Dead plants

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RyanBenson

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Do dead plants release ammonia?? My ammonia hasn't dropped for about 3 weeks.

And some plants might be dead I think

Also, what level is that? It looks different today.
 

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Oh cool, so my next question is, why hasn't it dropped in about 3 weeks? I hear the fishless cycle should only take around 4-5 weeks?

That may depend on the water temperature, water movement/aeration, (most importantly IMO) the presence of seeded media. The latter can greatly reduce the total cycling time.
 
That may depend on the water temperature, water movement/aeration, (most importantly IMO) the presence of seeded media. The latter can greatly reduce the total cycling time.

The temp right now is at about 84-85 degrees. I have a 10 gallon tank that I'm unsure if its completed it cycle or not but I've had it for about 2 months and I just changed the filter cartridge on it. Half of the old cartridge is in with the new one. Could I use some of that? Like cut it in half and put it in my 55s filter??
 
Also I have a bubble wand
 

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Here's my other 2 levels. Nitrites and nitrates
 

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What is your ph? If ph drops to 6.5 bacterial activity slows down and if it drops to 6.0 or below bacterial activity stops, causing ammonia to stay high as the tank isn't cycling anymore. I'm not saying this is the problem since I don't know your ph but wanted you to have this information.
 
What is your ph? If ph drops to 6.5 bacterial activity slows down and if it drops to 6.0 or below bacterial activity stops, causing ammonia to stay high as the tank isn't cycling anymore. I'm not saying this is the problem since I don't know your ph but wanted you to have this information.

Thank you! And my ph is at 7.8!
 
It's not outside the realm of possibility to take 4 weeks to see much of a drop in ammonia.

Yeah I figured I would wait 2 more weeks before I did anything else, but what got me was that my ammonia rose back up to 4 after 4 days?
 
If you've got plants dying that could certainly be the cause of it. Additionally, that magnitude of a change isn't really all that detectable on liquid test kits.
 
If you've got plants dying that could certainly be the cause of it. Additionally, that magnitude of a change isn't really all that detectable on liquid test kits.

So, would it be a good idea to take out all the plants, put them in a big bowl of water to keep them alive and cycle my tank without them??
 
So, would it be a good idea to take out all the plants, put them in a big bowl of water to keep them alive and cycle my tank without them??

You might be better off simply trimming off the dead or dying leaves and stems an leaving them where they are. They shock of moving them might too much. Any idea why they are dying? Is it transitional "death" like crypt melt?
 
You might be better off simply trimming off the dead or dying leaves and stems an leaving them where they are. They shock of moving them might too much. Any idea why they are dying? Is it transitional "death" like crypt melt?

Well, these are the first plants I've ever had so I'm not familiar with the "crypt melt" term. But I'll post a pic of them and you too could judge as to whether they are dying or are dead! I just figured that like plants outside of houses, if they turn brown, they have died or are dying.
 

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Yeah I figured I would wait 2 more weeks before I did anything else, but what got me was that my ammonia rose back up to 4 after 4 days?

Oh, I had a nightmare of a time with rising ammonia in an otherwise uninhabited (but planted) tank. I described it in a thread called "Unknown Ammonia Source". Uncertain of the actual cause; ended up starting from scratch.
 
Oh, I had a nightmare of a time with rising ammonia in an otherwise uninhabited (but planted) tank. I described it in a thread called "Unknown Ammonia Source". Uncertain of the actual cause; ended up starting from scratch.

Oh, we'll let's hope I won't have to do that! And I'm sorry to hear that!
 
Oh, we'll let's hope I won't have to do that! And I'm sorry to hear that!

It's all good now. Ran an HOB in an established tank for 9 days, moved it to the new tank (with some media from the established tank's filter), dosed with ammonia (4 ppm), went to zero in 3 days, dosed back to 4 ppm, nitrites went from zero to 1, and then 3 days later both ammonia and nitrites back to zero and nitrates are 20-40. A little over two weeks total time. I attribute a lot of it to seeding and prepping the filter.
So yes, move some of the filter media from the 10g to the new tank.
 
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