So I recently upgraded to a bigger tank, and moved over the established filter material and plants. For the first ~10 days the daily water readings looked normal (0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 5 Nitrates), then suddenly the Ammonia has gone up to 0.5ppm, nitrates up to between 10 and 20ppm but no nitrites still.
There is no obvious cause of an ammonia spike, all inhabitants are accounted for, there no dead plants left in there (some leaves died after the move but were quickly removed), no additional fish have been added and the tank is very under stocked.
My working theory is that the move to a clean tank killed off the existing bacteria on the filter due to a lack of ammonia to feed them, but that's a pure guess. I'm surprised it took nearly 2 weeks for ammonia to appear if this is the case?
Current readings;
Tank size - 125L
Ammonia - 0.5ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - 10 - 20ppm
Stocking - 8 Neon Tetras, 5 Amano Shrimp, 2 Snails
I'm testing using the API master kit. The ammonia level has been pretty static for about 5 days now, despite an initial 25% then 50% water change and a bottle of safe start being added.
I'm dosing the tank daily with Seacham Prime, trying to avoid too many water changes if possible because I know the tetras don't like it (not that they like ammonia either!).
Any ideas what's gone wrong? Is there any more I need to be doing or do I just have to wait for the cycle to start again?
There is no obvious cause of an ammonia spike, all inhabitants are accounted for, there no dead plants left in there (some leaves died after the move but were quickly removed), no additional fish have been added and the tank is very under stocked.
My working theory is that the move to a clean tank killed off the existing bacteria on the filter due to a lack of ammonia to feed them, but that's a pure guess. I'm surprised it took nearly 2 weeks for ammonia to appear if this is the case?
Current readings;
Tank size - 125L
Ammonia - 0.5ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - 10 - 20ppm
Stocking - 8 Neon Tetras, 5 Amano Shrimp, 2 Snails
I'm testing using the API master kit. The ammonia level has been pretty static for about 5 days now, despite an initial 25% then 50% water change and a bottle of safe start being added.
I'm dosing the tank daily with Seacham Prime, trying to avoid too many water changes if possible because I know the tetras don't like it (not that they like ammonia either!).
Any ideas what's gone wrong? Is there any more I need to be doing or do I just have to wait for the cycle to start again?
