.25 Ppm Ammonia In Established Tank

[Kirky1986]

Hi all, After a but of adivice,

Got my new 405litre tank just over a week ago. The tank had been up and running for years before i acquired it, every effort was made to keep bacteria up and running.

Its been fine all week then randomly yesterday i noticed the water was a little cloudy (grey), so i did a water test which cam out as follows:

Ph - 7.6
Ammonia - .25ppm
Nitrate - 0
Nitrate - <10ppm

I havent added any fish, i cleaned on of the canister filters last week as it wasnt flowing properly and a 30 litre water change on friday and added relevant amounts of tapsafe.

In the tank is:

3 - medium angels
1 - small severum
1 - betta
2 - medium plecs
2 - small bn plecs
3 - juvie mollies and
1 - femal guppy

I have been known to overfeed but now only feed a small amount every 2 days and had cucumber and mushroom in for the plecs but taken out after about 15-17 hours.

All fish are active and seem fine just abit puzzled as to whats goin on?!

Thanks in advance

 

[coolie]

I believe it's the substrate. Was it disturbed, moved around etc, when you took the tank over or did you use new?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Have you tested your tap water?
What test kit are you using?

 

[Kirky1986]

Substrate was moved around but left to settle and tested before adding fish by myself and lfs.

Tests were perfect after tank had settled and after adding fish!

I use api master test kit, the same as the lfs uses.

I havent tested my tap water but whole tank was filled from the hose as we couldnt transport alot of the existing water just what was in the filters.

 

[coolie]

It's been said on this site before that even a small disturbance in the substrate can cause a mini cycle, and you can figure why, your water gone cloudy is all of that organic silt out of it.

 

[Shaddex]

My main concern is that you "Cleaned the filter".
Did you clean it with Tap water or Tank water ? If you used Tap water, this may have harmed your bacterial colony in your filter.

Using API Master kits, I sometimes get a "False" .25 on ammonia. (Even after a water change). Just keep your eye on it and test again after 12-24 hours.

 

[Kirky1986]

I cleaned it with tank water. Sorry i shouldve specified that

Just tested my tap water an looks like there .25ppm ammonia straight out the tap! Which is strange as ive been in this house for 5 months doin regular water changes on 2 tanks with no issues until now!

Wonder why the tap water has changed!!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Like Shaddex said, it may be a false reading. My kit reads 0.25ppm of ammonia, however, I know that there is not any ammonia in the tap/tank because I've had a professional test done on my tank that came back with 0 ammonia.
Also, you say you added the water with the hose, did you dechlorinate the water?

 

[Kirky1986]

Filled the tank with the hose added 50ml of tapsafe (enough for nearly 500l) cleaned the filter in tank water and added 10 ml of tapsafe just to be safe. Did a 30l change on friday and added enough to cover the water replaced as i normally do.

Gravel hasnt been disturbed since moving it in last week.

I think ill take a sample of my water and tap water to my lfs today to see what his reading are. (My early tests were the same as his!)

So its probonly gonna be the tap water adding ammonia!

 

[coolie]

You're picking up the ammonia in Chloramine when you test the tap water. There's not free Ammonia in tap water, but it's added to Chlorine to form Chloramine and you are picking it up on your Ammonia test.
It should be removed by your water dechlorinator.

 

[Kirky1986]

Ah right!! Well water has cleared up and test at lfs came back perfect so must have just been a blip!

Thanks for your help and insight!