I just got a fish aquarium and my ammonia levels are high. What do I do??

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Maybe. This is better. :) To hammer it home...

Actually as a homework and proof that you got it, come back please and tell us what (approx is fine) Total Ammonia readings (what you will see by the API test) under your conditions of pH 7 and temp of 26 C correspond to 0.05 ppm and to 0.02 ppm of Free Ammonia? That's your homework.
 
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thebiggerthebetter said:
Live and learn. I am glad you chimed in. This is still not definitive for me - out of 4 ppm you personally see 0.25-0.50 ppm on your ammonia API test? 4 ppm may be at the treatment plant. After going through all the pipes, it may reach you at the same 0.25-0.50 ppm... and then I'd surmise that the ENTIRE chloramine conc is readable and adds to total nitrogen!? I mean is it a partial reading or a real total presence of chloramine?

Chlorine atom vastly changes nitrogen atom property and changes its state of oxidation, so it is not longer -3 as it is in ammonia and ammonium, or is it?
Click to expand...

So with 4ppm chloramine, you will not see a direct 4ppm on the TAN test (as explained to me by the Water department). The ratio of ammonia is small part of the chloramine, and depending on the type of chloramine, the TAN measured would always be smaller than the amount of chloramine put into the water. It seems they use different chloramines that have different ratios of chlorine to ammonia.

I don't have a total chlorine test that is accurate enough for me. Pool strips don't show anything for me, and I don't want to spend a lot of money determining the total chlorine (aka chloramine) in my tap.
 
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A couple basics here.
Simply putting water in a tank and letting it sit, with filters running for a couple weeks is not cycling.
The terms "Cycling a tank", is the process of building up enough of a population of ammonia and nitrite bacteria, in filters and on the surfaces of the tank to use up the waste ammonia put out by future fish.
You only grow that "good" bacterial population by feeding them ammonia and nitrite. It happens by......
Either by feeding the bacteria straight ammonia, or by putting something dead in the tank (like a piece of raw shrimp, which produces ammonia).
Or by adding some sacrificial fish that produce ammonia (i say sacrificial fish because in about 50% of the cases, those fish die)
Most people use cheap fish like feeder guppies or something on that order to cycle a tank
It normally takes about 2 months, to properly cycle a tank, before non-sacrificial fish like P bass or oscars are added.
After the population of bacteria have grown enough to consume all ammonia (3 to 4 weeks) , the 2nd part of cycling starts.
That's when a population of bacteria that consume toxic nitrite appear. It usually takes another 3 to 4 weeks for that population to establish.
When it is sufficient, both ammonia and nitrite will be replaced by "less toxic" nitrate, and you will see only traces of ammonia or nitrite when you test.
 
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thebiggerthebetter said:
Maybe. This is better. :) To hammer it home...

Actually as a homework and proof that you got it, come back please and tell us what (approx is fine) Total Ammonia readings (what you will see by the API test) under your conditions of pH 7 and temp of 26 C correspond to 0.05 ppm and to 0.02 ppm of Free Ammonia? That's your homework.
Click to expand...
For the .05 it would be about 7.8-8ppm and for the 0.02 it would be about 3 ppm (a little under .02 like .019)
 
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duanes said:
A couple basics here.
Simply putting water in a tank and letting it sit, with filters running for a couple weeks is not cycling.
The terms "Cycling a tank", is the process of building up enough of a population of ammonia and nitrite bacteria, in filters and on the surfaces of the tank to use up the waste ammonia put out by future fish.
You only grow that "good" bacterial population by feeding them ammonia and nitrite. It happens by......
Either by feeding the bacteria straight ammonia, or by putting something dead in the tank (like a piece of raw shrimp, which produces ammonia).
Or by adding some sacrificial fish that produce ammonia (i say sacrificial fish because in about 50% of the cases, those fish die)
Most people use cheap fish like feeder guppies or something on that order to cycle a tank
It normally takes about 2 months, to properly cycle a tank, before non-sacrificial fish like P bass or oscars are added.
After the population of bacteria have grown enough to consume all ammonia (3 to 4 weeks) , the 2nd part of cycling starts.
That's when a population of bacteria that consume toxic nitrite appear. It usually takes another 3 to 4 weeks for that population to establish.
When it is sufficient, both ammonia and nitrite will be replaced by "less toxic" nitrate, and you will see only traces of ammonia or nitrite when you test.
Click to expand...
Ok thank you
 
Lots of good info here, maybe sticky worthy?
 
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