| Page 1 of 2 | 1 | 2 |
|
|
|
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
Hi!
I had a 55 gallon tank set up at the beginning of this year... I got a whole bunch of plants and some fish. Everything seemed to go smooth with the usual algea that disappeared after a while when I started adding CO2 and fertilizing with K and Micronutrients. At the beginning of june I noticed that I had a high amount of nitrates (20ppm) so I decided to change the water. The ammonia was about 1 at that time. I changed about half of the water. The nitrate went down by about a half but at the end of next day ammonia climbed to 2. So, in a hurry, I did another water change... and guess what... nitrate down by 50%. to 5ppm...ammonia up to 4!!!! To keep the water ph from crashing I added some bicarbonate as a buffer since my tap water KH s zero. As the days passed some of my plants started rotting .... limphonila, narrow and wide-leaf ludwigas, some of hygro. The only ones left now are anubias, chain-sword, amazon and bacopa. From what I read, ammonia is more toxic at higher ph levels so I tried not to buffer the water much... but the ph crashes very easily. On the other hand I also read that the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrites and nitrates is more active at neutral ph levels and less active when the ph is low. So, do I make my fish suffer while the bacteria processes the ammonia or keep ph low to protect my fish but risk ammonia not being processed. My ph is through the roof right now... like more that 4 or even 8. I was using Amquel previously to condition my tap water but now I have AmmoLock. Could AmmoLock be the problem? Thank you for your help and comments! Additional Note: I stopped adding CO2 because after the ammonia hell appeared the fish seem to struggle breathing when CO2 is added for the plants. Here's some entries from my tank log in reverse date order: 6/23/2006 8pm KH:1 PH:6.5 CO2:36 PHOSPHATE:0.5 AMMONIA: high off the chart 6/22/2006 8:30am KH: 2 PH:6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA 8? 6/20/2006 8:40am KH:2 PH:6.6. AMMONIA 8? Added 3 capfuls of ammolock 6/11/2006 7:15pm KH:0 PH: 6 ? CO2: AMMONIA: 1 NITRATE: PHOSPHATE: Added small teaspoon of Arm&Hammer Bicarbonate 6/10/2006 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: ??? 6/9/2006 6:15pm KH: 2 PH: 6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA: 4 !!!! PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 5 (7.5?) Found one dead bloodfin tetra fish floating on surface Changed about 40% water. Added K and TMG. 6/8/2006 6:30pm KH: 2 PH: 6.4 CO2: 23 AMMONIA: 2 PHOSPHATE: 0.5 NITRATE: 10 Changed about 45% of water and Added K and TMG 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.4 (6.5?) CO2: 35 (28?) AMMONIA: 1 PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 10 Added K and TMG 6/7/2006 6:25pm KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: 1 (0.85?) PHOSPHATE: 0 (0.1?) NITRATE: 20 Changed about 40% of water |
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
Are you using a water treatment that handles chloramines? Has your water
supplier just changed to chloramines? "Shorty" wrote in message ps.com... Hi! I had a 55 gallon tank set up at the beginning of this year... I got a whole bunch of plants and some fish. Everything seemed to go smooth with the usual algea that disappeared after a while when I started adding CO2 and fertilizing with K and Micronutrients. At the beginning of june I noticed that I had a high amount of nitrates (20ppm) so I decided to change the water. The ammonia was about 1 at that time. I changed about half of the water. The nitrate went down by about a half but at the end of next day ammonia climbed to 2. So, in a hurry, I did another water change... and guess what... nitrate down by 50%. to 5ppm...ammonia up to 4!!!! To keep the water ph from crashing I added some bicarbonate as a buffer since my tap water KH s zero. As the days passed some of my plants started rotting .... limphonila, narrow and wide-leaf ludwigas, some of hygro. The only ones left now are anubias, chain-sword, amazon and bacopa. From what I read, ammonia is more toxic at higher ph levels so I tried not to buffer the water much... but the ph crashes very easily. On the other hand I also read that the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrites and nitrates is more active at neutral ph levels and less active when the ph is low. So, do I make my fish suffer while the bacteria processes the ammonia or keep ph low to protect my fish but risk ammonia not being processed. My ph is through the roof right now... like more that 4 or even 8. I was using Amquel previously to condition my tap water but now I have AmmoLock. Could AmmoLock be the problem? Thank you for your help and comments! Additional Note: I stopped adding CO2 because after the ammonia hell appeared the fish seem to struggle breathing when CO2 is added for the plants. Here's some entries from my tank log in reverse date order: 6/23/2006 8pm KH:1 PH:6.5 CO2:36 PHOSPHATE:0.5 AMMONIA: high off the chart 6/22/2006 8:30am KH: 2 PH:6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA 8? 