Ammonia ALWAYS drops to 0.25, High Nitrites/Nitrates! Help!

[softmushroom]

Dear Community,

So as I'm doing my fishless cycle here are my speccs of the tank.
-No plants
-10 gallons
-Heater at 75-80 degrees
-Using API test kit
- pH levels are 7.6+ with the basic pH test, ~7.8 with the high pH test.

I'm not sure if this is a problem or it's normal, but I've been having some good nitrite and nitrate spikes lately. According to the article of The Almost Complete Guide of Fishless Cycling i'm suppose to dose my ammonia to ~4ppm everyday, in which I do my nitrites and nitrates SPIKE really high which they are at the point where I cannot tell what color is what on the API test kit. After 24 hours of dosing my ammonia to ~4ppm. My ammonia drops to .25, this happened for like 5x now (5th day today).

I'm questioning to myself on why it wont drop to 0? Any ideas?

Also I seeded my filter with a dirty old filter pad from my cousin's aquarium, he also gave me a mesh bag full of gravel which I put in my tank underneath the outflow of my filter.

So I'm wondering... I maybe have gotten some fish poop from that bag of gravel and is now floating around my tank or sitting in my sand.

I already did a 60% water change yesterday to lower my nitrites and nitrate levels (according to the guide on top).

So what should I do?

tl:dr - I think I have fish poop in my tank floating around due to my seeded material in which my ammonia levels are staying at a constant .25ppm.

 

[Mebbid]

More likely the .25 ppm ammonia level is just a mistake with the test kit. It's not uncommon to get a false reading at that low of a level due to kit inaccuracies.

Even if it does drop to .25 ppm consistently; that's a completely safe level of ammonia for fish. Just keep going along with the fishless cycle and you will be fine.

 

[softmushroom]

More likely the .25 ppm ammonia level is just a mistake with the test kit. It's not uncommon to get a false reading at that low of a level due to kit inaccuracies.

Even if it does drop to .25 ppm consistently; that's a completely safe level of ammonia for fish. Just keep going along with the fishless cycle and you will be fine.

Really? .25ppm is safe to add fish in? O__O? I've read many articles/post and many people said that 0 is the ideal ammonia to have before putting fish in. Now that makes me think and kinda confused/worried when I put some fish in haha.

 

[apr28]

Try another ammonia test kit. My API always looks like .25 even though my tap is 0 and my tank is cycled.

Ive been using the Salifert test and everything is 0

 

[Mebbid]

Really? .25ppm is safe to add fish in? O__O? I've read many articles/post and many people said that 0 is the ideal ammonia to have before putting fish in. Now that makes me think and kinda confused/worried when I put some fish in haha.

0 is ideal but in the highly unlikely event that your ammonia level doesn't drop lower than .25; that's still a safe ammonia level to keep them at. It's WAY more likely that your test kit is giving you a false positive on ammonia.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html

 

[softmushroom]

0 is ideal but in the highly unlikely event that your ammonia level doesn't drop lower than .25; that's still a safe ammonia level to keep them at. It's WAY more likely that your test kit is giving you a false positive on ammonia.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html

Yeah I'm not sure what's going on? Tested just now, ammonia is at .25. I even dosed it last night to like ~2-3ppm heh. So now I just wait for my nitrItes to drop right? Should I keep dosing ammonia?

 

[apr28]

Keep dosing ammonia.

 

[Mebbid]

Keep dosing ammonia.

+1

I would just drop the ammonia dosage to 2ppm.

 

[Caliban07]

Yeh, I'd be surprised if the bacteria can go through a dosing of 3.75ppm ammonia then stop at 0.25ppm because of some fish poop your cycle is nearly done. As soon as ammonia goes to 0ppm do enough water changes to bring nitrites down to 0 then dose another 4ppm. Leave it for 24 hours and see if both ammonia and nitrites drop to 0ppm. If they do do another water change to bring nitrAtes to 0ppm and you should be good to go.

 

[Caliban07]

Yeh, I'd be surprised if the bacteria can go through a dosing of 3.75ppm ammonia then stop at 0.25ppm because of some fish poop your cycle is nearly done. As soon as ammonia goes to 0ppm do enough water changes to bring nitrites down to 0 then dose another 4ppm. Leave it for 24 hours and see if both ammonia and nitrites drop to 0ppm. If they do do another water change to bring nitrAtes to 0ppm and you should be good to go.

Edit: nitrates under 20ppm

 

[softmushroom]

+1

I would just drop the ammonia dosage to 2ppm.

Yeh, I'd be surprised if the bacteria can go through a dosing of 3.75ppm ammonia then stop at 0.25ppm because of some fish poop your cycle is nearly done. As soon as ammonia goes to 0ppm do enough water changes to bring nitrites down to 0 then dose another 4ppm. Leave it for 24 hours and see if both ammonia and nitrites drop to 0ppm. If they do do another water change to bring nitrAtes to 0ppm and you should be good to go.

Sooo I dosed my ammonia to ~2-4ppm at 2pm today, as I just tested it now (10 hours later) it dropped back to .25ppm again! Tested NitrItes and its above 5.0ppm I'm pretty sure. And my NitrAtes are above 160ppm (super dark red colored). What should I do in the morning? Dose another ammonia to 2ppm or do a 60% water change?

 

[Mebbid]

Sooo I dosed my ammonia to ~2-4ppm at 2pm today, as I just tested it now (10 hours later) it dropped back to .25ppm again! Tested NitrItes and its above 5.0ppm I'm pretty sure. And my NitrAtes are above 160ppm (super dark red colored). What should I do in the morning? Dose another ammonia to 2ppm or do a 60% water change?

