Ammonia-Producing Malaysian Bogwood?

[ramfan]

I have been scrubbing and soaking my new bogwood pieces in just plain hot water. I tested the water the wood is soaking in in a bucket, expecting just to see a small dip in pH and 0(zero) hardness. pH was 6, and Ammonia level came out to be a solid 0.5 on a test strip- twice. Should I be using liquid water testing equipment instead for a more accurate result? Has anyone ever seen this phenomenon? Who's producing the ammonia?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Jchillin]

Trace ammonia in regular tap water is not uncommon. The wood could also contain trace ammonia.

Test strips are by far the most inaccurate test. Re-agent tests are so much more acurate (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals is a good one).

Have you been using the same tests for your tank?

 

[ramfan]

Have you been using the same tests for your tank?[/quote]

No- I'm actually tankless at the moment. Just preparing.

 

[ramfan]

and Thanks.

 

[mandi]

Test strips are by far the most inaccurate test. Re-agent tests are so much more acurate (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals is a good one).

That's the understatement of the year -- I only recently switched test methods and WOW.....I can only wonder how much worrying and how many unneccessary water changes I have done because of the results I got fro test strips. I did a comparison yesterday and used both test methods on the same tank at the same time and the results were hugely different (the re-agent test gave me a 0, yellow, and the strip showed what could have been read as either.25 or .5!) -- needless to say the strips are in the trash now.

 

[ramfan]

That's interesting, and v. good to know. Seems like the test strips, for you, were wrong in the way that they picked up something that wasn't there, vs. not telling you something that was there.
Another shopping list item for me.

Thanks!

 

[severum mama]

You can get the Freshwater Master Test kit for about $20 at Petsmart, that's the one I use. It doesn't come with a nitrate test though, you have to buy it separately and I think it is about $7. I would recommend buying it. I used to use the strips too but Jchillin and mandi are right, the liquid reagent kits are much better. When are you getting your tank and what will you keep (I'm guessing rams because of your username)?

 

[ramfan]

What brand is your test kit? The master test kits are so much more expensive at lfs. I'm planning a 29G loosely-themed Orinoco biotope with blue rams. I hope to breed- we'll see! pH around 6.4 hardness close to zero. I have 2 cool pieces of bogwood. I was thinking of cycling with a betta, since there are so many nightmare stories of fish that have died, I figured get a tough one. I will probably keep the temperature lower until I introduce my rams, so my betta has time to adjust from its previous water. I'm thinking of low light, hardy plants. Eco-complete, fluorite, cork background (it's in the mail!). Feel free to offer advice on any aspect of my setup.

 

[severum mama]

My test kit is the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals brand. If you don't want to pay the LFS price, I'm sure you can get it cheaper if you order online.

29 gallons is a great size for blue rams, but use caution with adding them to a new tank even if it is cycled. They are delicate fish and I think you would be better off to add something else first, wait a few weeks, and then add rams. Are you keeping a school of tetras or something with them? If so I would start off with them.

Your rams will appreciate the driftwood, and since you want low light, easy plants you could attach java ferns to the wood. My Bolivian rams love this. Just clip the roots and tie the javas onto the wood with thread, then cut the thread off in a few weeks. You can attach them to rocks this way also. I don't know much about plants so I don't know if this fits with your biotope, but I keep anubias nana and anubias barteri in my 20 gallon, and my Bolivian rams and tetras love to hide in the broad leaves. Anubias and java ferns look really nice and are extremely easy, they don't even need to be planted in substrate. If you're keeping easy low light plants you don't need to buy the Eco Complete and fluorite, although it definitely won't hurt! What kind of filtration will you be using?

 

[ramfan]

Thanks for comments. I'm not going to be sticking too close to biotope standards heehee, just anything that likes/tolerates well the ram's parameters. I wanted to add some white clouds but tetras in general are too delicate even for post cycling first fish(?). Is my betta (and perhaps a few females with him) going to be enough for cycling this tank? I like your plant suggestions.
I'm going to be using a Cannister filter with added peat. I may even lay a layer of peat below the main substrate for the plant's benefit as well as keeping hardness and pH down. I'm actually having an internal conflict over the driftwood. I keep on scrubbing it and dirt keeps on coming off. I don't know if I should stop. Someone else told me to keep scrubbing until no dirt comes off. I actually want the tannic acids, but I'm soaking them anyway to get an idea of what they are going to do to my water.

 

[An t-iasg]

Please do not cycle the tank with a betta. If you try to use one male and a group of females, they will most likely still fight. The bioload that they create is so small, and it would take a long time to cycle. Before then, the bettas would probably die due to fighting or ammonia poisoning. They do have labyrinth organs to get oxygen directly from the air, but this does not mean that they can tolerate high ammonia. They are one of the more sensitive fish out there.

A group of females can be good in a community tank. A male may or may not be; it depends on the personality of the male betta. If you do have a male betta in a community, cycled tank, he may do fine. If he doesn't you should have another tank ready to move him to. Once your rams start to mate, they may kill any other tankmate, so you should have a breeding tank also.

If you have no fish now, your best bet, and one that is fair to all the fish, is fishless cycling. Do a search on this forum or the Internet. There's lots of posts here about it.

 

[severum mama]

There are some species of tetras that are very hardy, like the gold pristellas I keep. I do agree about the fishless cycling though.

One question- you say that your pH is 6.0, right? I don't understand why you would want to use peat to lower your pH, 6.0 would be fine for rams and it's so much easier on you and the fish to just not mess with it.

 

[ramfan]

S. Mama you have a good point about the peat. I suppose I read somewhere that pH eventually starts to creep up over time so I figured I'd cut it to the chase. I have yet to find a good article on fishless cycling that isn't 100 pages long so I'm getting a little frustrated to do it, but if you and our Pittsburgh friend advise it I'll do it. When do I add the plants, though? No one seems to make a big deal about this either way...However, I just don't understand why there are so many stories and I've seen first hand how hardy betta's are. It's cruel what they do to them in the store, but even in a 1 gallon vase with water changes 1/month and no plants the betta at my dentist's office stays alive- and that's Ammonia city. Why wouldn't one stay alive in a new tank with a filtration system and 30 gallons of water and balmy, preferred temp? (This question is mainly directed at Antiasg.)

Thanks so much for following up!

 

[ramfan]

I'm moving my questions to a fresh topic since we're not talking about ammonia-producing bogwood anymore....
But I'm still looking for a good article of fishless cycling for a freshwater tank.