HELP AMMONIA!

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superleggera123

superleggera123

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 25, 2009
1,810
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Toronto
Hey Guys,
I have not tested my ammonia in well over 4-5 months as i thought it was never there, now lets go back in time, 6 months ago i used the API test and found out i had 8PPM of ammonia, fish were normal and everything seemed ok. However i was worried and took a water sample to my LFS and they used either the tetra or hagen test ( dont remember) and it said my ammonia was 0.
Now back to the present, nitrites are 0, Tank is crystal clear, fish are healthy, eating and growing however i have a ammonia reading of 8ppm, 8 PPM!!!. Stocklist is a 15 inch Blood Red Arowana, 20 Inch Black Arowana, and 2 cichla at 13-15 inches cant tell for sure. I do 2 water changes a week at 30-50% using either prime or the api dechlor. Now you must be wondering if i have really crappy filtration, Well for a 180 gallon i think im more then good with 2 fx5s, 1 eheim 2075 and 1 rena XP4 all packed with bio media. Tank also happens to be barebottom. Now im really confused as to whether its a false reading or what, cause the same test says my 10 gallon with 1 beta has 0 ammonia. Whats wrong?
False test reading due to ammonium or what? Any Help will be greatly appreciated, i plan on going to my lfs tomorrow to pickup the Seachem Test to see the results..
 
nop, water change was done 6 days ago just so i knew the test would read accurately and doing a W/C tomorrow
 
dark green almost blue for ammonia while nitrites are DEAD 0
1 fx5 is packed with sera siphorax rings, the eheim has the eheim brand bio media rings and pellets, the other fx5 has biomax and so does the rena XP4
 
I'm sure its not the test kit. to read 8+ppm of ammonia something is definitely not right.

I would now stop using the api dechlor, this product may be giving you false ammonia readings. (locking up the ammonia).

Stick with just using the seachem prime. Do your normal water change and only use seachem prime to condition the water. I know first hand this product does not give you false readings.
 
the last dechlor i used was Prime which was 6 days ago bro
it has to be a test kit issue IMO because it reads both NH3 ( toxic ammonia) and (NH4 which is not toxic). Now the issue is if i did have 8 ppm my tank it would be cloudy and no fish would be alive at even 1ppm. Im just worried at this point, i am convinced its a false reading but i am also worried it may be right
 
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