I have had an Amonia level of 2.0 for about 3 days now! I have done about 5 water changes (20-25%) and still no result!
Some water de-chlorinating solutions also break down chloramine, if it is present in your water. Unfortunately, when you break the chloramine's chemical bond you end up with ammonia. If your de-chlorinating solution does not include a component to neutralize the ammonia, you could be putting ammonia in your tank when you water change. That's one possible explanation for why the ammonia level is not dropping. Most de-chlorinators that break down chloramine but don't deal with the resulting ammonia warn you of this on the label.
On another note altogether... until your tank reaches the next phase of the cycle, there will be ammonia in your tank (if there are fish in it). If you reduce the concentration of ammonia with water changes, you are also extending the time it will require for colonization of the ammonia-eating bacteria. You don't want to kill your fish, obviously, but you need enough ammonia to induce the cycle. To a point, water changes are counterproductive. Your pH level also plays heavily into this. Ammonia is supposedly "safe" for fish up to about 10 ppm at a pH of 6.5, but even 0.5 ppm is toxic at a pH of 7.8. While cycling, lower pH is better (within an acceptable range, of course). 2.0 ppm isn't really that bad if your pH is somewhere around 6.8 to 7.2.
Also, it is often recommended that you don't vacuum gravel in a cycling tank, as you risk stalling the cycle by disturbing the "colonization grounds" for the bacteria while it's attempting to establish. There are differing opinions on this, but I didn't do it. Generally speaking, don't overly-disturb or add anything (chemically-speaking) to a cycling tank, if you can help it. If you develop algae or diatoms or whatever, let them be until the cycle completes, and then deal with it. Sometimes they'll fade away after the cycle completes anyway. The cycling process is your aquarium reaching a state of equilibrium. It can't find that equilibrium point if the environment is constantly changing.
pendragon!
I have had an Amonia level of 2.0 for about 3 days now! I have done about 5 water changes (20-25%) and still no result! I am cycling my tank so I don't know if this is normal or not?
