Ammonia just won't go down!

[CorieKB]

I have a 10 gallon tank that has been trying to cycle for 6 weeks now. Ammonia is consistently reading at 1.0 (house tap is consistently at .25). I change water at 50% every couple of days, and starting today, I will start changing out the water daily and see if that helps at all. My frustration is that even after a 50%-75% water change, ammonia still reads as 1.0! I do have fish in the tank, and they actually seem pretty darn happy.
I have a HOB filter, as well as a sponge filter. Lots of live plants, and I keep the tank clean from algae, but only vacuum minimally to get the visible garbage off the floor. Can anyone guide me as to why my ammonia absolutely will not budge? Many thanks!

 

[Aiken Drum]

Are you saying that the ammonia in the tank reads 1ppm immediately before and after a water change? Or that a water change brings it down, but then goes back up to 1ppm after a period of time?

 

[CorieKB]

It constantly remains at 1.0 In fact I've never had a reading less than 1.0 on this tank. Sometimes I take a reading within a couple hours after the water change, sometimes I wait until the next day. Always 1.0. My other tanks will show reductions in ammonia with a water change, just not this tank.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Have you tried doing an ammonia test, doing your water change, and immediately doing another test and comparing them side by side?

If they are the same, then there is something in the tank that is immediately putting ammonia into the tank. Maybe the substrate?

Also are you seeing any nitrite and nitrate in your testing?

If you are doing 50% water changes and the water going in is 0.25ppm ammonia then the water after water change should still be above 0.5ppm and it would be difficult to tell that as a different reading from 1ppm unless you compare them side by side.

You arent cycled. A cycled tank should take ammonia down to zero pretty quickly. You havent mentioned how many fish you have in your 10g but you have mentioned fish (plural) and that could be a heavy bioload for a small uncycled tank and still seeing ammonia after 6 weeks would be consistent with a heavily stocked tank.

You mention other tanks. Can you seed the filter of your uncycled tank with some media from one of your cycled tanks? This would speed up the cycling process no end.

1ppm ammonia isnt actually a big deal. While its a sign you arent cycled, ammonia toxicity is dependant on pH and temperature. The higher these are, the more toxic your ammonia is. At typical tropical aquarium temperature, you would need a pH 7.8+ to be of concern, and even higher than that to be of immediate danger to your fish.

What pH are you at?

 

[CorieKB]

I will definitely try the dual water tests at today's water change. You're right-maybe the new reading is lower, just difficult to say that without side by side readings.
I have 4 fish and 4 tiny fry. I did not know that my molly was pregnant when I bought her, so oops.
My substrate is black sand with decorative glass rocks. I have this in many of my tanks with no issues with ammonia.
PH is usually at 7.6, but I've noticed with my frequent water changes, it tends to go down sometimes.
At this point, still no nitrite or nitrate levels.
My local fish store gave me a handful of their gravel to jump start my tank in the beginning.
Do you recommend still adding more filter media from my other tanks?
Thanks.

 

[Aiken Drum]

If you arent seeing any nitrite or nitrate your cycle may not have started, but it could also be down to the water changes keeping them at levels your test cant register.

Im not convinced that gravel from an established tank is all the beneficial, most of the beneficial bacteria will be in the filter media. Yes, i would swap a small amount of biomedia from an established filter to your uncycled one, or swap a sponge, or failing that rinse an established sponge out into your new filter. Dont remove more than 25% media from a filter or you risk crashing your cycle on that tank. And remember to replace any media you remove with new media so your cycle can catch up. Failing swapping established biomedia then bottled bacteria like Dr Tims One and Only or Tetra Safestart is an option, but these products are hit and miss.

If you have big tanks/big filters its entirely possible to instantly cycle a smaller tank if the small amount from the big filter will fill the smaller one. I do that when setting up quarantine tanks.

4 fish in an uncycled tank is quite a lot. Typically you want to start with 1 small fish/10g and when you are cycled for that, add a small amount of new bioload. I would expect to see high ammonia for a few weeks with such a relatively high bioload.

 

[CorieKB]

Okay, I just did a water change and tested ammonia before and after. I'm happy to say there was a decrease! It went from 1 to .50
I also added filter material from another tank, so hopefully that will kick start my cycle. I'm going to continue daily water changes, and hope the tank cycles sooner, rather than later. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[ColdKoi]

Yea like mentioned it can be hard sometimes to see a measurable difference in the water parameters with such a small ‘change’, unfortunately some people just have to deal with ammonia and nitrates in their water source, it just takes more water changes to lower the tanks parameters.

You’re on the right track. With some established filter media moved to that tank it should be nearly instant cycling. If you aren’t feeding excessively you should see the ammonia drop to 0 in 24-48hr (depending how much media you moved)

In the case of seeding the filter with cycled media, you likely won’t see any measurable nitrite in the process, just nitrates. At least that’s how it worked for me