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Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate but good news is ph is at 5.9!


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I switched my tank over from the substrate I was using before which didn't buffer very well to SL Soil. I love the stuff but the problem is that its been like 4 days (Switched on monday) and I still am getting readings of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate a little higher than I'd like.  Used the Ehiem on the same tank which had been cycled but I think the bacteria died off or something as all 3 have not decreased in the tank yet. I've yet to do a water change maybe that is why? should I go ahead and do a 50% water change right now? There are also 3 random mischlings in the tank I threw in the first day just to see if they would live. Good news is they did! Bad news is the parameters are every where. and Yes I'm using only RO water along with blue wizard. 

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 You do realize that by switching out your old soil you basically took out most of your bacteria for dealing with ammonia/nitrites/nitrates?

 

Plus adding in a new soil that has some ammonia added as part of it's fertilizer regime, and you added some shrimp that really would do better with a stable water environment.  Not for me to suggest that you should have let the tank cycle for at least a couple weeks, I hope your shrimp survive.

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From what I've read, high levels of ammonia can kill off nitrobacter, the bacteria that converts the nitrites to nitrates.  

 

That said, if I were you, I would probably do 1-2 30% WCs/day.  I've had a similar issue in the past but was fortunate that the ammonia didn't kill off the nitrobacter and it took two weeks to correct itself.  Not thinking, I added a little bit of SL-Aqua Nature Soil about a week after my tank finished cycling for aesthetic purposes.  I dosed Prime at, about, 1.5-2x the dosage every water change to deal with the ammonia.  After two weeks, the tank restablished itself and I didn't lose a single shrimp.  I will never make that mistake again.

 

Good luck.

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