Sudden Ammonia Problem With New Tank

[Dutchie]

Well Ammonia has dropped but only slightly........did a water change this afternoon and now showing 1.5 so slightly down from 2.0 last night........

I will do another change 10-20% tomorrow and take another reading..............hopefully starting to get on top of this............

 

[cane76]

on the bright side dutchie in a months time you be a expert in water chemistry

 

[Dutchie]

Miss Wiggle & Cane76,

I think I've worked it all out................

I'm not gravel vacing correctly.............I have only slightly been skimming the service and not sticking the vac in and moving around the pebbles somewhat...........
The amount of %#$# that came out this morning was enough to make anything sick.............

Before this I did a reading and Ammonia was still around 1.5...........
I will do another reading later this afternoon enough for the filter to do its stuff and have everything sttle down...........

Unfortunately I had %#$# flying around in the water whilst vacuuming...........Is this normal?
Seemes to now have settled big time after the vac.

Nitrate was still showing 0 as was Nitrite...........!!

 

[Spaul302]

Here is what I think happened:


1> The tank was never cycled initially
2> Your water supply had an unusually high concentration of chloramines in it when you did the 'mystery' water change
3> Water conditioner converts chloramines to chlorine and ammonia, then neutralizes the chlorine and leaves the biological filter to take care of the ammonia.

The ammonia from the chloramines, combined with the bio load of the fish is the only explanation of why the sudden spike.

Water changes, water changes, water changes until it gets to 0.5ppm!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Miss Wiggle & Cane76,

I think I've worked it all out................

I'm not gravel vacing correctly.............I have only slightly been skimming the service and not sticking the vac in and moving around the pebbles somewhat...........
The amount of %#$# that came out this morning was enough to make anything sick.............

Before this I did a reading and Ammonia was still around 1.5...........
I will do another reading later this afternoon enough for the filter to do its stuff and have everything sttle down...........

Unfortunately I had %#$# flying around in the water whilst vacuuming...........Is this normal?
Seemes to now have settled big time after the vac.

Nitrate was still showing 0 as was Nitrite...........!!

i don't see how not vaccing would cause an ammonia spike, especially since it's only been a few weeks, if you'd not vacc'd properly for 6 months or something then maybe it would impact suddenly on the water quality

 

[Dutchie]

Well, good news is that Ammonia keeps dropping...........did 30% water change last night and again this afternoon..............
Its been 6 hours now and I tested the water.

Now getting between 1.0 and 1.25..........so its dropping.
Also found out my Hardness was way to high.........I did a test this morning and it was nearing 280.....

Just did the test again after the water change this afternoon and started to drop.........now sitting on around 200. (i know still high but at least dropping) This was perfect a week ago !!!!!!

Will do another change tomorrow so hopefully starting to get on top of it all.............

Suppose I've well and truely learnt all this the hard way...........past 3 weeks my whole life is fish and wife and kids are already sick of it.....

Will really try and spend time with them now as all I've done is spend time on forums and reading.........FISH INFORMATION OVERLOAD....

 

[Spaul302]

Once you get it cycled, it really is pretty easy to take care of. I dedicate Saturday morning as 'Fishy time' (My wife already thinks I have lost it, wait until I set up the Mbuna tank in the other room). It takes me less than 45 minutes to do a 50% water change on both my tanks and scrub a few decorations that the pleco did not get.

Just stay with it for the first month or so, and it will be easier. A python or similar gravel vac/ water change system would make you life a LOT easier, especially since I see you have a new tank coming soon!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

glad to hear it's getting sorted, your wife and kids will be pleased to know this is the hard part and it's nearly over with. once you've got 1 cycled tank theoretically you never need to do it again so your alright now

weekly maintenance is dead quick and easy once you get into a routine

 

[Dutchie]

Thanks Spaul & especially Miss Wiggle for all your help....

Well, did another 40% change today and Hardness dropped again...........now down to around 180.......(What should Hardness be at approx....160?)

Ammonia is down to around 1.0 so a big improvement........(only took 4 water changes and was up from 2.0).....

However, Nitrite and Nitrate are still showing 0. I know this is where they should be but I did'nt think they would remain and at list a small lift in Nitrate.........

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no problem.

can't help much with hardness i'm afraid, the whole relationship between ph, gh and kh completely baffles me

glad it's going down. you should be getting some nitrate readings at least and i've no idea why your not. however having 0 nitrate isn't going to harm your fish so don't worry about it from that perspective. once the ammonia has dropped back down to 0 just make sure you keep testing the levels as you'll probably get a nitrite spike afterwards and if you do you'll need to keep going with water changes.

 

[Dutchie]

More water changes ..............ouuuuch.......we have strict water restrictions here in Australia.....mmmmmmmm

 

[Miss Wiggle]

More water changes ..............ouuuuch.......we have strict water restrictions here in Australia.....mmmmmmmm

yup, sadly you've just gotta keep at it, remember they don't need to be big water changes, just regular

 

[Dutchie]

We are finally there..............

Did another 30% water change 4 hrs ago and just finished checking the quality of the tank.........

Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ph 7.0
Hardness 140
Ammonia 0.25

I will now leave the next water change till the weekend and hopefully Ammonia will finally be down to 0..........
Its taken nearly 4 weeks but we got there.....

Thanks too everyone who provided feedback. Without you I would have been down and out and probably given up not understanding any of this. Oddly enough, I now am starting to understand.
Not bad for an IT Manager...........

 

[Miss Wiggle]

very good, glad your getting there, keep testing your levels daily even if your not doing changes, it can be a little unpredictable in these situations so make sure you keep monitoring things

no problem though, glad your getting your head around this all

 

[Creature Seeker]

When you did your first water change did you add the water conditioner to the water before adding it in your tank? You don't really want to add it after it's in your tank as it may cause a problem.

With regards to your water hardness, leave your a glass of your normal tap water for 24 hours and then test to see what results you get from that.

You don't really want ammonia completely at 0 as then your not cycling your tank your just taking the ammonia out.

I've heard that with a fish cycle (although it didn't occur with my current fish cycle) that your should keep ammonia around 1 until it drops. If it peaks above one then you need to change your water.

I wouldn't do daily water changes once you have ammonia at zero.

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