ammonia Peak help :x

[kariina]

I have a 20L gallon tank and I dont know what im doin wrong but every time I do the 20% water change the ammonia goes up to 1, I also put ammo lock and I do water changes every week.

4 years ago I set up a tank, and I didnt had any problems, I had 8 fishes, completely healthy, but 2 years ago I moved so I gave all my fishes.

A month ago I started to set up the tank again with only one fish, all the equipment is new, except the tank. I used to have a skilter and an aditional filer but now I have a skimmer and a filter for a 20 g tank.

 

[fijiwigi]

How did you cycle the tank is it cycled? how long has it been setup? and what do you have currently inside the tank what exactly do you have for equipment? How are you testing what are you testing for and how often? All of this info will help to diagnose the problem

 

[cmor1701d]

In additon to Fiji's questions, what is your water source?
Have you tested that for ammonia?
Do you have any rock in the tank and is it cured?
And....

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I have a 20L gallon tank and I dont know what im doin wrong but every time I do the 20% water change the ammonia goes up to 1, I also put ammo lock and I do water changes every week. ...

Along with cmor's line of questions... sure sounds like your water source is giving you an issue. Ammo Lock will render the ammonia harmless, but you'll still get an ammonia reading using test kits. I think it mentions this somewhere in the directions, or at least on the API website. Personally... that's why I don't like the stuff for normal use. If you still test positive for ammonia, how do you know if it's "seeing" the locked up ammonia, or just plain ammonia?!

 

[kariina]

OK..well its been about a month.. currently I have one damselfish (the one that is black and has a shiny blue stripe running from its nose to the back) and a small crab, and a five pound live rock.

They have been there from the beggining and dont seem to be bothered by it at all. They look healthy and are eating regularly. Because of the ammonia ive cut down on the feeding out of fear of overfeeding. When i do feed them they gobble everything up pretty fast. So appetite is not an issue. Overall thefish look good but every time i test the levels they are all over the place. By the way ..my ph is also lower than it should be.

 

[kariina]

Also, the water is tap water, however before doing the change i do add a clorine neutralizer before adding that water. I read you should add plenty..so I add a cap that is fore 10 gallons for every two gallons that i change. So im assuming that the tap water shouldnt be an issue.

If it is ..what water should i use?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

The quality of tap water can really vary place to place, and even within the same area be really inconsistent. One day it might be great, the next week it might be chocked full of nitrates and phosphates. Many people choose to invest in a RO/DI filter of their own to produce pure water. Others buy RO/DI water from their local fish store, and others buy it from the grocery story. And of course, there are others that use tap water just like and have no issues.

But it sounds like you have an ammonia issue. Did you start using the ammo lock because you found ammonia in the water? Or did you just use it because that's what someone said to do? Also... I wouldn't overdose on the chlorine neutralizer. Pretty sure the directions are conservative to start with, and it's just that many more chemicals you're putting in your tank that probably don't need to be there. Maybe some of the chemists out there in the forum that know how those neutralizers work can tell us if overdosing on that could give you a false reading for ammonia.

And now that I've reread this thread... I'll ask the question again others have asked - did you cycle the tank? Did you see an ammonia spike, followed by a nitrite spike, and eventually those two things drop to zero and be replaced by a slowly increasing level of nitrates? That's what you should see during a cycle. If you didn't cycle your tank, then well... you are now. And ammonia is the first think you'll see.

 

[kariina]

I guess that its cycling then...but the ammonia is at 1.0 right now..


just let it be?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Cycling is the process of establishing the bacteria in your tank that you need to convert ammonia (bad) into nitrites (bad), and then the nitrites (bad) into nitrates (OK for fish only... not so good for corals). You need to cycle the tank and you can't avoid it.

