Ammonia won’t go away
- Thread starter Jayy760
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Water changes are the only way to remove ammonia until your cycle establishes.
What if my tap water has ammonia, I added aqua safe and prime and nothing my tap water still reads 1.0 ppm
None of these things removes ammonia. Do you have any fish in the tank?
A strong cycle will take down ammonia quite quickly. As you are still seeing ammonia then you havent cycled the tank yet. That typically takes 3 to 8 weeks. Prime claims to detoxify ammonia for a day a so while your cycle removes it before it gets toxic again.
Aqua safe is a water conditioner. This removes chlorine.
Do you know anything about the nitrogen cycle or how to cycle a tank?
A strong cycle will take down ammonia quite quickly. As you are still seeing ammonia then you havent cycled the tank yet. That typically takes 3 to 8 weeks. Prime claims to detoxify ammonia for a day a so while your cycle removes it before it gets toxic again.
Aqua safe is a water conditioner. This removes chlorine.
Do you know anything about the nitrogen cycle or how to cycle a tank?
Yes I have 2 goldfish in a 30 gallon tank , cycling the tank is that when you remove like 20% of the water ?
While it is possible your tap water contains ammonia, what you probably have is tap water treated with chloramine rather than chlorine.
Chloramine breaks down to ammonia and chlorine. Your water conditioner will remove the chlorine and Prime also claims to detoxify ammonia for a while. You need to cycle your tank which will remove the ammonia from both your fishes waste and any ammonia that you introduce through water changes.
An alternative is to use spring water or filtered water called RO water in your tank. Some people on the forum use rainwater too.
Chloramine breaks down to ammonia and chlorine. Your water conditioner will remove the chlorine and Prime also claims to detoxify ammonia for a while. You need to cycle your tank which will remove the ammonia from both your fishes waste and any ammonia that you introduce through water changes.
An alternative is to use spring water or filtered water called RO water in your tank. Some people on the forum use rainwater too.
No. Water changes and cycling are 2 different things.
The cycle is the process where bacteria living in your filter converts ammonia into less toxic nitrite, and then different bacteria convert the nitrite into much less toxic nitrate. The water changes are to remove the nitrate which the cycle cant deal with.
The cycle process typically takes 3 to 8 weeks to establish.
While your tank is cycling with fish in the tank you typically control waste (ie ammonia and nitrite) through water changes. But because your tap water contains ammonia you are only adding ammonia with every water change, not removing it. The best option would be to return the fish and cycle the tank without fish. When you are cycled you can add fish to a safe tank. Is this an option for you?
I won’t be able to return my fish because I’ve had them for like 6 months , because before I had them in a 20g tank and outta no where I had a ammonia spike which ended up killing 2 of my corydoras and I think that happened because I deep cleaned the gravel with gravel vacuum ? Idk really .
But RO water is a option for me , if use RO water while my fish in the tank will it fix the ammonia problem? I’m currently watching videos on cycling a tank to understand better .
So is the ammonia from your tap water or not? You inferred it is.
Yes ammonia is in my tap water but I have the option to get RO water from my local water place .
I just wanted to know if the ammonia in my tap water is fixable so I don’t have to take a lot of trips to get 30g of RO water
If it appeared in your tap water suddenly then it might be a temporary thing. Maybe your water company is cleaning out pipes? Or maybe they changed from a chlorine treatment to a chloramine treatment? Perhaps you should contact them to ask why you are suddenly seeing ammonia.
RO water doesnt contain ammonia, so water changes using RO water will remove ammonia from the tank and replace it with ammonia free water. As long as the tap water is the only source of ammonia, this will help. Note that RO water might need remineralising.
If your tap water contains ammonia then water changes using it won't help much. I would dose prime daily while you are seeing ammonia in your tank (lets assume prime actually does what it claims). Investigate where the ammonia in your tap water has come from, if its there to stay etc. Once your cycle catches up with this new source of ammonia, then it might resolve itself.
RO water doesnt contain ammonia, so water changes using RO water will remove ammonia from the tank and replace it with ammonia free water. As long as the tap water is the only source of ammonia, this will help. Note that RO water might need remineralising.
If your tap water contains ammonia then water changes using it won't help much. I would dose prime daily while you are seeing ammonia in your tank (lets assume prime actually does what it claims). Investigate where the ammonia in your tap water has come from, if its there to stay etc. Once your cycle catches up with this new source of ammonia, then it might resolve itself.