I would just do both to get the nitrites into a readable concentration.

 

[softmushroom]

I would just do both to get the nitrites into a readable concentration.

Alrighty. Should I dose the ammonia now? Or just in the morning when I wake up/after the water change?

Also I checked the ammonia levels in my tap, its ~1.0ppm if that makes any difference with my .25ppm problem? But I also read that Seachem prime could also be a cause of the .25ppm.

 

[Mebbid]

Alrighty. Should I dose the ammonia now? Or just in the morning when I wake up/after the water change?

Also I checked the ammonia levels in my tap, its ~1.0ppm if that makes any difference with my .25ppm problem? But I also read that Seachem prime could also be a cause of the .25ppm.

Just ignore the .25 ammonia. It's a problem with your test kit not the water. Many people get a false positive on that test kit. As for the 1.0 out of the tap, do smaller water changes once fish are in the tank. 30% at the most I would suggest.

 

[Smudger]

I'm on week 3 of my cycle and in the same boat, .25 maybe less of ammonia in less than 12hrs after dosing 2ppm of 'kleen off' household ammonia, yet my nitrites are through the roof, I've done water changes to bring nitrates down but even after that nitrites are still through the roof. I've tested my tap water and 0ppm nitrite. I've read it's completely normal as nitrite-nitrate part of the nitrogen cycle does take a while longer than the first part. Good bacteria can survive upto a week without food (ammonia) so if u are going to carry on dosing, it's ok to miss a couple of days in between doses. Quote me if I'm wrong but from a LOT of research that's what I've gathered
Happy fish keeping

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[softmushroom]

Just ignore the .25 ammonia. It's a problem with your test kit not the water. Many people get a false positive on that test kit. As for the 1.0 out of the tap, do smaller water changes once fish are in the tank. 30% at the most I would suggest.

wooohoooo!!! So i woke up this morning and tested it, my ammonia was about .25-.50ppm and my nitrites hit 0!! I couldn't believe it! my nitrate is ~10ppm as well.
So now I'll dose the ammonia again and wait till tomorrow morning to test it.

If its the same results what do I do? 100% water change? And ignore the ammonia readings still right?

I'm planning on adding some live plants, before i put them in, do I have to do anything special?

 

[Smudger]

How Did u get on softmushroom? I've finally got my levels ammo and no2 staying at 0 after 24hrs of 4ppm ammo. My nitrites that were through the roof suddenly dropped and all is fine now. Just got my first fish in hope your in the same boat :thumbup:

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[librarygirl]

wooohoooo!!! So i woke up this morning and tested it, my ammonia was about .25-.50ppm and my nitrites hit 0!! I couldn't believe it! my nitrate is ~10ppm as well.
So now I'll dose the ammonia again and wait till tomorrow morning to test it.

If its the same results what do I do? 100% water change? And ignore the ammonia readings still right?

I'm planning on adding some live plants, before i put them in, do I have to do anything special?

Congrats on 0 nitrite! I would keep dosing/testing for at least 3 more days (another week is ideal) to make sure the nitrites stay at 0 and you don't get another spike. If so, then you're done, just do a large water change (may take more than one) to get nitrates as low as you can before adding fish (<10 is ideal). As for the ammonia test, it can be hard to discern between 0 and .25 depending on the light in the room. Try shaking both bottles for 10 seconds or so before you use them. Then, you may want to also test some spring or distilled water and compare it to the tank water test; it would be easier to see that way whether your tank is really 0 or .25 of ammo. Try reading the tests with a window behind you to get some natural light. No need to do anything special for plants, add them anytime. Nitrates don't usually drop on their own, the only way to get rid of them is through water changes; in fact they should be rising due to the nitrite conversion, so that was probably a test error.

 

[softmushroom]

Congrats on 0 nitrite! I would keep dosing/testing for at least 3 more days (another week is ideal) to make sure the nitrites stay at 0 and you don't get another spike. If so, then you're done, just do a large water change (may take more than one) to get nitrates as low as you can before adding fish (<10 is ideal). As for the ammonia test, it can be hard to discern between 0 and .25 depending on the light in the room. Try shaking both bottles for 10 seconds or so before you use them. Then, you may want to also test some spring or distilled water and compare it to the tank water test; it would be easier to see that way whether your tank is really 0 or .25 of ammo. Try reading the tests with a window behind you to get some natural light. No need to do anything special for plants, add them anytime. Nitrates don't usually drop on their own, the only way to get rid of them is through water changes; in fact they should be rising due to the nitrite conversion, so that was probably a test error.

Thanks sooo much! Also quick question to see if i'm doing this right.

it says 20% water change in the Aqadvisor with my future stock. So 20% water change = 2 gallons?

 

[Fishfur]

Just fyi, the API ammonia test, and many others as well, test total ammonia. This means that they combine both free [ dangerous] ammonia, with bound up [ not dangerous] AMMONIUM, so that .25 reading that seems to always refuse to drop to zero, is most often not free ammonia at all, but ammonium instead, which is nothing to worry about.

If you want to know precisely what ammonia level you have, Seachem makes a test that gives you separate results for free ammonia and ammonium, so you can tell just how much of each you have in the water. API tests are popular because you can get the master kit and save money, and they are reasonably accurate for our purposes, but that does not mean they are the very best test available for everything.