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

[Jim bean 20055]

5 gal = ~20,000 gram of water
0.25 ppm = one over 4 million
so 20,000 / 4,000,000 = 0.005 gram of nitrite are present in your aquarium.
For the sake of our rough estimation, nitrite NO2 and table salt NaCl molecular masses are not significantly different, so we will just continue working with weights in grams and not bother with the moles.

One must have table salt aka sodium chloride at 100x excess to detox the nitrite, so:
0.005 x 100 = 0.5 gram must be added to detox 0.25 ppm nitrite in a 5 gal tank

0.5 x 2 for safety = 1 gram

Thus, your latest calculation is correct. Only 1 gram.

***Sorry, when I said the rest of your math is right, I meant if you used the right number for 0.25 ppm, you would have gotten the right answer. Since you made an error early on, the answer came out wrong, although the rest of the calculation contained no arithmetic errors. Is this clearer?

Oh ok thank you very much. I do get it now. Since i messed up early on as you said it messed up the whole equation.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Right. I was adding to my prior post while you answered. Nothing too significant but please re-read it.

 

[Jim bean 20055]

Ok update ammonia is about .50 ppm.(i did a 50% water change yesterday) Nitrites still seems to be the same. Im a little worried about that.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

I see you are a soccer fan lol

edit: Or for those UK'ers who play the wrong football, football

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

No reason for worry. As guys have been advising you above, it will take time and patience.

As long as you keep up on the testing and making sure the toxic form of ammonia is below 0.05 ppm better yet below 0.02 ppm and making sure the nitrites are detoxified, you can sleep calmly.

If the situation is the same in a few weeks, then we can troubleshoot again. Do not disturb the biofilter meanwhile.

 

[Jim bean 20055]

I see you are a soccer fan lol

edit: Or for those UK'ers who play the wrong football, football

hahaha haha, every time I take a picture I coincidentally have a soccer shirt on.
Edit: thank you very much thebiggerthebetter I will test every day and keep on eye on it.
I actually just like American football

 

[The Masked Shadow]

My team is tottenham

 

[Jim bean 20055]

My team is tottenham

I'm not really a big soccer fan but I like Manchester United

 

[Jim bean 20055]

Update: ammonia 0 ppm Nitrites still have like 2-3( i have added salt for the nitrites already) Yesterday I got some cycled media from someone close to where I live. I put it in my filter yesterday. How do I tell if the tank has fully cycled? Is there anything I should be worried about?

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Nitrates need to be showing, and ammonia and nitrites are at 0 ppm.