same as that in your tank.

Thnak you Thank you! The Kh did drop from the Amquel+, so I'll keep an eye it and buy some baking soda just in case. I've been doing 10-20% water changes- how often to I have to use Amquel+? Do I have to use it all if the levels are right? The water out of the tap tests perfect.