Ammonia test results

[CRUSHER]

Hello,
is 0.50 a good reading for ammonia? Just did a 50% water change yesterday...

[Mzungu]

Is the tank newly set up? Ammonia readings should usually be 0 if the tank has fully cycled.

[CRUSHER]

yes, newly set up like for over a week

[Mzungu]

Do you have any nitrite or nitrate tests handy? If you're getting readings for those, you should see the ammonia keep decreasing. A 0.5 reading isn'tthe worst, but really any ammonia isn't great for fish.

If you have any cycled tanks around, using some of the filter media from those will help to speed up the cycling. :)

[afremont]

I'm kinda new to this, but I've done allot of reading and experimenting. Test your tap water and then test it after you have treated it with a dechlorinator. If you have ammonia readings on your treated water, I think it's pretty safe to consider this as a baseline (treat as zero).

I apparently have chloramines in my water and the API test kit will show low level (<1.00ppm) ammonia readings no matter what. My first tanks still shows ammonia readings after several weeks (always less than 1ppm). I think it's either from the chloramines or using Tetra Safe Start (has an ammonia based compound to feed the bacteria and keep it alive on the shelf). I have never seen any nitrites, but have seen steadily rising nitrate levels indicating that the cycle is working. TSS seems to prevent the high nitrite part of the cycle start up.

I've messed about with the first tank using various additives. The second tank was left alone just used TSS only. The second tank is already showing nearly 0ppm readings after about two weeks or so, but the older tank is still showing a low level of ammonia (approx .5ppm) after more than one month. The fish in both tanks seem fine.

Key things I've learned:
1) TSS works if you do it right
2) Wait at least 24 hours after using Prime (or any conditioner that "binds" ammonia) or the TSS will starve to death since it needs some ammonia to eat as soon as it's added to the tank.
3) Wait two weeks before worrying excessively about the readings when starting a new tank with TSS
4) Don't use Prime in the tank (or binding conditioners) within the first two weeks of using TSS to seed a new tank. If you have to do water changes to reduce excessive ammonia levels, then wait 24 hours after treating the water before adding it to the tank. If you bind all the ammonia, the bacteria won't have anything to eat.

Good info here:

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aquarium-nitrogen-cycle/58116-q-tetra-tetra-safestart.html

Sorry it's another site, but that's where the good info about TSS is, straight from Tetra. I also didn't mean to make this an ad for TSS, but I like it.

[Sea-agg09]

Fish don't care whether its your own tap or fish poop making the ammonia. If it is not 0, it's not good. 0.50 is not bad, but I would still give the tank another week before you add fish. Poor tap water is a problem we all have to deal with, and we simply compensate by adding extra filtration or adding an ammonia-absobing conditioner to our water.

[afremont]

What I was alluding to was that the ammonia from chloramines is "locked up" as ammonium so that it causes no harm to the fish, but still causes a positive response from the test kit. It eventually breaks down and is consumed by the bacteria, but it seems to take a while. Even after using Prime on my water (jersey village mixture of water from wells and houston surface) and letting it stand for days, it will show a positive result for ammonia of less than 1ppm. I understand this to be relatively harmless ammoninum NH4 and not ammonia NH3.

After doing a bunch of research, I have come to the conclusion that there are a good many folks that test positive for ammonia with the API test kit even though there tank is cycled. If the level doesn't continue to rise, I wouldn't worry about less than 1ppm positive test results, especially if the nitrites are 0 and the nitrates are rising.

[SunnyHouTX]

That's true. I quit using API test kits because I would get a 0.25ppm reading with them after using Prime or Safe. Fish are doing fine.

[CRUSHER]

Do you have any nitrite or nitrate tests handy? If you're getting readings for those, you should see the ammonia keep decreasing. A 0.5 reading isn'tthe worst, but really any ammonia isn't great for fish.

If you have any cycled tanks around, using some of the filter media from those will help to speed up the cycling. :)

OK, I finnaly got a Nitrate tester... result is 10.... just did a 75% water change yesterday. did not use my water purifier... just used tap water and a 5 gal bucket and water conditioner.

[Crude]

What live stock do you have in the tank right now? What sort of filtration?

[CRUSHER]

5-fish.. 2-oscars, 1- featherfin, 1-green terror, 1-jack dempsey. filtration... Fluval 405... and an Aquena HOB for a 30 gal... i do have a fluidized bed filter on it's way to either run along side or tied into the canister filter.

[CRUSHER]

What live stock do you have in the tank right now? What sort of filtration?

5-fish.. 2-oscars, 1- featherfin, 1-green terror, 1-jack dempsey. filtration... Fluval 405... and an Aquena HOB for a 45gal
For 30-45 gallon Aquariums
200 GPH Model: QuietFlow 30... i do have a fluidized bed filter on it's way to either run along side or tied into the canister filter.

[Crude]

Are the fish still small?

If not, it doesn't sound like you have the biological filtration to handle your current bioload. The new filter you have planned should help!

Did your Ammonia readings dip at all now that you're seeing some Nitrate/Nitrite readings?

[CRUSHER]

Are the fish still small?

If not, it doesn't sound like you have the biological filtration to handle your current bioload. The new filter you have planned should help!

Did your Ammonia readings dip at all now that you're seeing some Nitrate/Nitrite readings?

GT is about 5 1/2", JD is about 7"... maybe 6"... big O is 7" hard to measure when they wont stand still... little O 4", featherfin 7"
Just tested Ammonia and it's at 0.25

[afremont]

Just tested Ammonia and it's at 0.25

I don't think you have a problem. Check the ammonia levels of some freshly conditioned tap water and see if it is 0. Do the fish look distressed? Are the gills beet red or do they look like they are panting? As long as levels aren't rising, then I would take it easy on the water changes. 75% changes might be more distressful to the fish than the low level ammonia readings you have reported.