6/20/2006 8:40am KH:2 PH:6.6. AMMONIA 8? Added 3 capfuls of ammolock 6/11/2006 7:15pm KH:0 PH: 6 ? CO2: AMMONIA: 1 NITRATE: PHOSPHATE: Added small teaspoon of Arm&Hammer Bicarbonate 6/10/2006 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: ??? 6/9/2006 6:15pm KH: 2 PH: 6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA: 4 !!!! PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 5 (7.5?) Found one dead bloodfin tetra fish floating on surface Changed about 40% water. Added K and TMG. 6/8/2006 6:30pm KH: 2 PH: 6.4 CO2: 23 AMMONIA: 2 PHOSPHATE: 0.5 NITRATE: 10 Changed about 45% of water and Added K and TMG 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.4 (6.5?) CO2: 35 (28?) AMMONIA: 1 PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 10 Added K and TMG 6/7/2006 6:25pm KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: 1 (0.85?) PHOSPHATE: 0 (0.1?) NITRATE: 20 Changed about 40% of water |
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
Shorty wrote:
Hi! At the beginning of june I noticed that I had a high amount of nitrates (20ppm) so I decided to change the water. The ammonia was about 1 at that time. I changed about half of the water. Personally I wouldn't have worried about 20ppm and would have carried on doing the usual weekly partial water change, maybe increasing it by a few percent. The ammonia would have concerned me, but could have been the start of a mini-cycle after cleaning the filter too much or adding fish. The nitrate went down by about a half but at the end of next day ammonia climbed to 2. So, in a hurry, I did another water change... and guess what... nitrate down by 50%. to 5ppm...ammonia up to 4!!!! Are you adding water conditioner to your tap water? Did your ph drop too low and stall the cycle perhaps? To keep the water ph from crashing I added some bicarbonate as a buffer since my tap water KH s zero. I use coral substrate (1Kg per 40L) to keep it 7.4'ish. When I first started out, mine crashed to 6.0 and I had exactly the same problem as you, so I prefer to keep it high and stable now. My three community tanks have no problems using coral and I would have thought a stable ph is more important than using bottles of stuff to alter it to suit the fish. IMO you are doing too much fiddling with your tank and need to stop and take a breather to let things settle down, you simply aren't letting the thing balance by doing huge water changes and adding bicarbs, which is a temporary fix at best. If I was you I would *slowly* add some coral substrate in filter bags, eventually bury it under your normal substrate. Be careful, adding too much too quickly can have an _instant_ effect on your ph. With any luck raising the ph will kick-start your cycle like it did with mine and I haven't had any ph or cycle problems since, it's the method I use on my 180L, 125L and 500L and all of these have big pieces of bogwood in for the plecs which is known to lower the ph over time. |
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
it might also indicate a dead or dying fish.
count your fish? do you have a cat?? one of my cats loved to pee in the tank... drove me crazy. wrote in message ups.com... Shorty wrote: Hi! At the beginning of june I noticed that I had a high amount of nitrates (20ppm) so I decided to change the water. The ammonia was about 1 at that time. I changed about half of the water. Personally I wouldn't have worried about 20ppm and would have carried on doing the usual weekly partial water change, maybe increasing it by a few percent. The ammonia would have concerned me, but could have been the start of a mini-cycle after cleaning the filter too much or adding fish. The nitrate went down by about a half but at the end of next day ammonia climbed to 2. So, in a hurry, I did another water change... and guess what... nitrate down by 50%. to 5ppm...ammonia up to 4!!!! Are you adding water conditioner to your tap water? Did your ph drop too low and stall the cycle perhaps? To keep the water ph from crashing I added some bicarbonate as a buffer since my tap water KH s zero. I use coral substrate (1Kg per 40L) to keep it 7.4'ish. When I first started out, mine crashed to 6.0 and I had exactly the same problem as you, so I prefer to keep it high and stable now. My three community tanks have no problems using coral and I would have thought a stable ph is more important than using bottles of stuff to alter it to suit the fish. IMO you are doing too much fiddling with your tank and need to stop and take a breather to let things settle down, you simply aren't letting the thing balance by doing huge water changes and adding bicarbs, which is a temporary fix at best. If I was you I would *slowly* add some coral substrate in filter bags, eventually bury it under your normal substrate. Be careful, adding too much too quickly can have an _instant_ effect on your ph. With any luck raising the ph will kick-start your cycle like it did with mine and I haven't had any ph or cycle problems since, it's the method I use on my 180L, 125L and 500L and all of these have big pieces of bogwood in for the plecs which is known to lower the ph over time. |
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
kitten wrote: do you have a cat?? one of my cats loved to pee in the tank... drove me crazy. LOL, that image is going to stick with me all day! |
