I have a 300 gal Rubbermaid stock tank that I put my fish in for the winter.
I have not had any fish in it since the spring but when i tested the water it has ammonia in it.
I tried to get rid of it with some ammonia buddies tablets but they are not doing the trick.
I used 24 of them.
Is there some trick or product that I can use or should I just drain it. I need to get the fish in from outside soon so I was trying to avoid draining it.
Thanks for any help.

Hi Jconnon and welcome to the board!

What else do you have in your tank? Any rocks, bricks or plants? Do you have a pump and filter and what type?

I lost my pond pump for it a while ago, right now I have an aquarium filter hanging on the side of it. It is a Aquaclear 300 (pumps about 300 gph). This is not the filter I will use once the fish go back in, at that time I will bring the one that I am using outside.
There are only fake plants or rocks in there and hardly any of those.
There are no fish in there now.

Have you replaced the filter cartiliges recently? You kept the filter running the whole summer with no fish in it? Did you clean it out after you took them out? If you didn't there could still be ammonia left from the fishies, and if the filter parts havent been replaced recently they might not be removing the ammonia properly.

If there are no plants or animals in there, there should be no ammonia. Have you tried zeolite or Ammo-Lock to remove the ammonia? Since you have nothing in the pond, you might as well change all the water if you have enough water available. I would also test your tap water to see if it has ammonia. Sometimes it does, in which case, water changes only make things worse. Test kits also don't always work well so I recommend using more than one test before deciding there is high ammonia in there. My page on the nitrogen cycle has more on reducing ammonia at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/chem.htm

Thanks for the help, I will test my tap water first but I might as well change the water and get it over with. There is a bunch of brown stuff on the bottom which is not stuck to the bottom so maybe that is the culprit. Maybe the water was getting bad when i took the fish out in the spring and the little filter just couldnt get ahead of it.

If you filled the tank up with fresh water there should be no ammonia in the water.
Did you use a declorinator like Ammo Loc from Pondcare? If so your ammonia will test postive for up to 40 days when using that product. If you do need to decholinate i would use Stress Coat. IF your bring your pond filter from outside to in then just make sure to hook right up and then dose the tank with bacteria for acouple of treatments. Becasue you will loose bacteria during the switch.
I would also take another test or get a new test kit if yours is more than a year old, and dont get the strips get the drops.

If you have that layer of sludge on the bottom, that could certainly increase the ammonia. I think you are right. You should just clean it out. A wet/dry shop vacuum is good at getting the last gunk on the bottom once empty.

JRN How do you get PondPro status? I've been posting a long time (mostly on the engineering side of things) and all I am is "Fishie Lover".

Finally one that I can answer! B)
Go up to "My Controls", then to "Edit Profile", then to "Custom Member Title".
I think you have to enter your birthday. :rolleyes:

Well Johnboy my family started our pond business in 1981. I have dealing with pond stuff my whole life. I was catching fish for customers when i was in 3rd grade or something. I started in our store when i was in 8th grade and havent stop since. I have done everything from cleaning, building, helping the public, working my way up to running our million dollar retail store. Now i work on the wholesale side suppling garden centers, pond stores and landscapers. I also travel around to different stores and do seminars and pond build days. So thats why i said the pond pro because there isnt anything i havent seen or done over the past years. I know almost all pond products on the market and either have used or tested them. Even though im in sales now i still build ponds because i love creating a yard from nothing to beauty. The largest pond i built was 139,000 gal at a township park and they compaine that the water is to clear that the th elarge plant pots, and stuff people throw in it. I look at alot of message boards and answer questions because thats what i like doing. Helping people with pond problems

JRN, the water is not new.
How do I add bacteria? is there something that I can buy?
My plan at this point is to empty it, take the crap on the bottom out, fill it and take my filter from outside in.
I just hope I can get it set fast enough so I can get the fish in from outside.

