Hi, I'm having a problem with ammonia and nitrite.
basically... I was cycling 5ppm of ammonia in 12 hours so I decided to add plants with the intention of getting fish the next day. Unfortunately ammonia and nitrite started appearing on the test the next day as well as a pH crash to 6, so no fish... There MAY be something leaching ammonia into the water but I don't know what. I thought this because I did a waterchange and the ammonia was the same as before the w/c but this may not be certain...
So to rule out pH, is it ok to add bicarb or will it effect the plants? the idea is that i'm trying to raise pH + hardness so I can finish the cycle
also if adding bogwood to the tank drops the pH to 6 so quickly, how would my bacteria cope with this or will the ammonia(and nitrite) amounts be much lower with fish?
basically... I was cycling 5ppm of ammonia in 12 hours so I decided to add plants with the intention of getting fish the next day. Unfortunately ammonia and nitrite started appearing on the test the next day as well as a pH crash to 6, so no fish... There MAY be something leaching ammonia into the water but I don't know what. I thought this because I did a waterchange and the ammonia was the same as before the w/c but this may not be certain...
So to rule out pH, is it ok to add bicarb or will it effect the plants? the idea is that i'm trying to raise pH + hardness so I can finish the cycle
also if adding bogwood to the tank drops the pH to 6 so quickly, how would my bacteria cope with this or will the ammonia(and nitrite) amounts be much lower with fish?
