Can't get ammonia down

[Mercury64]

Hi all, have changed over form hang on filters to a wet and dry with sump and over flow about two months ago, nitrites are 0 but can't seem to get ammonia down under .25
I started to see allot of fish waste on the bottom of the tank sinse the switch ,I got rid of the one power head because the return line was running on a 1600 gph pump so I figured thats allot more then the 300 power head
I added one of the hang ons back on thinking maybe only the top of the tank is being filtered and not the bottom, I even dediced for better flow to add two 600 gph power heads on each side of the ower tank for circlation, no more fish waste pill up but its been about a week, ammonia still around .25, nitrites stay at 0 though
I don't over feed, in fact I have all tangs and 1 squirel fish ,I give them either dry algea or some flake once a day, never any left over
Just can't figure this out, starting to think I made a mistake switching from the hang ons to a wet and dry

 

[Nate C]

Which test kit are you using? You may be seeing a false reading.

I find that anything below .5 can be unreliable - if in doubt buy an alternate brand kit, or take a sample to your LFS for a test.

hth -

Nate

 

[Brad]

Your profile says that you have lots of LR. That should be providing basic bio-filtration regardless of the performance of your new wet/dry.

If the tests are correct...., then you simply have to wait. If the tests are correct, then you're going through a mini-cycle. The bacteria will eventually catch up.

Unless you're adding ammonia to the tank somehow, it will eventually be removed by bacteria.