Very High Ammonia

[Jedi]

I've done a couple of 50% water changes and my ammonia is still testing extremely high. I had previously been trying to start my cycle using fish food. I have nitrites but no nitrates yet and have stopped adding any more flakes.

This is a fishless cycle but there are a few plants in the tank. I'm using eco-complete substrate.

Is this normal? I really thought I'd see a drop in the ammonia after changing out the water but that's not the case.

 

[mgamer20o0]

how high of ammonia? if its too high off the charts it might be even more then it could test for.

 

[Jedi]

how high of ammonia? if its too high off the charts it might be even more then it could test for.

It's testing at 8.0ppm each time. I'm using a drop kit test. I'm pretty shocked that it's this high after doing two 50% water changes.

I figure I'm going to try and do another 50% and see if it drops but I've stopped trying to feed the ammonia so wasn't sure if it was coming from some other source --


*** UPDATE: ****

I just tested my water straight from the tap and it tests at just about 1.0ppm for ammonia. Could this be accurate or is something messing with this test?

EDIT--

After some research it seems that Ammonia is unregulated in tap-water and this is not uncommon. It could also be due to the city using Chloromine instead of Chlorine to treat bacterial growth in the water. Someone has suggested I treat my water-change water with PRIME before putting it into the tank.

 

[mgamer20o0]

well there you go. do more water changes until it drops back down to 3-5ppm. one of the reasons i dont like shrimp or flakes for cycling a tank is its hard to control. it could be that the tap is giving you false positives. i would contact your water company and ask them if you have one.