New Here, and ammonia question...

Hi everyone, Been lurking for a few weeks and wanted to say Hi and see if I can get some help with my tank.
I haven't had a tank in years and my daughter talked me into getting my tank back out and setting it up. here is what we have.
30 gallon, with a penguin 200 filter(only)
Power head mounted in back corner(don't run it all the time) no under gravel filter.Told repaetedly it wasn't needed. (not so sure now)
Keep the water at 78. I do weekly 25-30% water changes. And also vacuum the gravel weekly. Tank has been set up 5 weeks now and I have no idea if it has cycled or not.
We did feed the fish 2x a day but have gone too once a day. And I do know we are a bit over crowded. we have 2 Pleco's..3 Cory cats..5 Mickey Mouse Platys...3 Dalmation Platys..2 Fat Black Mollies...5 Tetra's...and
2 Neon tetras.
We have well water and ammonia is 0 out of the tap. When I check it out of the tank it reads 1.0. Even a few hours after a water change.
Is there anything else I can do to help the ammonia? I don't want to start dumping chemicals in the tank to try to lower. I have no idea on the nitrate or nitrites.
We have not had any deaths but one of the dalmations just lays on the bottom. He will swim normal for awhile then go to the bottom and he does eat. His eyes do look like they are bugged out though.
I would appreciate any critiques or tips that may help us out. And if we are doing anything wrong.
Thnx alot
Chuck

Hi and welcome to the forum!

there is quite a number of posts about the nitrogen cycle if you want to learn more about ammonia and nitrates....

Hi and welcome! From what you have written my first guess is that your tank has not fully cycled. If you are getting ammonia reading then there is not enough bacteria to handle the ammonia your fish are producing. There are products that will neutralize the ammonia so it will not harm your fish while it is there, but it will still allow the bacteria to multiply and finish the cycle. I suggest Amquel. It will likely give you inaccurate test results though. You could also continue the water changes at a daily rate of about 25 percent. This will help keep levels down. Do not change the filter media since this and the gravel is where the good bacteria must establish itself. Most of the fish you have picked will likely survive the rigors of the cycling process. Some people even use them as a source of ammonia to get the process going. I hope this helps some and please do check out the articles on the nitrogen cycle as previously suggested. There is a lot of good information. Once again, welcome. Keep us updated and we will help as much as possible.

to check whether a tank is cycled or not look for nitrates. good value is 10-20ppm. if you have plants this value could be lower.

however if you have live plants it will also help with lowering ammonia, nitrates, etc.

Welcome to our forum. As you can tell, everyone wants to help.

Thnx for the replies, I will get the test kits for Nitrates and and hopefully determine if I have not cycled yet!
I think I may also add a couple live plants to see how that goes.

I am already trying to figure out where I could put a bigger tank
I was looking at Craigs list and there are many 55 gallon + for almost nothing locally!!
Thanx again!!
Chuck

Welcome to the forum!

It's good to see that you come with MTS!!! (Multiple Tank Syndrome) LOL!!!

Most of us here on the forum have it... You're not alone...

At least half of my aquariums are yard sale rescues or freebies from people who know I'm a fish nut with terminal MTS. When you buy test kits, be sure to get one for ammonia.

I think you should either get a bigger tank, or buy some products to jump start the cycle. To get my tank to cycle I first tried a pet-smart brand bacteria supplement, but ti didn't owrk. Later I used Stability (by Seachem) and Prime(also by seachem). They can be used simultaneously and allow your fish to live while the cycle is going on. It took less than a week for my cycle to finish with the method i used.

A couple of products that claim to have live bacteria are on the market, and you can buy chemical fixes for almost everything. However, none of that stuff will solve the underlying problem if it's related to over feeding, over crowding, incomplete cycling or species incompatibility. That covers the majority of aquarium problems. For some reason, it's easier to start with a single species and a rather sparsely populated, completely cycled tank. That at least gives the fish a healthy environment in which to adapt. Different species many times require different environments, and many popular species of aquarium fish become aggressive as they mature. Cheap, simple and slow combined with research usually lead to success. Of course, very few of us approach things that way.

You're on your way to success, I was going to suggest getting a good water testing kit. I test my tanks every week, whether they have a problem or not. Sometimes your tank can be crystal clear and still have problems, that's why testing your water is so important as it can detect problems that you might not see.
Funny how quickly MTS strikes, you get that first tank and then there are thoughts of others .....
Good luck!

MTS? Oh no! It's still here after 50 years. What a wonderful addiction.

The ONLY addiction I'd recommend people to get into!!!

LOL! For sure... I thought I was going to cut down on my tanks... But... I picked up a 55, a 20, a 10 and a 5 this weekend...

LOL!

Excellent Angela! Way to go! I'd have way more tanks if we had more space, but these little houses in England are like little boxes.

i see all of those posts.mr. Suzer u keep only those platys and mollies???keep angel,discus,gorami etc. ::

Pardon??