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
|
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
Hi, I'd take the other poster's suggestion, relax and slow down, a single fish loss is common when buying new fish etc. It likely has nothing to do with the NH4. The other issue is how do you know the NH4 cheapy test kit is accurate? I'd be suspicious if you call your tap water supplier up and ask for the NH4 and the NO3 levels they send to the customers. Stop playing with pH/KH. If you add lots of plants, you should never see any NH4. Take some filter sponge squeezings from an old filter/tank etc and add that, instant cycling, 20ppm of NO3, assuming that is a correct test kit reading is ideal. Make sure you have plenty of plnt biomass, some folks think 2-3 plants in a 55 gal is a "planted tank". That does not offer much help. Some suggest removers for NH4/NO3, well..........that's counter initutive, that's what the plants are for. That's the focus and they much better than a media bag of some chemical, I can sell plant clippings, try selling old spent media sometime. Wetlands are often used in warmer regions for waste water treatment. They remove the waste actively and efficiently. Plants and biological systems make the most effective waste removers. Take care of their needs and they will maintain excellent water quality. Regards, Tom Barr www.BarrReport.com Shorty wrote: Hi! I had a 55 gallon tank set up at the beginning of this year... I got a whole bunch of plants and some fish. Everything seemed to go smooth with the usual algea that disappeared after a while when I started adding CO2 and fertilizing with K and Micronutrients. At the beginning of june I noticed that I had a high amount of nitrates (20ppm) so I decided to change the water. The ammonia was about 1 at that time. I changed about half of the water. The nitrate went down by about a half but at the end of next day ammonia climbed to 2. So, in a hurry, I did another water change... and guess what... nitrate down by 50%. to 5ppm...ammonia up to 4!!!! To keep the water ph from crashing I added some bicarbonate as a buffer since my tap water KH s zero. As the days passed some of my plants started rotting .... limphonila, narrow and wide-leaf ludwigas, some of hygro. The only ones left now are anubias, chain-sword, amazon and bacopa. From what I read, ammonia is more toxic at higher ph levels so I tried not to buffer the water much... but the ph crashes very easily. On the other hand I also read that the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrites and nitrates is more active at neutral ph levels and less active when the ph is low. So, do I make my fish suffer while the bacteria processes the ammonia or keep ph low to protect my fish but risk ammonia not being processed. My ph is through the roof right now... like more that 4 or even 8. I was using Amquel previously to condition my tap water but now I have AmmoLock. Could AmmoLock be the problem? Thank you for your help and comments! Additional Note: I stopped adding CO2 because after the ammonia hell appeared the fish seem to struggle breathing when CO2 is added for the plants. Here's some entries from my tank log in reverse date order: 6/23/2006 8pm KH:1 PH:6.5 CO2:36 PHOSPHATE:0.5 AMMONIA: high off the chart 6/22/2006 8:30am KH: 2 PH:6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA 8? 6/20/2006 8:40am KH:2 PH:6.6. AMMONIA 8? Added 3 capfuls of ammolock 6/11/2006 7:15pm KH:0 PH: 6 ? CO2: AMMONIA: 1 NITRATE: PHOSPHATE: Added small teaspoon of Arm&Hammer Bicarbonate 6/10/2006 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: ??? 6/9/2006 6:15pm KH: 2 PH: 6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA: 4 !!!! PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 5 (7.5?) Found one dead bloodfin tetra fish floating on surface Changed about 40% water. Added K and TMG. 6/8/2006 6:30pm KH: 2 PH: 6.4 CO2: 23 AMMONIA: 2 PHOSPHATE: 0.5 NITRATE: 10 Changed about 45% of water and Added K and TMG 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.4 (6.5?) CO2: 35 (28?) AMMONIA: 1 PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 10 Added K and TMG 6/7/2006 6:25pm KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: 1 (0.85?) PHOSPHATE: 0 (0.1?) NITRATE: 20 Changed about 40% of water |
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
Just to rule it out, test your tap water for ammonia levels. The chloramines
in my tap water register as 'ammonia'. |
Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
kay-bee wrote: Just to rule it out, test your tap water for ammonia levels. The chloramines in my tap water register as 'ammonia'. Thank you for all the comments. I think the pH did crash and possibly killed all the beneficial bacteria. I tested my tap water before and after adding water conditioner and didn't get any ammonia indication. I think after the ph crash the dead plants may have contributed to the ammonia increase. I will try to take a more "relaxed" attitude towards my tank. |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:03 PM. |
|
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
FishKeepingBanter.com