Old Tank, New Start

[This Old Spouse]

He has a 20g that had a sand substrate and he kept his fishing minnows in it this past winter. The tank hasn't been turned off so it's cycled. I put plants in it from my 55g day before yesterday. I took readings this morning, and it shows .25 ppm Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 5.0 ppm Nitrate, and pH of 7.2. Where do I go from here? Any help is appreciated.

 

[karin]

How long has it been without fish. If there has been no source of ammonia for more than several weeks it is likely the biological filter has degraded and the tank may no longer be able to support fish without some cycling work.

Again, figure out that ammonia reading first. If the tank has sat without fish and you are whipping it back into shape, it may be that your tap water has ammonia in it. Test it and get back to us.

 

[This Old Spouse]

It's only been without fish about a week and a half. And I don't know what do to about the ammonia in our tap water. If I let the water sit in a bucket for a day will that help?

 

[karin]

Okay so it is in your tap water. So you are introducing a bit of ammonia into this tank and if the biofilter is active and operational, it should process that ammonia quickly. Test in 6 and 12 hours and see if it drops to 0. It should if the biofilter is functional. Then I don't see why you couldn't begin stocking it. Alternatively I suppose (and wait for other responses), you could treat tap water with Prime to convert the ammonia to a less potent form ammonium. This is the area for others to comment on though as my advanced chemistry is a bit weak.

 

[Jamepsss]

Have you tested the water straight from the tap? If the tank has been running a week and a half without fish then I would have thought that most of the nitrifying bacteria would have died off. You could add some media from one of your other tanks though if you're looking to stock it quickly.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I did test it straight from the tap, and that's when I discovered ammonia in that water!

I have some stuff that I inherited from another fishkeeper when they tore down their setups clled AMMO-CHIPS Ammonia Remover for Freshwater aquariums. Do you think this will do any good? It looks like light-colored gravel and recommends 1/4 cup per 10g of water in the filter system. ??