Water conditioner bad for cycle?

[AlissasDad]

I started thinking about something and I haven't seen it mentioned yet.

Some of the water conditioners convert harmful ammonia. I understand most don't actually eliminate the ammonia but is the ammonia that's left still consumable by the ammoniabactors (or whatever the ammonia eating bacteria are called)?


I wonder because after 3 weeks my tank is still reading .5-.75 ppm ammonia within 24-36 hours after a PWC (cycling with fish, need to do regular PWCs) and I'm wondering if there's no ammonia eating bacteria because they have nothing to eat as a result of the conversion by water conditioner.

 

[roka64]

Cycling with fish and doing the required PWCs will keep your ammonia down, thus causing a much longer cycle. Your tank has less ammonia to fuel the nitrItes.

 

[An t-iasg]

From what I read, the ammonia is rendered harmless to the fish but it's still available to the biological filter. Are you talking about a product like Ammo-Lock or Prime? Ammo-Lock makes ammonia harmless to fish but an ammonia test still shows high levels. Prime, a dechlorinator, will convert a certain amount of ammonia to a harmless form but still leave it available for the biological filter. However, I wouldn't rely on these products alone - even though you may be prolonging your cycle, I would still do water changes every time the ammonia rises above .25 - .5 ppm. A dechlorinator is the only product I'd use on a cycling tank. I would do water changes when necessary, maybe every day, to make sure the fish are ok.

 

[Purrbox]

It's entirely normal to take at least 4 weeks before the Ammonia levels go down and you start to see Nitrites. This is the longest part of the cycle. Once you start to see Nitrites you are on the homeward stretch. Once the Nitrites start to go down it usually takes about a week for the cycle to finish.

 

[bs6749]

I believe that those products convert the ammonia (NH3) to ammonium (NH4+).

 

[AlissasDad]

I've been seeing nitrites in the .25-.75ppm range from the time I started the tank up, but this was a dirty tank that I restarted, so I'm sure there's all kinds of reasons for the nitrites.

I'm using API Stress Coat + (Stress Coat® - API) when I do my PWCs. It's a dechlor with stress coat and, although the website doesn't mention it, the bottle says it lowers ammonia as well.

 

[kimo]

I've been seeing nitrites in the .25-.75ppm range from the time I started the tank up, but this was a dirty tank that I restarted, so I'm sure there's all kinds of reasons for the nitrites.

I'm using API Stress Coat + (Stress Coat® - API) when I do my PWCs. It's a dechlor with stress coat and, although the website doesn't mention it, the bottle says it lowers ammonia as well.

Use AmQuel+ as the water conditioner. You'll never have a problem. You still will see an ammonia level but its locked up. Plants will use and get rid of the excess ammonia. Cycle w/fish time is no longer than fishless cycle: 3 - 6 weeks for a normal sized aquarium.

 

[AlissasDad]

Good news. It seems I jumped the gun by a couple days. My ammonia is reading only trace amounts now, so it seems my methods did not interfere with the biofilter.

Now my nitrites are spiking pretty high as expected, so I'm still doing daily PWCs until these go down.