Cycling Planted Tank, Ammonia unchanging

[christophilthy]

Hello everyone!

I understand that questions like this probably have been answered over and over again, especially concerning cycling, but it is such an important aspect of owning an aquarium!

Anyway, I have a planted 30 gallon tank, with a marineland Eclipse system. I got everything set up 2 weeks ago, and started out, as recommended by a friend of mine, with fishless cycling. I added fish food to the water everyday, as well as used "Stability" as directed.

I tested my water, with an API liquid kit, and I have been consistantly getting readings of 0.25. Problem is, the water coming out of my tap also gives this same reading. Because of this, I also purchased Prime, to add to the water before putting it into the tank.

After a week of this, without any change in ammonia level, I purchased fish, 2 panda garas, and have placed them in the tank.

The ammonia levels are still not changing. I am still getting a reading of 0.25. The fish have been in there for 4 days, they don't seem to be stressed at all, and go about their business as normal.

I am also getting 0 readings for nitrite and nitrates.

Has anyone had this happen to them? Is it a special case with the plants being in there? I have about 15 plants in the aqarium.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

 

[fort384]

Absolutely - with that many plants, assuming the light can support them, they will suck up ammonia rather quickly as a source of N. It is very possible that is what is going on here, although 4 days after a water change, I would expect the ammonia to be 0 rather than 0.25...

 

[mfdrookie516]

Have you tested distilled water with your ammonia test to rule out a testing error?

 

[christophilthy]

So the plants are playing a part in this.

I changed the water out probably 75% before I put the fish in, trying to get the ammonia to 0, but it still kept reading 0.25. I tested the water straight from the tap and got a 0.25. That's why I got the Prime.

I haven't done a water change since I put the fish in, trying to get the nitrogen cycle going, but, as stated, the ammonia level is not rising above anything.

If it means anything, my tests were more towards the 0.50, but not quite that much after I put the fish in, but is now definitely at 0.25.

As for testing distilled water, I haven't done that yet. Should I just buy a bottle of it to test, or should I boil some of my tap water for awhile and test that?

 

[fort384]

boiling water does not make it distilled. If you collect the steam coming off the boiling water, re-condense and bottle it, that would be distilled water

I too, am leaning more towards a testing error of some kind. It shouldn't be staying constant, unless the constant is 0.

 

[christophilthy]

boiling water does not make it distilled. If you collect the steam coming off the boiling water, re-condense and bottle it, that would be distilled water

I too, am leaning more towards a testing error of some kind. It shouldn't be staying constant, unless the constant is 0.

Yes...that is true. After I posted that, I did remember that I would have to get the condensation coming off and not the boiling water itself. Heh. As a biologist I should remember these things!

As for it being a testing error. There must be an error with the test itself, or that the chemicals aren't working properly. Taking a sample of water, putting 8 drops of each bottle and shaking isn't exactly rocket science.

However, I was going to run and pick up a new ammonia test kit of a different brand in any case, because it is a possibility. Also, given the nature of plants and how they work with the ammonia, it is possible that the number of plants, can't handle the entire amount of ammonia in the tank, which would make sense that it would consistently be at 0.25. The fish in the tank produce probably the same amount of waste every day.

The bigger question though, is will my tank ever be cycled? Or will cycling be a very long process because of this? I would guess it would take longer, because I will never have an extremely high amount of ammonia free in the water.

 

[christophilthy]

Tested with a different kit, this time a quick drip test for ammonia.

Got the same reading as with the other tests.

Any advice on how to proceed?

 

[jimenezlee]

Just fyi, new plants will have some die off and also contribute to ammonia in the tank. Your readings aren't totally off the charts and .25 should not be an alarming issue. I would continue to monitor, maybe test every other day and give the bio filter a chance to catch up. Do a pwc if the ammonia goes higher. By the way, ammo-lock or prime will convert the free ammonia into ionized ammonia (the less toxic version) which is actually what the bio-filter can consume, these could help. Ammonia will stay this way unless your ph gets too high.

I've been reading the seachem library articles that explain this real well.

http://www.seachem.com/Library/Articles/Ammonia_Management.pdf

 

[christophilthy]

Ah, I see. I'll add a bit of that to the tank and see if anything changes.

Tested again today, ammonia is the same as always, no nitrites or nitrates either though.

 

[christophilthy]

Just an update. My tank got a little cloudy (Yay!) but my ammonia is still the same.

Hopefully I will start to see an increase in the nitrites sometimes soon, as I am still getting a reading of 0.

I have been adding "Stability" every day, but the bottle says to only add it for 7 days in a row. Should a discontinue the use of it for the time being?

 

[koz]

I am new to this so I will make it short. I to use a api test kit and have been looking online for possible reasons why my tape water registers 0.25 ammonia. I tested mine with a treatment of aquasafe and left it 24 hours before testing the solution and still got a reading just below 0.25. One reason I found was that chloramine can cause ammonia reading if used by your water supplier, and that some water conditioner don't state it but require double doses to remove it from tape water. Having said that I looked at my suppliers reading online and they don't use chloramine at all so I am confused. If you find the reason please share lol good luck

 

[christophilthy]

I am new to this so I will make it short. I to use a api test kit and have been looking online for possible reasons why my tape water registers 0.25 ammonia. I tested mine with a treatment of aquasafe and left it 24 hours before testing the solution and still got a reading just below 0.25. One reason I found was that chloramine can cause ammonia reading if used by your water supplier, and that some water conditioner don't state it but require double doses to remove it from tape water. Having said that I looked at my suppliers reading online and they don't use chloramine at all so I am confused. If you find the reason please share lol good luck

What I have read is just like you said, the chloramine can cause an ammonia reading as well. My tap water also registers at .25 but I know that my facility uses chloramine.

I also have noticed that the little glass vial that the kit comes with gets stained. I have washed it thoroughly out, but it still is tinted yellow. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it...

 

[koz]

You could be right if it's stained it defiantly will not help with accurately comparing against the chart. Maybe it's time to get a new test kit or invest in some new test tubes. (About £14 for 20 api tubes on Internet)
I must admit I am using mine daily due to cycling checks. And have not noticed any staining. I am on my 18th day with fish in it. All seems to be going well

 

[christophilthy]

Update!

Ammonia is now consistently 0.

Working on the Nitrites now, starting to see some Nitrates. All is going well, no fish lost and in fact, they look quite happy with all these water changes I've been doing.

Nitrites typically climbing into the danger zone daily, so I have to change the water daily!

I know it will all pay off in the end!