Help! My tank has recorded .25 - .5 ppm of ammonia, and none of the nitrates or nitrites!

[Slaphppy7]

It will work in ANY tank....too well, lol....completely carpets the surface of the water, limiting light for lower plants...it's a mess, avoid

 

[Tacocat]

It will work in ANY tank....too well, lol....completely carpets the surface of the water, limiting light for lower plants...it's a mess, avoid

So Frogbit is like duckweed, but bigger and less prolific. I'm surprised duckweed isn't invasive yet.

 

[Slaphppy7]

So Frogbit is like duckweed, but bigger and less prolific. I'm surprised duckweed isn't invasive yet.

Correct about the frogbit.

duckweed an invasive species? at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

 

[Essjay]

Frogbit will try to take over but the plants are a lot bigger than duckweed making it easy to take them out if too many grow.

 

[Tacocat]

Thanks for all the replies! I just have one more question then I think I'll do a journal just to keep track of things.

The hell is this supposed to mean? I did a water change 2 days ago, and nitrates haven't gone up, nitrite is the same, and ammonia looks like it went down!

@Essjay Just one more thing - do you know what this means? I'm really hoping it's just a fluke, or something, or it's the duckweed doing its job. Today I'll do a 50% change, just to be safe.

 

[Essjay]

It's hard to tell from the photos as ammonia looks to be about 0.5 in both photos on my laptop screen. You can see the test results in person. What does the ammonia test look like to you?
Also, are you reading the test tube under the same light? It is well known that the type of light can make the ammonia test look different. The best is daylight, but not direct sunlight. Fluorescent lights (including compact fluorescent bulbs) make it look different. Always read the tubes under the same light each time.

 

[Tacocat]

It's hard to tell from the photos as ammonia looks to be about 0.5 in both photos on my laptop screen. You can see the test results in person. What does the ammonia test look like to you?
Also, are you reading the test tube under the same light? It is well known that the type of light can make the ammonia test look different. The best is daylight, but not direct sunlight. Fluorescent lights (including compact fluorescent bulbs) make it look different. Always read the tubes under the same light each time.

When I read it, it said .5 yesterday, and .25 today, under the same light

The 2 photos are the same day, both today btw

 

[Essjay]

Ah, that's why I was confused

When I did a fishless cycle, I found that my ammonia reading wandered up and down for 3 weeks before it finally dropped to zero and nitrite appeared.
But when there are fish in the tank, any level of ammonia above zero means a water change is needed.

 

[Tacocat]

Ah, that's why I was confused

When I did a fishless cycle, I found that my ammonia reading wandered up and down for 3 weeks before it finally dropped to zero and nitrite appeared.
But when there are fish in the tank, any level of ammonia above zero means a water change is needed.

Ok, thanks! I'm doing a journal now