Removing ammonia

[Ash Paws]

Hi guys

Yesterday I tested my 10 gallon tank. There was .25 ppm of ammonia. I did a 30% water change and came back today and tested it again. There was .50 ppm.
I got some ammonia remover and used it, but it only went down 25 ppm. I also tested the tap water I use for the tanks (I dechlorinate it) and it had .25 ppm of ammonia in it.

How can I get rid of the ammonia for good? Should I do another water change and add more beneficial bacteria?

 

[Discus-Tang]

What "Ammonia Remover" did you use? Most will still give a false positive ammonia test.

 

[Ash Paws]

I used Imagitarium ammonia remover.

 

[Discus-Tang]

I'm not familiar with that product, sorry.

If you use the API Test Kits, you will very likely still get an ammonia reading. The Seachem tests are able to distinguish between ammonia and 'bound' ammonia (often in the form of ammonium).

 

[Ash Paws]

Okay, yea I was using Api liquid test kits. I will see if I can find a seachem one. Thank you!

 

[Alliesten]

If you are using Seachem Prime, it will detoxify the 0.25-0.5 ppm of ammonia, and your nitrogen cycle should take care of the rest within 24 hours. I would recheck your ammonia in 24-48 hours, see if it is still there.

Yes the API kits are notorious for reading 0.25ppm when in fact they are at a 0. But since it went up, it makes me think your cycle has an issue. . What are your pH, nitrites and nitrates?

 

[Byron]

Just as a word of general advice...when you detect an issue in the aquarium it is best to find the likely cause and deal with that (appropriately) rather than first using some product. Additives can often make the situation even worse for fish, or they may mask the problem so you think it is resolved when it is still there. A significant partial water change immediately is also recommended, whatever the issue.

Here there appears to be ammonia (maybe) in thee source water, so as another member mentioned, the bacteria in an established aquarium should be able to deal with this. Using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia at water changes will detoxify thee ammonia initially, and then the bacteria will deal with it going forward.

And most test kits like the API do read ammonia/ammonium as "ammonia."

Live plants take up copious amounts of ammonia if present, so they would help if you do not already have any. Fast growers like floating plants are often referred to as ammonia sinks because of their effectiveness in taking up ammonia/ammonium. And with plants, there is no nitrite resulting, so another benefit.

 

[Ash Paws]

Well I know pH is 7.0 but today I might get another test kit (since I'

Just as a word of general advice...when you detect an issue in the aquarium it is best to find the likely cause and deal with that (appropriately) rather than first using some product. Additives can often make the situation even worse for fish, or they may mask the problem so you think it is resolved when it is still there. A significant partial water change immediately is also recommended, whatever the issue.

Here there appears to be ammonia (maybe) in thee source water, so as another member mentioned, the bacteria in an established aquarium should be able to deal with this. Using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia at water changes will detoxify thee ammonia initially, and then the bacteria will deal with it going forward.

And most test kits like the API do read ammonia/ammonium as "ammonia."

Live plants take up copious amounts of ammonia if present, so they would help if you do not already have any. Fast growers like floating plants are often referred to as ammonia sinks because of their effectiveness in taking up ammonia/ammonium. And with plants, there is no nitrite resulting, so another benefit.

Okay thanks! Yeah I do have an amazon sword plant in there along with a few elodeas.

 

[Colin_T]

If you ever have an ammonia or nitrite level in the tank, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until they are down to 0. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Reduce feeding to a couple of times a week and wait until the filter develops enough good bacteria to remove the ammonia.