Amonia

[brianf40us]

how is that all my nitrites are gone and my nitrates are around 40 but i still have a trace of amonia. My tank has been cycling for about 4 weeks now. Is this possible and should i do a water change to get rid of some of the amonia or should i just let it go until it is gone naturally?

 

[roka64]

Have you tested your source water for ammonia?
How old are your test kits?
What kind of test kits are you using?
Can you get your LFS to test your water for you to confirm your tests?

 

[brianf40us]

My tests are brand new i just bought them they are the Seachem basic marine test kit. I tested for both types of amonia and it is showing they are both present.

According to the test strips i have no nitrites and 40 ppm of nitrates. I did not use the seachem test to test for nitrites i guess i should have that would have been the smart thing to do hahahahaha.

 

[brianf40us]

Is it possible that i have amonia because of my live rock that i just added in the last 2 weeks. i added about 24 pound of it in the last 2 weeks.

 

[CaptainAhab]

Yup, even if it was fully cured there is always a chance that the change in environment or the time it may have been out of water cause something to die off giving you a low level ammonia reading. Which may also explain why in one post you had a 20 reading of nitrates and now it's 40.

 

[elwaine]

Is it possible that i have amonia because of my live rock that i just added in the last 2 weeks. i added about 24 pound of it in the last 2 weeks.

The ammonia is coming from the LR. The fact that you have zero nitrites is a good indication that you have established a colony of nitrification bacteria; but LR can produce a lot of ammonia. LR can take many weeks to cure - sometimes up to two months - even if you purchased so called "cured" live rock.

You do water changes to reduce the nitrate levels, and 40 ppm of nitrates is OK. To reduce the ammonia, let the cycle continue without water changes. After both ammonia and Nitrites are zero, and remain so for a few days, you can do a PWC to lower the nitrates, and then start adding live stock.

As you probably know, ammonia is very toxic in the high pH (8 - 9) range we keep our marine environments in. It's not that salt water fish are more sensitive to ammonia, but rather that the % of free ammonia relative to the amount of total available nitrogen (TAN) increases dramatically as the pH climbs above 7.

Sounds to me like you are off to a great start! Have fun...

 

[brianf40us]

Well i found out where my amonia was comming from in my tank. The barrel that i bought to do my water in was leaking amonia into my water. Has anyone had this happen to them before?

 

[austinsdad]

Barrel leaking ammonia? Got me on that one.

 

[brianf40us]

I know that is what i thought to but the LFS (which i know very well and trust) said that this is not the first time they had this. They said the material used to make some plastics or the stuff the plastic is coated with has amonia in it and after a while leaks out. I tested my tank water with them and it had amonia. (cycling yet)

I then tested the water in the barel down in my basement and it had amonia in it as well. I then tested the water directly out of my RO machine and it had no Amonia. So the amonia had to be comming from somewhere between my RO machine and the Tank. This brought me to the barrel as the culprit.

The LFS told me that they use a barrel from a local hardware to mix their salt water. They told one of their customers to go and get a barrel to mix their salt but that person got a different brand barrel and they had amonia in their water.


I DUNNO I CONFUZED HAHa

 

[austinsdad]

I got a new 44g rubbermaid trash can on wheels to make water. Actually my wife made me get a 3rd trashcan. Well... one is for the ro/di water. Either the top off FW or the salt mix. The second can is for the 40g of waste water when I do the PWC. The third was for the ro/di waste water when she saw how much was going down the drain. Washing machine is where it goes now.

Ditching the barrel, right??

 

[brianf40us]

Yeah i am ditching the Trash can. I know it sounds stupid but if i make water in my buckets i am fine with amonia.