A question about ammonia

[ADCISCO]

One of my friends was telling me the othe day that the ammonia settles to the bottom of an aquarium. Is this true. I think that it has to be all in the water or the tests wouldnt test ammonia right?Said that could be a good reason why my sucker died. Any takers?

 

[Scottw68TN]

I don't think ammonia settles at the bottom. it spreads out sorta evenly. You should take your tests a few inches down (i have heard). Organic matter can settle on the bottom and produce ammonia so it would be in higher concentrations while releasing I suppose. ??

 

[madasafish]

I have always heard that ammonia does settle at the bottom, also. I don't think this is an urban legend...

I always test my ammonia at the bottom (though, chemically, this doesn't make sense). Perhaps try an experiment and test ammonia at the bottom and top of your tank. Let us know the results.

Yeah, I think this is often a reason for pleco and other sucker deaths.

 

[William]

This is why, when I'm doing a water change with no gravel vaccing, I hold the syphon just an inch above the gravel and move it around.

if its an urban myth, oh well.

If its not, I'm getting the stronger consentrations.

 

[AtodaJ]

Yes... ammonia is heavier than water and will tend to be present in somewhat higher concentrations near the bottom. Additional factor is that the fish waste settles there so the ammonia is produced near the bottom as well. That is one of the reasons during cycling you shouldn't gravel vacum cuz your first large concentrations of good bacteria will likely show up in your gravel since that is where the food is.

Here is a pond filter company that briefly mentions this issue.

Enjoy!

http://www.pondbuilder.com/drains.htm

 

[Allivymar]

Wow. I had no idea. While I imagine the height of a standard fishtank means the difference between top and bottom is minimal, I had NO idea there could even be a small difference.

Thanx folks! I learned something new today

 

[dralarms]

So I have to ask, If our tanks are less than 3 ft deep, then it won't be that much of a difference? I am new at this and would like to make sure I'm taking my readings from the right place.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

If you have a decent current in your tank, I wouldn't worry about it all that much. Ammonia is a technically heavier molecule...but barely so, so it would take an absolutely still tank (meaning no fish either) for the stuff to really settle to the bottom....and even then, brownian motion would kick in, and you'd still see mixing.

In a pond, it's more of an issue, since there is a higher possibility of areas stagnating, especially if it's deep and/or large.

Certainly can't hurt to take your readings in more than one place...but i certainly wouldn't think it's necessary.

 

[dralarms]

Thanks, Had me worried, already lost my fish once due to ammonia poisoning. I don't want it to happen again.

 

[AtodaJ]

It's good to hear differing opinions. Here is what I've learned about cycling and ammonia after quite a bit of reading on the topics. Read it, read other opinions, do some research and make up your own minds.

Studies have been done where tests were conducted in rivers (a fair amount of water movement there) and ammonia was still present in somewhat higher concentrations near the bottom. I say somewhat cuz it really is a rather small difference in cycled environments. When a tank is cycling the difference is slightly higher just because there is more ammonia present. Using a Nessler test I doubt you'd even notice it though. But your beneficial bacteria will notice the difference cuz they are so small. Don't think of them as fish... they are microscopic little dudes. An additional 0.1 level of ammonia at the bottom is a yummy incentive to take up root and multiply!

After cycling is complete there is far less ammonia present at any given time anywhere in the aquarium. At this point, with even light filtration, the concentrations near the gravel will be fairly close to those located near the surface at a microscopic level. Accordingly, all other things now being equal, the bacteria that are in the bio wheel tend to thrive more cuz they have just as much food available but also have superior oxygenation. So they become your dominant bacterial colony.

Thanks for reading.