Ammonia WON’T GO AWAY!

[Anna94]

I’m at a loss. I just don’t know what to do. The ammonia in my tank WILL NOT GO AWAY! I do weekly 50% water changes and I dose the tank with Prime BEFORE the new water goes into my tank. I have a sponge filter in my tank being powered by a power head and a Fluval C4 with the sponge/poly pad that comes with it in the filter, Purigen, and Matrix in it.

The tank’s been setup for 2 years. I have 4 cardinal tetras, lemon tetras, 4 otos (I had 5, but I can’t find the 5th one so I think he died and the other fish ate him), and a horseface loach. I’ve had the fish for about a year. I plan on adding 3 more cardinals and either 5 green fire tetras or 5 harlequin rasboras. I just tested my water-using the Seachem ammonia and nitrites/nitrates test kits-and free ammonia is between .01 and .02, total ammonia is between .05 and 0.1, nitrites are 0 and nitrates are between 2 and 7.5.

 

[Potluck]

I’m at a loss. I just don’t know what to do. The ammonia in my tank WILL NOT GO AWAY! I do weekly 50% water changes and I dose the tank with Prime BEFORE the new water goes into my tank. I have a sponge filter in my tank being powered by a power head and a Fluval C4 with the sponge/poly pad that comes with it in the filter, Purigen, and Matrix in it.

The tank’s been setup for 2 years. I have 4 cardinal tetras, lemon tetras, 4 otos (I had 5, but I can’t find the 5th one so I think he died and the other fish ate him), and a horseface loach. I’ve had the fish for about a year. I plan on adding 3 more cardinals and either 5 green fire tetras or 5 harlequin rasboras. I just tested my water-using the Seachem ammonia and nitrites/nitrates test kits-and free ammonia is between .01 and .02, total ammonia is between .05 and 0.1, nitrites are 0 and nitrates are between 2 and 7.5.

How are you doing the water changes? Bucket or python that hooks to the sink?

Are you cleaning the outside of the glass with glass cleaner?

You say you only have a Sponge filter, it is very possible that you have to many fish in that tank for just that and need to upgrade the filtration.

How many times do you feed a day and how much ?

What Size tank and what fish are in it?

How do you clean the sponge on the Sponge filter?

 

[ZxC]

I’m at a loss. I just don’t know what to do. The ammonia in my tank WILL NOT GO AWAY! I do weekly 50% water changes and I dose the tank with Prime BEFORE the new water goes into my tank. I have a sponge filter in my tank being powered by a power head and a Fluval C4 with the sponge/poly pad that comes with it in the filter, Purigen, and Matrix in it.

The tank’s been setup for 2 years. I have 4 cardinal tetras, lemon tetras, 4 otos (I had 5, but I can’t find the 5th one so I think he died and the other fish ate him), and a horseface loach. I’ve had the fish for about a year. I plan on adding 3 more cardinals and either 5 green fire tetras or 5 harlequin rasboras. I just tested my water-using the Seachem ammonia and nitrites/nitrates test kits-and free ammonia is between .01 and .02, total ammonia is between .05 and 0.1, nitrites are 0 and nitrates are between 2 and 7.5.

have you tested your tap water for ammonia?

 

[Anna94]

How are you doing the water changes? Bucket or python that hooks to the sink?

Are you cleaning the outside of the glass with glass cleaner?

You say you only have a Sponge filter, it is very possible that you have to many fish in that tank for just that and need to upgrade the filtration.

How many times do you feed a day and how much ?

What Size tank and what fish are in it?

How do you clean the sponge on the Sponge filter?

I said I have a sponge filter AND a Fluval C4. I use a python to do my water changes; I only clean the outside of the glass with water and I feed once every other day. The fish are 4 cardinal tetras, 6 lemon tetras, a horseface loach, and 4 otos. I plan on adding 3 more cardinals, 1 more oto, and either 5 harlequin rasboras or 5 green fire tetras, but not until I get this ammonia issue sorted out. The tank is a 29g tall. The sponge filter doesn’t even look dirty. It’s not gross and brown like some sponge filters I’ve seen so I don’t clean it.

 

[Anna94]

have you tested your tap water for ammonia?

Yes, and on the Seachem test it showed a little ammonia, but I’m gonna have my lfs test it to make sure.

 

[jeffruth]

What size tank do you have? Sounds like you may not have enough filtration for the amount of fish. I have a 90gallon tank with a 20gallon sump underneath. I started out great but over time the ammonia crept up. I ended up doubling the amount of ceramic media in my sump to have enough BB to handle the tank load.

It is possible you need more media to help deal with the bio load.

Ex: If you tank produces 5ppm/wk and you do a 50% WC, it leaves 2.5ppm in the tank. If your filtration removes less then that over a week, say 2.0ppm then over time your ammonia will build and build. (hope this makes sense)

I would start by increasing the % of WC you are doing and see if that helps. Do a 75% WC instead of a 50% WC for example. Or, 50% WC every 5 days instead of 7 days. Monitor and see if it helps.

 

[ZxC]

My guess is the sponges are not offering enough surface are to establish a large enough BB population to deal with your stocking.

 

[Anna94]

It seems like everyone didn’t read my post fully. I have a sponge filter AND a Fluval C4 HOB filter. The tank is a 29g tall and the sponge filter is rated for up to 40g and the Fluval C4 is rated for up to 70g.

 

[coralbandit]

IMO a single sponge filter will handle way more then you have stocked.
The amount of ammonia your test are registering is not real high [.05 &.1]
Unless you think the fish death is related I really would not worry.

 

[Angellove78]

Add the prime to the NEW water, at water change time. I don't understand why your adding it before the water change. That is to remove the toxic in the tank. If you already add it and then take it back out by changing the water. It will not be effective for your water. That would be like 1/2 dosing the tank.

 

[Anna94]

Add the prime to the NEW water, at water change time. I don't understand why your adding it before the water change. That is to remove the toxic in the tank. If you already add it and then take it back out by changing the water. It will not be effective for your water. That would be like 1/2 dosing the tank.

I use a python to refill my tank so dosing the new water before adding it to the tank is not an option.

 

[Anna94]

IMO a single sponge filter will handle way more then you have stocked.
The amount of ammonia your test are registering is not real high [.05 &.1]
Unless you think the fish death is related I really would not worry.

Not sure why people aren’t reading my post fully, but I specifically said I have a sponge filter AND a HOB filter.

 

[Fresh2o]

Not sure why people aren’t reading my post fully, but I specifically said I have a sponge filter AND a HOB filter.

I think people are reading. CB said that a sponge alone should handle the bioload. Not sure why you are still seeing ammonia. Do you do any maintenance on the filter media in the HOB filter?
It will be interesting what readings the LFS gets on the ammonia in the tap water. It is really not a lot. I used to have 1.00 ppm ammonia straight from the tap. Filters were mature so it was zero ammonia in the tank unless I did a big (>60%) water change.

 

[Potluck]

I use a python to refill my tank so dosing the new water before adding it to the tank is not an option.

With a python you also dose for the whole size of the tank, so if you do 10 gallons your still going to dose for 29
If you have 0.5-1 ppm from tap I would reduce the pwc to say 35% instead of 50% one week to test and see if it changes