How do I get rid of it? I hear Ammonia will peak at 10 ppm during a cycle on the fourth or fifth day?
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php The chart shows the ammonia levels spiking on day 5. Is this normal? I will wait til' the ammonia goes down. Today 10:49 AM
To lower ammonia levels you change out tank water for fresh water.
Unfortunately that website is pretty vague, not to mention outright wrong on some info. I highly disagree with letting pH get that high cycling with fish present. Ammonia is toxic to fish, and its toxicity is higher in a higher pH. So if you have a high pH and high ammonia you significantly risk killing your fish. And even worse is letting Nitrites get as high as they claim, because nitrites will actually burn fishes gills and slimecoat too, which does long term damage. Not to mention nitrite, as an acid, in high levels can actually deplete the buffering in your aquarium if it's already not very high, leading to pH stability issues.
The other issue is that depending on certain other water conditions, allowing ammonia to get that high will actually IMPEDE bacterial growth and your filter may never grow a bacterial colony at all (I've personally experimented with this, and at a pH of 8ppm, bacteria never did establish in the filter).
And their chart, I'm not sure how they came up with that because using fish you're not adding a definitive amount of ammonia. Not to mention temperature, pH, and other factors will effect the length of time it takes for your biological bacteria to establish. So coming up with some chart that claims you'll see a certain amount of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate, in a certain amount of days is just plain wrong.
Please read this article on freshwater cycling:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598
If you scroll to the bottom of the first post it discusses cycling with fish and what your parameters should be (below .25 on ammonia and nitrite. Therefore you must do water changes to bring those levels down).
Do note, that the ammonia and nitrite levels you are allowed to have if you do NOT cycle with fish is higher. You can fishless cycle by adding another ammonia source (pure ammonia, or something decaying).
When you do cycle with fish levels of ammonia above .25-.50 are stressful to fish, and nitrites above .25-.50 are even more toxic and harmful.
Also, I have fish in the tank now. From when I had the tank with the sand bottom. 2 yellow swordtails and a pleco. I wish I didnt have to have them in there but there is no where else for them because I only have the one tank
You must, must MUST get those ammonia levels down then. I cannot stress this enough. You will have to do several large water changes. Changing out 50% of the water should bring the ammonia down to 4ppm. Doing another 50% water change after that should bring it down to 2ppm. etc. etc.
You will probably have to do about four 50% water changes.
