Ammonia Chips Rock!

[CBBP]

Well, I added a bunch of cories to my tank. I added 9 at first and the ammonia climbed a bit so I vacuumed the gravel of the ammonia adding (for cycling) fish food and it went down. So I went back and added more fish, still no ammonia problems, then I got new fish after that because, of course, no ammonia! It was good for two days and then boom! Ammonia of 1 ppm!

Anyway, I was panicking and then I remembered I had ammonia chips, I dumped a bunch in a sock, tied it off and tossed it in. it was back to 0 in no time. I knew I could not keep them in there forever but I did not know what to do about the ammonia, I wanted to let the biobugs play catch up with the ammonia levels but not let it run wild. So then I decided to try an experiment, I would slowly wheen the tank off the ammonia chips. I slowly removed ammonia chips till the ammonia climbed to a level that was just above zero yet below 0.25 and waited till it became zero once more and then repeated this. Today I have removed almost all the ammonia chips and I am hopping this is because the bio-bugs have caught up.

Anyway.. my question is, is this a good way to use ammonia chips? has anyone else used this technique when adding new fish?

I think this might be a technique that could come in handy for people with ammonia problems.

 

[Bignose]

But it is hardly a long-term solution. No ammonia, means no ammonia-eating bacteria. No cycling whatsoever.

These can be very, very good for emergency use, but are not a long-term solution unless you have gobs of money to give to the LFSs.

 

[CBBP]

But it is hardly a long-term solution. No ammonia, means no ammonia-eating bacteria. No cycling whatsoever.

These can be very, very good for emergency use, but are not a long-term solution unless you have gobs of money to give to the LFSs.

well I remove them as the levels hit zero. then ammonia rised back to around 0.25 then I wait till it dies down a bit and remove more.. so there is not no ammonia.. just low levles.. wheening.. see?

 

[Bignose]

weaning or not, ammonia chips are not a long-term solution. If the ammonia-eating bacteria have no food, they will die.

 

[CBBP]

weaning or not, ammonia chips are not a long-term solution. If the ammonia-eating bacteria have no food, they will die.

I know.. I removed the ships an hour ago and ammonia is not spiking.. but staying between 0.25 and 0 so i guess that means the bacteria is doing its job..

 

[Bignose]

Just 1 hour? That may not have been enough time for much ammonia to build up yet, report back in the morning.

Next time, may I suggest frequent water changes? So long as you match the temperature and the hardness and pH of the new water aren't too far away from the tank's current water, you can do almost as large of a waterchange as you want.

And, obviously, something like a 75% water change reduces the ammonia level from 1.0 ppm to 0.25 ppm.
2 75% changes, it is down to 0.0625, though I'd wait a few hours between changes.

The bacteria will continue to grow; the bacteria will grow until the rate the bacteria process ammonia is exactly the same as the rate at which fish produce ammonia. The bacteria do not care if the current level is 1.0 or 0.25, they do care about the rate at which the fish are procuding ammonia. Same fish before and after the water change, means the same rate, so the colony will grow and the fish aren't exposed to nearly as high a level of pollution.

At the very least, small but frequent changes can keep the levels manageable while the colony catches up.

 

[CBBP]

Just 1 hour? That may not have been enough time for much ammonia to build up yet, report back in the morning.

Next time, may I suggest frequent water changes? So long as you match the temperature and the hardness and pH of the new water aren't too far away from the tank's current water, you can do almost as large of a waterchange as you want.

And, obviously, something like a 75% water change reduces the ammonia level from 1.0 ppm to 0.25 ppm.
2 75% changes, it is down to 0.0625, though I'd wait a few hours between changes.

The bacteria will continue to grow; the bacteria will grow until the rate the bacteria process ammonia is exactly the same as the rate at which fish produce ammonia. The bacteria do not care if the current level is 1.0 or 0.25, they do care about the rate at which the fish are procuding ammonia. Same fish before and after the water change, means the same rate, so the colony will grow and the fish aren't exposed to nearly as high a level of pollution.

At the very least, small but frequent changes can keep the levels manageable while the colony catches up.

Thnaks.. but I am aware.. the problems is I am not here/awake long enough durijg the day to do a water change every threee hours.