Fluval Stratum raises ammonia level?

[Chloe07]

hello, recently I was having ammonia 0.25ppm regardless of frequent water change
I use RO water + seachem replenish to mineralize. It was weird since I have 1 betta with 1 low flow HOB filter and 1 small sponge filter.
Then I read someone mentioning fluval stratum raises ammonia.
I bought my fluval stratum from local Petco, so its not an old stock. I rinsed gently with RO water and put it in a bucket of same mineralized RO water that use for water change.
In the fish tank I had put only a handful of fluval stratum in a little pot planted with Amazon sword. I also have little anubias, and planned to put more plants after adding the fluval stratum.
I did 30% water change this morning and now I checked and its still 0.25ppm ammonia! (0ppm nitrite, 5ppm nitrate)
So I checked the bucket containing the fluval stratum (and it has been there for 3 days only) and the ammonia is 2.0 ppm. Please take a look at the picture.
starting from far left,
1st bottle. bucket of water containing full bag of fluval stratum for 3days
2. tank water
3. mineralized RO water (no water condition added)
4. PH of bucket containing fluval stratum
5. PH of mineralized RO water

The ph is the same. I heard Fluval stratum lowers the ph, my ph is about 7 so I was even afraid it would lower too much. But there is no ph change with fluval stratum.
Could someone explain the reason for this? So many people use Fluval stratum but wouldn't this ammonia level crash my cycle? I had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate.
I thought it was my snail causing ammonia spike but I guess it was Fluval stratum?
I'm going to do another partial water change. should I remove the fluval stratum from the tank immediately?

 

[Colin_T]

Get a small bottle of distilled water from a shop and test the ammonia level in that. If there is 0.25ppm of ammonia in the distilled water, then your test kit is reading 0ppm as 0.25ppm, or the test kit is dodgy.

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If the substrate is causing ammonia problems, then take it out.

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Small water changes don't do anything to dilute nutrients. You are better off doing a 50-75% water change.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

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Ammonia doesn't normally crash cycles. If the ammonia level goes above 5ppm, the beneficial bacteria cannot process it and the cycling process can stop. If that happens, you do a huge water change to dilute the ammonia and the bacteria start growing and feeding again.

Having 0.25ppm of ammonia in the water will not harm the filter bacteria but it will harm the fish, snails and shrimp.

 

[Chloe07]

Get a small bottle of distilled water from a shop and test the ammonia level in that. If there is 0.25ppm of ammonia in the distilled water, then your test kit is reading 0ppm as 0.25ppm, or the test kit is dodgy.

-------------------------
If the substrate is causing ammonia problems, then take it out.

-------------------------
Small water changes don't do anything to dilute nutrients. You are better off doing a 50-75% water change.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

-------------------------
Ammonia doesn't normally crash cycles. If the ammonia level goes above 5ppm, the beneficial bacteria cannot process it and the cycling process can stop. If that happens, you do a huge water change to dilute the ammonia and the bacteria start growing and feeding again.

Having 0.25ppm of ammonia in the water will not harm the filter bacteria but it will harm the fish, snails and shrimp.

Hello Colin, thank you for your reply. Please take a look of the 3rd bottle in the picture. Its RO water and its yellow.
I just tested distilled water and its also yellow.
I'm doing about 20~30% water change everyday or every other day. When there is 0.25ppm ammonia, would you recommend doing like 50%?
I bought the test kit in petsmart, but I will go there to do water test. I remember their test strip had different reading than my kit.
If my kit is accurate, I wonder why the fruval stratum would raise the ph. And there were some others experiencing the same thing. The ammonia should be 0 since my main concern is my fish. I bought plants to help ammonia and oxygen in the water for my fish.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I do a 50% water change/ gravel vacuum every week, and my parameters are correct, and in order. So I do suggest doing a 50% water change, every week.

Plant do add a good supply of oxygen to the tank. If you are concerned about there being not enough oxygen, you can always purchase a air stone, and air pump. I hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[Byron]

General comments. Plant substrates presumably contain nutrients in some form (some do not whatever they claim) and frequently these may be organics. As organics decompose, they produce ammonia and CO2. The theory is that this will benefit plants, which should be true. So it is not surprising that Fluval stratum may raise ammonia. It might also increase pH if it contains the "hard minerals" like calcium and magnesium. I've no idea, just making the observation.

