Confusing Ammonia Results

[saz326]

Ditto with above.

Do a hefty water change (75%) and dont use ammolock for a while. This way you can at least test the water and check the filter is still cycled.

 

[Geoff1991]

Your stingray filter uses Zeolite - which is probably now saturated - hence the odd ammonia readings. Zeolite sucks ammonia out of the water until the zeolite is saturated - then it starts dumping excess ammonia into the water.

Without knowing the full history it is difficult to tell if you are properly cycled or not.
Have you ever seen a nitrite reading? I.E. did you go through a phase of high nitrite that cycled down to 0?
Have you ever changed the zeolite / carbon cartridges?

As you are using ammo-lock - you may want to consider removing the zeolite / carbon cartridges and replacing them with different media - e.g. foam or floss.
I would change one now and then the other in a couple of weeks time. Keep a close eye on your water stats - you may need to go through a fish-in cycle process I'm afraid.

Sounds like this guy has cracked it. Stingrays do have zeolite in which will eat up all the ammonia, then become saturated. Ive heard of people thinking theyve cycled the filter, then the zeolite runs out and they have high ammonia...

 

[mickspark81]

If you havnt already i suggest you check the levels of ammonia in your tap water just in case. An online friend of mine was picking up ammonia out of his tap

Good luck

 

[Forestpisces]

Right as i have no ammonia in my tap water i'm not over feeding and i whent through the entire cycle process (ammonia, nitrItes,nitrAtes) then i'm going to have to guess it's the zeolight cartridges, i'll change half in a few days when i can get some different media and leave that for about 2 weeks then change the other half, and hope for the best.

Thankyou all so much for your help, don't know why this got moved to the newbie section

Of course i will by restlessly water changing the entire time

Wish me luck.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Alchemist and Geoff. If you know the Zeolite is still in there then that's gotta be it. We've had that happen to several people. Some people just figure out how to replace the cartridges, others go for a new filter that has more media volume.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rewlyn]

you say you w/c eeryday, i dont think thats recommended and for ammonia to disapear you have to let it sit, so on your mext w/c add ammolock and leave for 3 days then retest, if that doesnt work do it again but this time add "CYCLE" made by hagen, if you need repeat the successful, i was having major hassles doin my fish-in cycle and this worked for me, i got sick of doin w/c's ad just added 1.5 tim the amount of ammolock nd "CYCLE".
give it ago you never know

rewlyn

 

[afishdude]

Is this city tap or well water? Have you tested the tap water?

 

[OldMan47]

You are on the right track with daily water changes to control ammonia. The dechlorinators can sometimes skew the test results but they are a necessary part of doing a 40% daily water change. If you have not already tried it, treat some water change water in a bucket and test it for ammonia before you add it to the tank. If you have chloramine, you will find some ammonia, like I do, after you have made the treatment, even though your tap water has no apparent ammonia before the dechlorinator treatment. That ammonia has come from breaking the chemical bonds in your chloramine. If your dechlorinator is rated to remove and neutralize chloramine, that part of the ammonia can be ignored.