Ammonia

[whopperkingfish]

Hi, I have recently set up a new tank and followed all the instructions to cycle the tank leaving it for a few weeks to get the bacteria in the filter before we added any fish, we then did a 25% change and added 4 danios and some plants, ammonia levels are constant at 0.5% and spiking to 1-2%, whatever we have tried to do we cannot bring this level back below 0.5% despite partial water changes, plants are growing well and the fish are not showing any distress but I am loathe to add more fish until I understand the ammonia problem, the tank is a 60 litre and our filter is a stingray elite 15. I have also tested the tap water and low and behold this also had ammonia level of 0.5% so doing water changes isn't going to help. I have no idea what to do next and I would rather not use chemical treatments as I believe in a natural cycle for the tank.

 

[webber555]

Hi, I have recently set up a new tank and followed all the instructions to cycle the tank leaving it for a few weeks to get the bacteria in the filter before we added any fish, we then did a 25% change and added 4 danios and some plants, ammonia levels are constant at 0.5% and spiking to 1-2%, whatever we have tried to do we cannot bring this level back below 0.5% despite partial water changes, plants are growing well and the fish are not showing any distress but I am loathe to add more fish until I understand the ammonia problem, the tank is a 60 litre and our filter is a stingray elite 15. I have also tested the tap water and low and behold this also had ammonia level of 0.5% so doing water changes isn't going to help. I have no idea what to do next and I would rather not use chemical treatments as I believe in a natural cycle for the tank.

When you left it for a few weeks - did you add ammonia and complete a fishless cycle? Or just let it rest? Letting it rest will do nothing really.

When you add water from your tap, do you dechlorinate it first?

What are you using to test the water?

Danios are relatively hardy, it's how I had to cycle my tanks because Australia has no ammonia available and fish sellers who haven't heard about fishless cycling... - keep up regular 25% water changes...

 

[fluttermoth]

If you switch to Seachem Prime for your water conditioner, that will detoxify the ammonia and make your water changes safe. Once your filter is cycled, it'll very rapidly get rid of that ammonia.

Household ammonia is not the only way to fishless cycle; you can use fish food or a prawn to rot down and produce the ammonia.

 

[whopperkingfish]

There is ammonia in the tap water so it was rested just with that and water was dechlorinated first. The test kit is an API ammonia test kit, the danios have been in the tank about 3 weeks now with minimal feeding but still the ammonia stays high.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Have you left the tap water to stand for 24hrs then tested it?

 

[fluttermoth]

Your ammonia is high because your filter isn't cycled and can't reduce it. You have to rely on water changes to bring it down; danios are tough fish, but will still suffer if the ammonia gets too high.

 

[whopperkingfish]

We do water changes weekly and the ammonia drops back to 0.5% and no I haven't left the water for 24hours before testing, I'll look into the Seachem Prime.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

We do water changes weekly and the ammonia drops back to 0.5% and no I haven't left the water for 24hours before testing, I'll look into the Seachem Prime.

prob a good idea then you will know what your pouring into your tank each week

 

[Tizer]

We do water changes weekly and the ammonia drops back to 0.5% and no I haven't left the water for 24hours before testing, I'll look into the Seachem Prime.

do a 50% water change every other day and in about 4 weeks your filter should be able to handle it, just make sure you dechlorinate the water using said dechlorinator (seachem) can get on ebay easily enough.