Equipment Review and Discussion :: media help? please :-)

[blueace23]

I have a fluval 305 and i was considering getting the ammonia reducer media that fluval sells. I was also looking into the Peat to lower the hardness and ph of my water, and possibly the Zeo-Carb to also help with the ammonia. The reason for all of this is that my filter, even after doing partial water changes for the last 3 weeks that i've had the filter, my ammonia, and ph are extremely high. I know i have to wait it out and let the media get some beneficial bacteria on it, and i haven't disturbed that, but it's driving me nuts. if anybody has any ideas if these are beneficial sources of media, maybe it would be good to buy for a turtle tank? Seeing as Ammonia usually increases because they are such messy eaters...

PH- 7.6
Ammonia- 4.0
nitrite- .25
nitrate- 0

I know turtles are able to tolerate these conditions more than fish are, but they have not fluctuated in the past 3 weeks. I have been doing partial water changes daily at first and the last week only every 2-3 days. I scoop out all uneaten food, and feces as i see it on top of the sand. My filter is enough gph according to the size tank i have. I just hope that my filter gets established soon because i don't want him to start getting sick. He looks healthy, not swimming weird, eating like he usually does, no damage to his shell, clear eyes, very healthy. I just don't want him to get sick if he's in this water with high levels of ph and ammonia for an extended amount of time, and it's already been 3 weeks... My water was clear and then it got oily on the top, but now with agitation from the outpump, it's fine. It is looking a little bit cloudy but not like it initially did when i got whitish cloudy bacterial bloom. Hoping it will sort itself out, but probably going to get some media to lower the ammonia and ph... Oh and every time i've done partial water changes, I've used water conditioner. I did open the canister filter to check it and make sure it wasn't full of stuff, and it wasn't, and I didn't disturb the beneficial bacteria that has collected inside... help! any suggestions? thanks!

[seanwb]

Be patient and stick with what you have. Filters can take six weeks to mature.

From recollection it took over 3 weeks on my Missississippi map's tank. I remember ammonia was high for weeks, then dropped one day, then zero the next.

[blueace23]

Well, i didn't change a lot of my filter media, but i was very worried about the level of ammonia, and it not fluctuating in the least bit even after doing multiple partial water changes, therefore i bought some other media..... I got Ammo-carb and Clearmax. It seems to be working pretty well... I didn't disturb the water in the tank or any of the other filter media with beneficial bacteria on it. I only took out 2 trays of carbon and I took the bio max rings from a compartment and put them with the other ones which freed up 3 places, so i put in ammo-carb in 2 different places, and one with the clearmax. It seems to be working... after changing that media, these are the readings that i got...
Ph- 7.6
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 5.0
Nitrate- 5.0

Now i know Ammonia gets transformed into Ammonia then into nitrites then into nirtates. I will wait it out, but since the clearmax is supposed to help with bringing down the levels of nitrites and nitrates... let us hope for the best...

If anybody can give me any more pointers or recommend any kind of media that they use to help bring down nitrite and nitrate levels incase mine don't seem to change like they should and disappear all together, or at least mostly, when my filter finally gets completely established.

Thanks!