What is an acceptable level of amonia ?

[Nzed]

Thanks for the previous replies.
The 180 litre tank is all set up and working nicely. The fish are all happy.

I have checked the amonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph.

the amonia after one week is now 0.75 and I have changed 25% of the water.

the nitrite was 0.25

Can someone tell me what is an acceptable level before I should do a water
change ?

NZed

[Amateur Cichlids]

"Nzed" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for the previous replies.
> The 180 litre tank is all set up and working nicely. The fish are all
> happy.
>
> I have checked the amonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph.
>
> the amonia after one week is now 0.75 and I have changed 25% of the water.
>
> the nitrite was 0.25
>
> Can someone tell me what is an acceptable level before I should do a water
> change ?
>
> NZed
>
>

Ammonia level and nitrite level in a cycled tank should always be 0.
Ammonia can burn your fish's sensitive tissue and is a big cause of death in
new tanks. It's too late now to research fishless cycling, but you can try
to jump start your bacteria colony if you know anyone that has a tank set
up. Borrow some gravel or used filter media and but it in your filter. This
should help along the cycle process.
Tim
www.fishaholics.org

[Geezer From The Freezer]

Amateur Cichlids wrote:
> Ammonia level and nitrite level in a cycled tank should always be 0.
> Ammonia can burn your fish's sensitive tissue and is a big cause of death in
> new tanks. It's too late now to research fishless cycling, but you can try
> to jump start your bacteria colony if you know anyone that has a tank set
> up. Borrow some gravel or used filter media and but it in your filter. This
> should help along the cycle process.
> Tim
> www.fishaholics.org

Not when it's cycling. The biobugs need food. 0.75 and 0.25 for ammonia and
nitrite
should be fine. If your fish look like they are suffering at all just do a water
change. When cycling a tank you never want ammonia or nitrite to be 0 - only
afterwards!

[[email protected]]

during cycling ammonia and nitrites should be just barely detectable, like the first
level detected by your test. do as big water changes as needed to get the levels
down, do them as often as required to keep the levels down.
add 1 teaspoon salt per 5 gallons of water. use solar or water softening salt with
no additives. salt will be protective
If you can get BIOSPIRA for the tank, the stuff really works to speed up the cycling
cycling is going to take a month otherwise..
Ingrid

"Nzed" > wrote:

>Thanks for the previous replies.
>The 180 litre tank is all set up and working nicely. The fish are all happy.
>
>I have checked the amonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph.
>
>the amonia after one week is now 0.75 and I have changed 25% of the water.
>
>the nitrite was 0.25
>
>Can someone tell me what is an acceptable level before I should do a water
>change ?
>
>NZed
>



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Amateur Cichlids]

"Geezer From The Freezer" > wrote in message
...

> Not when it's cycling. The biobugs need food. 0.75 and 0.25 for ammonia
> and
> nitrite
> should be fine. If your fish look like they are suffering at all just do a
> water
> change. When cycling a tank you never want ammonia or nitrite to be 0 -
> only
> afterwards!

True, not when cycling. But there's already fish in the tank. The tank
should have been cycled prior to adding fish. In this day of fishless
cycling, bio-spira or just knowing enough to get some bacteria from a tank
that's already set up, there's no reason to use fish to cycle a tank.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Tim

www.fishaholics.org

[NZed]

Thanks for the feedback
I did a one third water change and got the levels down.
I havent cleaned the filter, anticipating doing that in about a month. After
the tank has cycled.
But have taken the point of adding more salt for the replacement water.

NZed

> wrote in message
...
> during cycling ammonia and nitrites should be just barely detectable, like
the first
> level detected by your test. do as big water changes as needed to get the
levels
> down, do them as often as required to keep the levels down.
> add 1 teaspoon salt per 5 gallons of water. use solar or water softening
salt with
> no additives. salt will be protective
> If you can get BIOSPIRA for the tank, the stuff really works to speed up
the cycling
> cycling is going to take a month otherwise..
> Ingrid
>
> "Nzed" > wrote:
>
> >Thanks for the previous replies.
> >The 180 litre tank is all set up and working nicely. The fish are all
happy.
> >
> >I have checked the amonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph.
> >
> >the amonia after one week is now 0.75 and I have changed 25% of the
water.
> >
> >the nitrite was 0.25
> >
> >Can someone tell me what is an acceptable level before I should do a
water
> >change ?
> >
> >NZed
> >
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
> http://puregold.aquaria.net/
> www.drsolo.com
> Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
> compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
> endorsements or recommendations I make.


---
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[Geezer From The Freezer]

Amateur Cichlids wrote:
>
> "Geezer From The Freezer" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> > Not when it's cycling. The biobugs need food. 0.75 and 0.25 for ammonia
> > and
> > nitrite
> > should be fine. If your fish look like they are suffering at all just do a
> > water
> > change. When cycling a tank you never want ammonia or nitrite to be 0 -
> > only
> > afterwards!
>
> True, not when cycling. But there's already fish in the tank. The tank
> should have been cycled prior to adding fish. In this day of fishless
> cycling, bio-spira or just knowing enough to get some bacteria from a tank
> that's already set up, there's no reason to use fish to cycle a tank.
> Just my 2 cents worth.
> Tim
>
> www.fishaholics.org

Bio Spira is not available in some regions - I've never seen it in the UK.

[Geezer From The Freezer]

NZed wrote:
>
> Thanks for the feedback
> I did a one third water change and got the levels down.
> I havent cleaned the filter, anticipating doing that in about a month. After
> the tank has cycled.
> But have taken the point of adding more salt for the replacement water.
>
> NZed

Only ever clean the filter when the intake slows down. There is no other
reason to clean it, even if it looks dirty. Also remember to only clean it in
tank water and to clean pads individually and not all at the same time.

[azztek]

> Not when it's cycling. The biobugs need food. 0.75 and 0.25 for ammonia and
> nitrite
> should be fine.

those levels are fatal

[Geezer From The Freezer]

azztek wrote:
>
> > Not when it's cycling. The biobugs need food. 0.75 and 0.25 for ammonia and
> > nitrite
> > should be fine.
>
> those levels are fatal

They are nowhere near fatal!

[Donald K]

Geezer From The Freezer wrote:

>
>
> azztek wrote:
>>
>> > Not when it's cycling. The biobugs need food. 0.75 and 0.25 for
>> > ammonia and nitrite
>> > should be fine.
>>
>> those levels are fatal
>
> They are nowhere near fatal!

We don't know the units or the type of test kit...

-D
--
"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem,
see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable
words." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe