need help ammonia

[popydude2]

I just started a 55 gal. tank it has been up for 6 weeks all test are normal but the ammonia is still way high.I started putting cycle in the tank this week.I have had a 10 gal. tank for 2 yrs. no problems.I had a yellow tang and a clown in it the store I deal with was helping me get started.They have tested my water every week for the last 5 weeks after week 5 they told me to go ahead and move my fish over to the new tank that it was ready.Wrong answer my fish died in about 2 days.Took another sample to another store was told the ammonia was way to high I test every day and still high.Can anyone help!

THANKS

 

[Lotus]

Welcome to the site.

Is this a saltwater tank?

If so, I'll move this thread to the right section for you.

 

[popydude2]

Yes it is slatwater and thank you!

 

[1979camaro]

tell us more about your tank...what kind of equipment are you running, do you have live rock, etc

 

[popydude2]

I have look alike rock i'am running 2 whisper power 60 filters 1 maxi-jet 900 powerhead and heater.The sand has some kind of pink stuff growing on it.

 

[1979camaro]

what is look alike rock?

it sounds to me like your tank is set up as a freshwater system to which you have added salt. that really is not going to be the ideal method for setting up saltwater. Instead, you are going to want probably 50+ pounds of live rock to act as your bio filtration and then a lot of water movement (for which your filters would work but you should remove the media) to help keep dead spots from forming on that rock. finally, you will want a protein skimmer to help remove disolved organics.

describe the pink stuff on your sand...is it fuzzy?

 

[popydude2]

No the pink stuff is not fuzzy.You are somewhat right this tank was freshwater I changed it over to saltwater.I cleaned it out and added the sand and mixed the saltwater myself.The rock I put in is calcuim rock I think it is not live rock.This is going to be a fish only tank not a reef tank.

 

[wayne]

Well I would get at least a small amount of live to act as a seed culture of filter bacteria. This isn't really the sort of setup that people like to use anymore as frankly they're not usually very successful. Live rock revolutionised fish only as well as reef tanks, and made the previously difficult pretty easy frankly.
A decent protein skimmer would be a wise investment.

 

[popydude2]

I just want to thank all who are trying to help me out.Just bought a protein skimmer and some live rock.Going to take some advice here and try to get my tank going in the right direction.