I really think you should clean it out and put fresh water in. That is just too long of time to have that water in there like that. I know it is a royal pain in the butt because I used to winter mine over in a 150 gallon stock tank indoors. I had to pack buckets of water and clean it out constantly. I hated every second of it but if you are going to be a fish keeper it is your responsibility to provide them with as healthy as environment as possible. I had to pack 5 gallon buckets from upstairs in our house to our shop 100 yards away in -55 weather. At the very least you should suck out the gunk on the bottom and do a 50-75% water change...at the very least. Your fishy's will LOVE you for it :rolleyes:

Oh!!! I wondered how mine said koi krazy and everyone else got fishy lover, LOL It must have been something I did, LOL

There! Now I am fishy lover :D

thanks all. Sheeze, I didn't even see there were posts answering my question, until now! Duh.

Good on you JRN; we need your expertise. Nice to have you here.

I dunno what I am, definitely not a pond pro, but I do love engineering, ponding.

Jconnon you should start every winter with fresh water and a clean tank. Even if you were filtering it during the summer the build up on ths sides and bottom wouldnt be pretty. When cleaning just you water and a scrub brush and clean out. Start with fresh water, decholorinate, and add 4lbs of salt. then hook up the filter system and add benifical bacteria to it, such as Microbe Lift PL, Pondcare Eco-Fix, or anyone you can get locally. Once you move the fish dont start feeding right away, wait about a week or so, so that the fish calm down. When moving the fish make sure that the water temp is semi close to the same, if not then you will have to acclumate them as if you were bring them home for the first time.

Yippie Skippie! Thanks all, I made the change to KnottyPonder.

Somewhat in line with being "The KnottyKnotter" which I am in my side business; sewing canvas covers.

OOps, I almost reported you. I accidently clicked the Report button but meant to click the Quote button. Sorry. I better get some more coffee. ;)

I just wanted to say that I like KnottyPonder!

Well JB, I am glad you gave an explanation to your new title, lol, cause at first I thought it was the "other" knotty and you like to pond in the nude or something, LOL,LOL,LOL :blink: :lol: :blink: JUST KIDDING

Well you know, KK. Knotty Knotter, Naked Chef it's all about the same.

But I have been known to be out early am checking my pond with only my house coat on, and the waist belt falls off.

Scares the heck out of the fish....... lol

LOL LOL Yes, can you just imagine what the fish have to say about us??? :blink:

It is cleaned out and being refilled as I write this. It was not to bad I just siphoned the water into my sumpump ;)

Oh right on! I am glad you did that! You will feel better knowing it will be good for your fish! Welcome aboard by the way :D

:o WOW Johnnyboy those poor fish LOL hahahha kidding. I can not talk remember I am the one runnign around in my work suit with a large pleco in my hand not knowing what to do with it.
Chris

Yes yes Christina, I remember you talking about running around in your work suit.

You know my response don't you? Without a picture, it didn't happen. Ha-ha.....

it is my fish story treu or folk lore LOL

we not need not see the robe pics LLLOOOLLL

we will take your word on it.

you are all to funny

Nudity pictures? I think I am on the wrong website. Isn't this the site that has the pond info on it? :wacko: :lol:

tlc, with all respect, if you're serious, and I suspect you are; you're reading way to deep into this tid bit of ponder/fish keeper humor.

This is a pond site, agree; however, ponds do have fish that see us, all we're doing is joking about what they may see, and think.

If you've never dawned a robe early in the morning to run outside and check on your fishies/pond while grabbing the newspaper; I'm sorry.

Johnnyboy, No, no, no. I am not serious. I am guilty of running outside in my skivvies myself!

It's hard to understand the meaning behind the words if you can't see the person's face so I am sorry if you took what I wrote wrong. It wasn't meant that way at all. I have been reading here long enough to know that you and the others are kidding! The posts made me smile and I think that was part of the intention....

I hope it's OK now :)

tlc, glad you chimed in.

I seen the wacko face emoticon, and what I thought was a screaming face (just looked it up, turned out to be lol), so my fault for thinking you were serious.

Sorry.

As always, we're good.