Ammonia levels won't go down

[Dasflames]

Hello I have a 10 gallon planted tank and my ammonia levels won't drop they are between a .5 and 1 and I have 3 guppies in there they seem to be doing fine I have tried doing a 10% water change and a 50% water change with no different I have also added prime to it and it helps but then it comes back in a couple days please help

 

[mbkemp]

Are you shaking the test tube?

 

[Dasflames]

Yeah I am shaking the bottle then the tube

 

[colinquilliam1]

Have you got any dead plant matter in there and how heavily planted are you? Are your pipes clean on your filter too? What results are you getting on your tap water?

 

[Dasflames]

No I have very little if not no dead plant matter and I would say its not heavily planted but its got a few and I have not checked the filter at all I will do that right now and I am getting good results from my tap water the pH is 7.6 and its pretty hard but I think that's what guppies do well in

 

[colinquilliam1]

What you could do is clean out your filter and give it a good rinse. You'll still have enough bacteria but will be getting out the crap. Most people dont clean the pipes if its an external filter. I would also say to put some big leaf plants in that help absorb amonia, swords and vallis etc.

 

[Dasflames]

I will clean out the pipes tonight and maybe I will have to look into some swords tonight

 

[Upstate TBarbs]

How long has the tank been set up? What make / model of filter are you using?

 

[mbkemp]

I get a false reading of ammonia if I shake between reagents

 

[Dasflames]

The tank has been set up since the being of September and I am using an elite brand filter rated for 15 gallons and I am running purigen in it

 

[Upstate TBarbs]

Did you do a fishless cycle of the tank, or with the fish in the tank?

Also, what are the readings for nitrItes and nitr8s?

 

[Dasflames]

I did a cycle with snails I know they aren't fish but they still have a bioload and I did that for 2 months before any fish went in and nitrites are 0.25ppm and nitrates are zero

 

[Upstate TBarbs]

It sounds to me like your tank did not completely cycle.

 

[Dasflames]

Any idea how long it takes cause it's only a 10 gallon and I thought 2 months was more then enough

 

[Mebbid]

A 50% water change on a tank should reduce the ammonia level by 50% unless there's ammonia in the tap water. Are you getting a positive reading with ammonia out of the tap?

How exactly did you cycle the aquarium? With snails, yes. But what was your ammonia source? What did the parameters do during the cycle?

A cycled tank specifically means that there is enough beneficial bacteria to convert all the free ammonia into nitrate. Whatever bioload you cycled the tank to is the amount of ammonia production the tank can handle. Snails DO have a bioload, but compared to a fish it's tiny.

 

[Dasflames]

Okay I will try a 50% water change and there is no ammonia in the tap water and I thought the snails would have produced some ammonia to start it up and the pH of the water dropped 0.2

 

[colinquilliam1]

Hi matey
Put a pic up of your tank so i can see what you have in there. Plants, fish, subtrate, gravel, hardscape etc. 2 months to cycle a little tank isnt right. Especially with you doing the water changes etc.

IMO. I would be looking at feeding- how much & how often?
Filter- give it a huge clean, pipes and all.
Plants- plant fairly heavy. You want plants to work for you not against.
Subtrate- what do you have in? Likes of aquasoil have amonia spikes that can last a few months thats why regular water changes and good plants are recommended. Some soils and subtrates need capping with gravel. Do you have any probs with algae?
Test kit- what test kit do you use?

Guessing with the lack of plants you are not running Co2. A pic would help identify issues and if you can get me some info on the above questions that would too. Cheers buddy and do me a favour, dont get too disheartened as everything can be fixed.

 

[Dasflames]

There is the picture of the tank I have 3/4 of an inch of soil under the gravel and the test kit I am using is the api freshwater master test kit then I honestly have no idea what kind of plants they are I bought them at pet smart and they were labeled assorted

 

[colinquilliam1]

Ok dont take this the wrong way but plastic toys and kids coloured gavel are one of my pet hates. That could be the cause. Plastic toys and painted gravel harbour algae, the paint wears off and can turn your water toxic. Also because the gravel is so big, food will get lodged between and just rot. I bet thats the root cause. Personally i would strip it all out and put proper aquarium sand in, Its cheap enough and easy to keep clean. Add some rocks if you want a feature and choose your plants carefully based on what you have in. Still do a deep clean and just start fresh. Loads of help and ideas on here and google.

Hope my opening line didnt offend[emoji4] and hope that helps

 

[Dasflames]

How would I go about doing that I have restarted tanks before but the plants werent rooted in. So what would the steps be to restart everything? Cause I only have the one tank that's set up and cycled I have nutrafin cycle would that work with some dechlorinated tap water so I could put the fish back in right away?