Here are a couple articles to get you started...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/6/1/Ammonia-conversion-to-nitrate/Page1.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/3/1/Cycle-your-salt-tank/Page1.html

Putting ammo lock in isn't going to get your tank cycled. You NEED an ammonia source to cycle a tank. Read over the article on "fishless" cycling and you might want to rethink the restart of your tank, take the fish back, and start over again. You probably also are going to want more live rock - closer to 20-30 lbs - and this would be a great time to add it.

 

[cmor1701d]

An ammonia reading of 1.0 is enough to burn the gills of the fish. You really should get all livestock out of the tank (back to the lfs?) and do a fishless cycle.

During the cycle your pH readings can be all over the place. You should slow down now and take the time to get everything rright before moving forward. That is the way to a succesful tank. Read the articles that have been posted.

Please post a list of all the equipment you have (make and model) or post a pic of it if you don't know.
Check localy for a source of RODI (reverse osmosis/de-ionized) water and start using that for your water changes (pwc's).

I note that you used to have 8 fish in that tank? What were they and how long did you have them? That is a lot of fish for a 20 gallon tank. I have 9 in a 125 gallon tank.

Did you ever treat the tank with copper based medicing (for Ich)?

 

[kariina]

back then I started buying what my "friend" the store owner told me to buy to start the aquarium, and every fish I liked I asked if I could have it, and there went my atm with my blond moments, so I ended up with, a mandarin, a yellow tang, a cowfish, a chocolate and yellow clown (forgot the name), 2 fire fish , a damselfish, jawfish, and a blue star I counted that as a fish, an anemone, I had them for almost 2 years without any problem, until I had to move. I gave them frozen food, also the mandarin ate that, I bought a piece of live rock, like 6 pounds of branch from tonga, but when I got home, I started to look at it and I saw a worm, so I put the piece inside clorox, and next day I saw dousands of animals floating , yes another beyond blond moment!!, anyways I ended up throwing it away, Now I started to cicle the tank and with a lil mor knowledge, a little!!. and everything seemed to be goin right until I did the first water change.

 

[kariina]

thank you for your help. Il consider the RO, but isnt that for larger aquariums? since I have a tiny one, I might even start buying bottle water I used to do that to my first tank, I bought every month like 8 gallons of water, and every 2 weeks I changed 4 gallons, first in a 10gl tank I poured the water and then the vitamins and calcium and bacteria, etc and left it over night with a submersible pump

 

[Retaks]

Your putting way too much Neutralizer. I use the recomended ammount in my tank and my ammonia goes up to .5 for about an hour then goes back to 0. Alot of neutralizers give a false reading of ammonia when first put in the water when they are doing their jobs of neutralizing the chlorine in the water. I woudlnt worry about it unless your ammonia stays up for a long time or if you check the ammonia in the tap water and it is at above 0.

 

[melosu58]

I might even start buying bottle water I used to do that to my first tank

This would be an excellent idea. RO, RO/DI or even distilled would be better than tap. JMO

 

[cmor1701d]

Bottled water is a good idea. Just be sure that you are getting distilled or RODI not just regular bottled water. The regular stuff may have tons of minerals that are fine for humans but bad for a marine tank.

I don't understand your mixing procdure though. Vitamins, bacteria, and minerals? All you need to do is mix the water with a quality salt mix to a SG of 1.024 -1.025 (using a reactometer with ATC (automatic temperature compensation). Bring the water to the same temp as the tank, add the salt mix and a ph to mix, leave it at least overnight (24 hours is preferable) then do the pwc.

 

[kariina]

thats what I used to do, I used to put 4gl of botlle water and mix the salt, some bacteria solution a lil calcium to promote ph, some probiotic to prevent infections and vitamin c. I dunno anything my friend said I needed, I bought! back then, but now I read and try to learn a bit more about marine life and trying not to make same mistakes, although now im thinking positive, maybe I need to throw away the tank and buy a new one, lol kiddin (another blonde moment)

 

[cmor1701d]

Now you know to just mix the salt and let it sit overnight before doing the PWC. Just post here before doing anything major and you'll no longer have any 'blonde moments'. Well aquarium wise anyway