ammonia question

[wildroseofky]

I have not been able to get my ammonia levels down to zero even in a tank that I have had for 6 months. I have been cycling a new tank for 15 days but the ammonia drops to .25-.50 and no lower. When I was having problems with my ten gallon, I was told to check the ammonia levels coming out of my faucet. It was .25 so I just assumed that it would never get below that number. My fish are doing well and I do twice weekly pwc. On my 29 gallon the ammonia level has dropped to .50 for the last two days. I dose it back up to 2 and the next day it was at .50. I tested nitrites, which have been off the charts, and they are finally dropping. Nitrates jumped way up to 160. I tested the faucet water again today and some faucet water that I have had sitting in a bucket that has had chlorine water treatment added to it that I have on hand to do water changes for my ten gallon. The straight from the faucet water was testing 0 ammonia but the water that had been sitting for three days tested .50. There are no fish or plants in the water so why would it test that high with ammonia?
That has me wondering if the API test for ammonia is picking up something else.

I am going to test my 29 gallon tomorrow and if the ammonia has dropped to .50 or lower I am going to do a massive water change, wait a day, test again, get the nitrites and nitrates down to safe limits and switch my ghost shrimp and fish over to the 29. I want to start buying more stock and use my 10 gallon for a quarantine tank. Just needing some reassurance that this will work.

 

[Laser]

Don't quote me on this, but if there is chloramine in your tap water I believe that the conversion of chloramine into a harmless substance to your fish can be picked up as ammonia by the API test kit.

 

[jlk]

Am I understanding this right- testing water straight from the tap reads zero ammonia, correct? But if you treat it with conditioner, it reads .50? What type of conditioner are you using (prime by chance)? Are you also using the API test?

 

[wildroseofky]

I am using the API Master test kit. I treat the water with Jungle Start Right water conditioner bought at Walmart. The first time I checked my faucet water was a few months ago when I was working with my 10 gallon tank. I couldn't get the ammonia down past .25 even with daily water changes of 50% or more. Nitrites would show zero and Nitrates would be 10-20 but ammonia would never be below .25. I would check it daily and when it went up to .50 I would do a pwc.

I started a 29 gallon tank and seeded it with gravel and ornaments from my 10 gallon. The first couple of weeks I kept having filter problems. The sand kept clogging up the filter and the filter came apart and spilled charcoal into the HOB filter and stopped it. It took about 6 days for nitrite to show up. Then my PH dropped to 6 so I added some crushed sea shells to the HOB and got it back up to 7.4. I was dosing ammonia up to 4 and the next day it would be down to 2. After a few days of that Nitrates showed up. I kept dosing the ammonia up to 4 for about three days but my Nitrates were not going up much so I upped the heater to 85 degrees. My Nitrites went sky high and I couldn't get a good reading so I did a 50% water change. My Nitrates started doubling each day. The last few days the ammonia dropped to .50 after being dosed up to 2-4. My Nitrite has fallen to 80 after being off the chart the last couple of days and my Nitrates are reading at the highest level on the API chart. However, my ammonia has never zeroed out. I am thinking that it won't just like my 10 gallon tank. That maybe something else in the water is giving a false ammonia reading. Our water service here is really bad. The county dumps tons of lime and other chemicals in it and you can't drink it. I cannot afford to buy enough bottled water to fill the tank and do water changes so I have to use the faucet water.

I believe that my tank may be cycled because the ammonia is falling to .50 and the faucet water is reading .50 after being treated and left to sit for 3 days. I think I am getting somewhat of a false reading with the ammonia. So If I bring the nitrites down to zero and my Nitrates to 20-40 with water change then my fish and shrimp should do okay. Then I wouldn't have to keep dosing the tank with ammonia to keep the bacteria alive and could use my 10 gallon for a quarantine tank. I just wanted some other opinions and to try to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong.

 

[Laser]

I think you are right and you're getting a false reading. From what I understand you can't get an accurate reading with the API kit if you have chloramine in your water.

 

[spiketooth]

It could take up to a month maybe longer to cycle a tank. When i set up my 55 gal it took three weeks to cycle and that was with a filter from another tank that has been running for a year. I also read up that plants can help with balancing the tank and provide oxygen for the fish

 

[Corithien]

Yes plants are good I cant tell what this chaps problem is though as he has not said if its No2 or No3 thats the problem one is fish wast pre bacterial brake down and one is after and is essentially plant food

 

[phin]

if you have chloramine in your tap that is the source of the ammonia. Chloramines break down into chlorine + ammonia.

it sounds like you possibly have an old test kit. They don't last forever and once they go bad the readings are unreliable.

What is the pH of your tank? if it is less than 7.0 the ammonia in your tank is in the form of ammonium, which is non-toxic.

 

[jlk]

First, start by switching your water conditioner to Prime or Amquel Plus. This jungle stuff does not help with chloramines (ammonia specifically) and contains stuff you really dont need in your tank. You may also want to consider switching to Seachems multitest for ammonia. It has the standard test for NH3/NH4 combined as well as a test for NH3 only- this will tell you if you have any free, toxic ammonia in your tank. I am guessing your likely cycled here but perhaps the jungle product is skewing the results or your test is not accurate/expired.

 

[phin]

Untreated, the chloramine in your tank will break down to chlorine and ammonia over a few days to a few weeks, depending on your municpal water supply. That is the most likely source of ammonia appearing in your tank if your water conditioner doesn't break it down.

Get some Prime or Amquel+

 

[wildroseofky]

I checked the expatriation date on my API kit and it says good until Dec. of 2017 so I don't think it is bad. Todays readings are PH low test 7.6, PH high test 8.0, Ammonia .50 after being dosed to 4 yesterday, Nitrite is 5, Nitrate is 160.
I did an internet search on API ammonia test results and found a lot of people can't get readings below .25. Some of them had tanks that had been set up for a year. I am beginning to think that it is a problem with the test reading something else besides ammonia. I turned my heater down to 77 and didn't add more ammonia. I will take another reading tomorrow and if it is still around .50 I am going to do a massive water change to get the nitrites and nitrate down then add my 4 shrimp and 2 mollies. I will just keep a daily check on my water and adjust as necessary. I am going to order some Seagram's Prime. The local pet store doesn't have it. They only have Safe Start and it is sky high. I can get that for half the price at Walmart. I started out using that and cheeped out . Lesson learned.

 

[spiketooth]

Imp i would wait until you get your levels under control. You could put alot of stress on the fish or even kill them. Try to find the source of your problem, doing water changes might not do the trick.

 

[wildroseofky]

My ammonia finally zeroed out yesterday. Nitrites are falling and Nitrates are off the chart. I just wasn't being patient enough LOL I am going to keep dosing ammonia back to 2 and when I get three days of of it going to zero, then I will transfer fish. I am looking at getting another filter because my Whisper HOB got way noisy and nothing will quiet it down. The place I ordered has a 60 day return policy so I am going to order another filter through them and set it up with my current filter media inside and then return the Whisper. Or at least that is the plan. Lets hope the store agrees.