Traces of ammonia?!?

[JoeyGeeze]

So last night I tested my water for ammonia and nitrites... No nitrites, however, it seems I have a slight trace of ammonia.. About .25. My tank has been cycled and running for 2 months now. I did a water change on Saturday morning and I cleaned a lot of the gravel. When I seen the ammonia last night I quickly did another small water change. I can't figure out why it would have ammonia all of a sudden.

I currently have in my 46 gallon:
10 tiger barbs
1 rainbow cichlid
1 kribensis
1 spotted rubber lip pleco
6 kuhli loaches

I also have live plants. Do I maybe need to clean my canister filter? I only feed once a day and usually skip a day or two a week. Any help??

Thanks!

 

[LyndaB]

That's a lot of fish to have in a new tank, considering it takes a tank 4-6 weeks to cycle. Did you add them all at once?

What are your nitrates? What test kit are you using?

 

[jcolon]

How are you testing? API test master kit or strips? Strips are notoriously inaccurate.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

That's a lot of fish to have in a new tank, considering it takes a tank 4-6 weeks to cycle. Did you add them all at once?

What are your nitrates? What test kit are you using?

The tank cycled through January and into February. I did a fishless cycle by dosing ammonia i purchased from Ace hardware.

I added them little by little, 6 barbs first, then 4 more a few days later. Then a week later the kribensis. I added the pleco and kuhlis I believe a week or two after, and just added the rainbow two weeks ago.

I didn't test nitrates last night since once I seen the ammonia I just did the water change, I will test today after work. I use the API liquid test kit.

 

[Pton46]

The tank cycled through January and into February. I did a fishless cycle by dosing ammonia i purchased from Ace hardware.

I added them little by little, 6 barbs first, then 4 more a few days later. Then a week later the kribensis. I added the pleco and kuhlis I believe a week or two after, and just added the rainbow two weeks ago.

I didn't test nitrates last night since once I seen the ammonia I just did the water change, I will test today after work. I use the API liquid test kit.

I think you are maybe going through a mini cycle..It happens why could be a bunch of reasons.

I wouldn't clean your canister just yet unless you suspect something like food or plant matter in there rotting. I doubt it but stranger things have happened. I had it happen on my one of my tanks .25 amm 0 nitrites
with 40ppm Nitrates. I added SeaChem Purigen to my Filter with PWC every other day and it cleared after a week.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

I think you are maybe going through a mini cycle..It happens why could be a bunch of reasons.

I wouldn't clean your canister just yet unless you suspect something like food or plant matter in there rotting. I doubt it but stranger things have happened. I had it happen on my one of my tanks .25 amm 0 nitrites
with 40ppm Nitrates. I added SeaChem Purigen to my Filter with PWC every other day and it cleared after a week.

Oh geeze I hope I'm not having a mini cycle! I have a sponge over the intake for my canister filter, which is a fluval 306. The sponge blocks my kuhlis from being sucked up. It also collects a lot of debris so it doesn't clog my filter. Would that have anything to do with it? I take it out weekly and squeeze it into a bucket of tank water.

I'm also wondering if there is rotting food maybe that I missed somewhere? My fish usually eat everything before it even touches the floor but maybe that's a possibility.

 

[Pton46]

Oh geeze I hope I'm not having a mini cycle! I have a sponge over the intake for my canister filter, which is a fluval 306. The sponge blocks my kuhlis from being sucked up. It also collects a lot of debris so it doesn't clog my filter. Would that have anything to do with it? I take it out weekly and squeeze it into a bucket of tank water.

I'm also wondering if there is rotting food maybe that I missed somewhere? My fish usually eat everything before it even touches the floor but maybe that's a possibility.

I not saying that a mini is happening but don't rule it out.

How much Vacuuming you doing? I know a lot of people do it every PWC, I don't think that is wise as you have BB on there as well. Maybe do it every other PWC....Something might of disrupted the balance in your tank can you think of anything different recently? I'd try the purigen and the benefit is Crystal Clear water. My 60 gallon is dead on now since I've been using it.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

I not saying that a mini is happening but don't rule it out.

How much Vacuuming you doing? I know a lot of people do it every PWC, I don't think that is wise as you have BB on there as well. Maybe do it every other PWC....Something might of disrupted the balance in your tank can you think of anything different recently? I'd try the purigen and the benefit is Crystal Clear water. My 60 gallon is dead on now since I've been using it.

Well on Saturday I did a water change and a pretty thorough gravel vac. I then added an amazon sword plant, and three new rocks. I let the rocks soak in dechlorinated water for a day before adding them. I guess its possible that my gravel vac was a little too thorough.

I usually gravel vac every week, doing one side of the tank each week, never the whole thing at once, but it's very possible I did too much Saturday.

Purigen Is a water cleanser? I'm not familiar with it sorry.

 

[a.tetreault]

I think you either stirred up something from your gravel or you cleaned too much too soon, keep an eye on your ammonia it should go away with a few water changes. I would say try doing gravel vacs every week but only do half of your tank, the next week do the other half. So you don't disturb too much bacteria. Eventually when your tank has matured a bit you can do full gravel vacs every week without worrying about a mini cycle happening.

 

[Pton46]

I think you either stirred up something from your gravel or you cleaned too much too soon, keep an eye on your ammonia it should go away with a few water changes. I would say try doing gravel vacs every week but only do half of your tank, the next week do the other half. So you don't disturb too much bacteria. Eventually when your tank has matured a bit you can do full gravel vacs every week without worrying about a mini cycle happening.

 

[Pton46]

Well on Saturday I did a water change and a pretty thorough gravel vac. I then added an amazon sword plant, and three new rocks. I let the rocks soak in dechlorinated water for a day before adding them. I guess its possible that my gravel vac was a little too thorough.

I usually gravel vac every week, doing one side of the tank each week, never the whole thing at once, but it's very possible I did too much Saturday.

Purigen Is a water cleanser? I'm not familiar with it sorry.

Description from amazon

"Purigen® is a premium synthetic adsorbent that is unlike any other filtration product. It is not a mixture of ion exchangers or adsorbents, but a unique macro-porous synthetic polymer that removes soluble and insoluble impurities from water at a rate and capacity that exceeds all others by over 500%. Purigen® controls ammonia, nitrites and nitrates by removing nitrogenous organic waste that would otherwise release these harmful compounds. Purigen’s™ impact on trace elements is minimal. It significantly raises redox. It polishes water to unparalleled clarity. Purigen® darkens progressively as it exhausts, and is easily renewed by treating with bleach. Purigen® is designed for both marine and freshwater use."

I get the bag of it 100ml I put it aright after my Filter media in my Emperor Filters, you could probably stick it in the part of your Fluval which houses you Bio media on top...maybe...Nice thing it is reusable....

 

[JoeyGeeze]

I agree as well. I did some tests last night and I believe ammonia was below .25. It didn't quite have that golden yellow, but it also wasn't green. Sometimes it's so hard to tell with that chart!! My nitrites are 0 and my nitrates were between 10 and 20.

I will do another test this evening and hopefully should be OK. Going forward I'm not going to gravel vac as much until my tank is more established. Thanks for the responses!!

 

[aqua_chem]

I'm more likely to believe that the little hint of green that you saw was a false positive from the dechlorinator reacting with chloramines. You'll often get that green tint for a few days after a major water change.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Well all my water parameters are definitely normal now, so it was either a false reading or I kicked something up wit my gravel vac. Thank you everybody for the help and responses! Unfortunately, I seem to have another problem occurring. I discovered a white spot on one of my fish this morning. I'm hoping it's not ICH, I've posted another thread about it. I'm having a very bad week!!!