One reason I never recommend or endorse any of the so-called "plant" substrates. Aquatic plants really do not need these, and I have doubt as to how effective they are anyway. In most tanks with fish there are sufficient nutrients for plants, and using a substrate tab for larger plants (Amazon swords benefit) is easier than going through the pitfalls.

 

[Chloe07]

I do a 50% water change/ gravel vacuum every week, and my parameters are correct, and in order. So I do suggest doing a 50% water change, every week.

Plant do add a good supply of oxygen to the tank. If you are concerned about there being not enough oxygen, you can always purchase a air stone, and air pump. I hope this helps, and good luck!

I have air stone, Im going to put back in. Thank you

 

[Chloe07]

General comments. Plant substrates presumably contain nutrients in some form (some do not whatever they claim) and frequently these may be organics. As organics decompose, they produce ammonia and CO2. The theory is that this will benefit plants, which should be true. So it is not surprising that Fluval stratum may raise ammonia. It might also increase pH if it contains the "hard minerals" like calcium and magnesium. I've no idea, just making the observation.

One reason I never recommend or endorse any of the so-called "plant" substrates. Aquatic plants really do not need these, and I have doubt as to how effective they are anyway. In most tanks with fish there are sufficient nutrients for plants, and using a substrate tab for larger plants (Amazon swords benefit) is easier than going through the pitfalls.

Thats what I thought too. Plants consume ammonia, but fish already produces ammonia so introducing just more ammonia will harm the fish. Would you recommend sand?
I was considering half sand and put fluval stratum in where th plants are, but there is no chance to use it again.

 

[Byron]

Thats what I thought too. Plants consume ammonia, but fish already produces ammonia so introducing just more ammonia will harm the fish. Would you recommend sand?
I was considering half sand and put fluval stratum in where th plants are, but there is no chance to use it again.

I like sand substrates, just regular play sand. It is very safe, plants will grow well in it, it will not harm substrate fish, and it is inexpensive. A dark colour/tone is best. Avoid white no matter what, this is not good on fish.

 

[Chloe07]

I like sand substrates, just regular play sand. It is very safe, plants will grow well in it, it will not harm substrate fish, and it is inexpensive. A dark colour/tone is best. Avoid white no matter what, this is not good on fish.

So CaribSea Super Naturals Premium Aquarium Substrate for freshwater, brown color, for example should be fine? the reason to avoid white color is because they bleach to make it white?
What kind of substrate tab do you find to be safe? thank you for your recommendation.

 

[Byron]

So CaribSea Super Naturals Premium Aquarium Substrate for freshwater, brown color, for example should be fine? the reason to avoid white color is because they bleach to make it white?
What kind of substrate tab do you find to be safe? thank you for your recommendation.

If you mean one of those in the link, they should be OK.
https://caribsea.com/aquarium/#freshwater-substrates

You mention this tank holding a male Betta, so he will not likely care what thee substrate is comprised of (except the colour, I'll come to that momentarily). Substrate fish like cories would require sand for example, but here you could use any of the gravels or sand in the link.

White is bad because it is white. No freshwater fish lives over a white substrate, so this can stress out the fish. The white is not only white, but it also reflects light which makes it twice as bad for the fish. I even find white substrates difficult to observe because of the glare. Dark substrates are always better.

I have fine gravel in one tank because it is intended to replicate an Asian hill stream for loaches. My other tanks all have dark grey play sand. There is nothing safer than play sand for fish; it is refined to have no roughness, it is natural (it replicates sands in the tropical regions), it is inert so it won't affect water chemistry, plants grow well in it, and fish seem to like it (those that live on the substrate).

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Is just any kind of play sand ok? Because I saw a 50 lb bag of play sand today, for $5! That is really good for sand, in the aquarium hobby, so is it ok? Thanks!

 

[Byron]

Is just any kind of play sand ok? Because I saw a 50 lb bag of play sand today, for $5! That is really good for sand, in the aquarium hobby, so is it ok? Thanks!

Yes, I would say it is safe. You live in Kentucky so Home Depot or Lowe's carry Quikrete Play Sand which is what I use. There is a dark grey (I have this) and a buff-tone type, either is safe. I prefer the darker one.