I just did a 75 percent water change, still have ammonia. Does it look the same way to you? I know it may look a little different from phone recording. I just want to know if it looks like I have ammonia, or not. I have a hard way of telling.
I just did a 75 percent water change, still have ammonia
- Thread starter pettygil
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From your previous posts we determined your tap water was treated with chloramine. Chloramine is ammonia bonded with chlorine. Everytime you do a water change you will be putting ammonia into the water which will show up in your test.
Your water conditioner is a type that detoxifies ammonia until it is cycled out . Retest 24 hours after your water change, after which your cycle should have removed it. See if it still tests for ammonia after 24 hours.
Your water conditioner is a type that detoxifies ammonia until it is cycled out . Retest 24 hours after your water change, after which your cycle should have removed it. See if it still tests for ammonia after 24 hours.
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Ok, I will test my tank in 24 hours, see what it reads. I use fritz complete/conditioner for my water.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
As Aiken said, you are actually adding ammonia to your water when you do water changes because of the chloramine factor. The good news is that your conditioner converts it to ammonium which is not toxic to the fish. The bad news is that API's tests do not differentiate between the toxic ammonia and the non toxic ammonium. So you need to keep this in mind. Also, with the larger water changes, you will be speeding up the production of nitrates which is the sign you need to change water so you are just creating a big circle of effects you don't want.
You have 2 options:
Option 1: Do not change massive amounts of water at any one time. This will reduce the amount of ammonia/ammonium you are adding. This will allow your bacteria bed to consume the ammonia/ammonium faster. A typical 15%-20% weekly water change should suffice. Always check your level BEFORE changing water to confirm there is no ammonia before you add more.
Option 2: Set up a barrel or tank that you can store your water change water in and run a filter in there that will remove the ammonia/ ammonium before you add it to your main tanks.
Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
75% water change is a lot. 50% weekly should be more than enough and is the general consensus for those who change water in the hobby.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Under different circumstances that may work here but with the amount of chloramine in her tap water, she'd only be exacerbating the nitrate creation which is why she's changing so much water. Based on bioload, 15%-20% weekly is more than adequate IME.
Thank you.
I'll just change water weekly to 15 to 20 percent. Sounds good to me. Yes, I been doing 50 percent water change every few days, that is prob too much. I will just do water changes every week, that should do. Thanks for your help.
This is a different post discussion but I am worried about my Betta. The top of bettas head does not look good. I did a video on it. How do I treat it? I do have aquarium salt, would that work? Here is the video of Betta. I only have one betta per tank, and betta is by herself. So she is not getting picked on.
I'll just change water weekly to 15 to 20 percent. Sounds good to me. Yes, I been doing 50 percent water change every few days, that is prob too much. I will just do water changes every week, that should do. Thanks for your help.
This is a different post discussion but I am worried about my Betta. The top of bettas head does not look good. I did a video on it. How do I treat it? I do have aquarium salt, would that work? Here is the video of Betta. I only have one betta per tank, and betta is by herself. So she is not getting picked on.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
I saw the missing scales but could not see any red ( which doesn't mean it's not there) just skin. Salt will not hurt the fish and since the fish is alone, it possibly just bumped his head on something in the tank. Unless it gets bloody or fuzzy, clean water and the salt should suffice to get that healed.
( Use 1 tablespoon salt to 3 gallons of water. ) The 0 ammonia after 24 hours is a good sign of how strong the bacteria bed now is. You doing that large of a water change that often is just feeding the problem. Ammonia eventually causes nitrates which causes water changes which means you are adding more ammonia which is creating the nitrates which is causing you to do water changes which is adding more ammonia that is going to create nitrates which will cause you to change water which will ( Deep breath in ) add more ammonia which will create more nitrates which will mean more water changes which will add more ammonia which will convert to nitrate which will cause you to change water which will add ( Another deep breath in ) more ammonia which will .........
See what I mean about feeding the beast? It's called the nitrogen cycle because it's a circle and there is no end in a circle. An occasional large water change is fine as long as you don't go too crazy. Your nitrate level will tell you when to do this. ( When the level is above 40 ppm) Just remember that when you do these large scale changes, you are going to be adding a lot of ammonia( ammonium after using the PRIME) at one time. Depending on the actual level, it's sometimes better to do daily smaller changes for a week than the one large change. ( Unless you can get water that has no chloramine or ammonia in it. )Similar threads
