Ammonia at around 4ppm - how do i lower it?

[aanubias]

It's been a week since I set up my fluval spec 5 gallon and the ammonia has only gotten worse i think. I asked a friend and he says it might be the substrate causing the high ammonia levels. The substrate is JBL manado dark and I mainly bought this substrate because it says its good for plants. My current plants are doing pretty good I think, I'm seeing a lot of growth from one of them especially. I did a small water change 2 days ago to see if the ammonia would go down but when I checked today it's at around 4 I think. I heard somewhere that if it's too high it will stall the cycle? Should I wait it out or just leave it and not do anything? Also the water has been slightly cloudy since the day I set the tank up and it hasn't cleared up yet.

 

[GMazzle 83]

It's been a week since I set up my fluval spec 5 gallon and the ammonia has only gotten worse i think. I asked a friend and he says it might be the substrate causing the high ammonia levels. The substrate is JBL manado dark and I mainly bought this substrate because it says its good for plants. My plants current plants are doing pretty good I think, I'm seeing a lot of growth from one of them especially. I did a small water change 2 days ago to see if the ammonia would go down but when I checked today it's at around 4 I think. I heard somewhere that if it's too high it will stall the cycle? Should I wait it out or just leave it and not do anything? Also the water has been slightly cloudy since the day I set the tank up and it hasn't cleared up yet.

Hi asturias,
Have you been putting bennificial bacteria into the tank everyday for the first week?
This will help alot with the ammonia.
Have you checked your water source for ammonia and nitrates?
Do a large water change firstly and see if this helps.

 

[aanubias]

Hi asturias,
Have you been putting bennificial bacteria into the tank everyday for the first week?
This will help alot with the ammonia.
Have you checked your water source for ammonia and nitrates?
Do a large water change firstly and see if this helps.

I followed what the bottle of bacteria said on the back and it said to dose the tank for the first 3 days which I did. I then dosed it one more time because of the high ammonia but still nothing has changed. I checked my water source today and it has no ammonia in it. I have nitrates in my tap water but thats normal for my area. I guess I'll do a large water change in a bit to see if that helps. This is the bacteria I use: https://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/aquacare-bio-boost-120ml

 

[Essjay]

Some plant substrates do leach ammonia, this can last for up to several months. If you have any left, you can see if tit's the substrate by putting some in a tub of plain water and see if the ammonia level goes up in there.

Have you added any ammonia to the tank at all, or are there any fish in the tank (you don't mention this in the first post)?


4 ppm is not too high to stall the cycle, but don't let it get to 8 - keep it lower than that by water changes.

 

[aanubias]

Some plant substrates do leach ammonia, this can last for up to several months. If you have any left, you can see if tit's the substrate by putting some in a tub of plain water and see if the ammonia level goes up in there.

Have you added any ammonia to the tank at all, or are there any fish in the tank (you don't mention this in the first post)?


4 ppm is not too high to stall the cycle, but don't let it get to 8 - keep it lower than that by water changes.

I didn't add any ammonia to the tank and there are no fish in there. Some of the leaves of some plants were dying so i left some in there to create ammonia and took some of it out. There are some dead roots and stuff on the substrate from those plants. I also added some root tabs a few days ago.

 

[Essjay]

The dead plants may have lead to the ammonia.

Tetra Safe Start is the most reliable bottled bacteria. If the ammonia level doesn't strat to go down, you could try using that.