Amonia won’t go lower than 0,25

[robham777]

The amonia was reading 0 after the fishless cycle, And i added them over the course of a month.

Sounds like everything was done correctly. Have you tested your tap water for ammonia, and do you know the PH reading for your tank?

 

[CrazyFishLady1201]

I’ve been using tetra aquasafe plus, I’ll have to check if one of my lfs has prime. The aquarium hobby isn’t that popular in my country and many items are not available.

And I’ll definitely get another filter.

 

[Hendre]

Welcome!

Quick question. Test strips or liquid tests?

 

[CrazyFishLady1201]

Sounds like everything was done correctly. Have you tested your tap water for ammonia, and do you know the PH reading for your tank?

I actually tested it yesterday. Amonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0. I havent tested for ph tho, I read somewhere that i have to wait 24 hours for the gass exchange to finish so the ph stabilizes. But my aquariums have always had 7.2 - 7.6 pH so I asume its somewhere around there.

 

[CrazyFishLady1201]

Quick question. Test strips or liquid tests?[/QUOTE]

API Liquid test kit all the way ahahaha

 

[robham777]

I actually tested it yesterday. Amonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0. I havent tested for ph tho, I read somewhere that i have to wait 24 hours for the gass exchange to finish so the ph stabilizes. But my aquariums have always had 7.2 - 7.6 pH so I asume its somewhere around there.

Tap water sounds good. Low PH can inhibit the bacteria from processing ammonia but that does not sound like the case in the range you posted. Do you know if your water utility uses chlorine or chloramine as a disinfectant?

 

[CrazyFishLady1201]

Tap water sounds good. Low PH can inhibit the bacteria from processing ammonia but that does not sound like the case in the range you posted. Do you know if your water utility uses chlorine or chloramine as a disinfectant?

I think its chlorine but I’m not a 100% sure

 

[robham777]

I think its chlorine but I’m not a 100% sure

With chloramine you can get a false positive for ammonia after the bond is broken between the chlorine and ammonia. Most water conditioners remove the chlorine instantly but leave the ammonia present in its bound form NH4 until the nitrifying bacteria convert it to nitrite.

 

[skjl47]

tested your tap water for ammonia

Hello; yes to this. If the tap water has some ammonia this will be useful to know.

May I also suggest using the test kit on some distilled water which should be negative for ammonia. If not negative (0 ammonia) then a cleaning of the vials with the distilled water may help.

0.25ppm amonia, 0 ppm nitrite, 5 ppm nitrate. I did a 50% water change yesterday and do 10% water changes daily.

Hello; When do you test the water? Before a water change (WC)? Right after a WC? Have you ever tested several hours after a WC?

 

[CrazyFishLady1201]

Hello; yes to this. If the tap water has some ammonia this will be useful to know.

May I also suggest using the test kit on some distilled water which should be negative for ammonia. If not negative (0 ammonia) then a cleaning of the vials with the distilled water may help.

Hello; When do you test the water? Before a water change (WC)? Right after a WC? Have you ever tested several hours after a WC?

Hi, I test before a water change, that would aprox after 24 hours since I’m doing daily water changes. I haven’t tested distilled water but I’ll try to get my hands on some and see if i get the right results.