Ammonia Spike

[scotty]

for some unknown reason for the last two weeks i seem to get an ammonia spike once a week of 0.25,haven't a clue what is causing it.nitrite is always zero,nitrate between 5-10
50% waterchanges weekly
all decaying matter removed when seen
filters maintained well
1000lph juwel powerhead internal filter
400lph fluval u2 filter
fish fed once a day

anyone any ideas how this may be happening,the only change i have made is the lights are now on for 10hrs where as before they were on for eight.

cheers

scotty

 

[drobbyb]

Does the spike coincide with your weekly water change? If it does, it just means that your water conditioner treats chloramine and that your water authority uses chloramine as a disenfectant. The resultant ammonia is left in the water column for your a-bacs to use up as food.

 

[scotty]

just before i do my waterchange

 

[drobbyb]

Hmmm.... quite the mystery here. Kind of makes me think that you may have an under performing filter and the ammonia slowly builds up, but looking at your filter (dependent on tank size and stocking) everything seems fine.

What size tank and stocking?

 

[scotty]

juwel rio 125

6 rosy tetras
6 lorentnsis corys
4 panda corys
10 neons
4 otos
3 apistos
2 bolivian rams

 

[ian]

have you checked all the fish are present Scotty, you ain't got a dead one stuck somewhere have you?

 

[scotty]

well tested my water this morning after doing a 50% waterchange yesterday,ammoni sitting at 1ppm!!! what has happened to my bacteria,are my waterchanges too big,done another waterchange,going on holidays for 2 weeks,nobody to check on my fish,will the bacteria eventually recolonize,i will need to leave it and hope the bacteria catches up,or has anyone got any suggestions?

cheers

scott

 

[scotty]

there all there

 

[scotty]

is it best not to feed the fish for a few days?

 

[drobbyb]

Something is definitely going on if you are now reading 1ppm. The size of your water changes shouldn't affect how your bacteria process ammonia. I change 50% every week and I get no ammonia spikes, so that can't be it.

During filter maintenance, how are you doing it?

 

[scotty]

usually i just rinse the media out in the tank water in a bucket,i do each filter on different weeks,but this week i rinsed them out on the same day

 

[drobbyb]

If you cleaned them vigorously, that could send you into a mini cycle. Just keep up with the water changes like you would for a fish in cycle and it should sort itself out. Established tanks usually bounce back quickly.

 

[scotty]

cheers for that

scotty

 

[scotty]

well think i may have found what is causing my ammonia readings,seemingly TPN+ can give you false ammonia readings!!!!!!

 

[RadaR]

well think i may have found what is causing my ammonia readings,seemingly TPN+ can give you false ammonia readings!!!!!!

Yup. The ammonium (NH4+) causes these false ammonia (NH3)readings but they are more commonly seen in un-cycled tanks. I've never noticed these ammonia reasons, neither have other aquarists I've talked to.