I think my bumblebee...

[navygirl76]

a little ammonia in the beginning of the cycling process IS normal. but after the tank is cycled you shouldnt have any. The only thing that will get rid of ammonia is waiting for the tank to cycle-which the normal cycle process can take around 50 days if you dont jump start it.. and waterchanges.

ammonia DOES help in the nitrification cycle-it is consumed and converted into nitrItes.. that is in turn converted to the least deadly form called nitrAtes.. once you are in the nitrate stage you shouldnt have any ammonia.

the only other time i can think of when ammonia and nitrites are present is if you have a dead fish or something is rotting in the tank and you dont know it.

removing your gravel wont get rid of ammonia-as your tank ages, your beneficial bacteria seeds into your gravel, on the surface of your ornaments, rocks and plants.. and walls of the tank-everything. thats a good thing.

for ammonia poisoning you just need to do the waterchanges and keep testing your ammonia level-not sure what tank size you have and what stock-but you may also be drastically overstocked.

 

[mike dunagan]

one other thing, if you have chloramines in your water, when you do a water change and use something that breaks down chloramines it leave ammonia behind

 

[Otherone]

ammonia is the begining of the nitrogen cycle..............several things can re-spike ammonia in a tank even after the initial cycling has occured:

Over feeding creating too much waste
Over stocking creating too much waste
Dropping too many new fish into a tank
Dead or decaying leaves on the bottom
Over feeding leaving too much decaying food
Stale water preventing the n2o surface transfer
Changing or cleaning the filter media too often
filling your fish tank too full of water preventing the n2o transfer
I'm proper surface aggitation................etc.

But one thing that doesn't create ammonia new de-chlorinated water

 

[mike dunagan]

ammonia is the begining of the nitrogen cycle..............several things can re-spike ammonia in a tank even after the initial cycling has occured:

Over feeding creating too much waste
Over stocking creating too much waste
Dropping too many new fish into a tank
Dead or decaying leaves on the bottom
Over feeding leaving too much decaying food
Stale water preventing the n2o surface transfer
Changing or cleaning the filter media too often
filling your fish tank too full of water preventing the n2o transfer
I'm proper surface aggitation................etc.

But one thing that doesn't create ammonia new de-chlorinated water

It does if your water company uses Chloramines, and you do not have a dechlorinator that removes chloramines and ammonia. My water company switched to Chloramines a fews back. That was a new lesson to learn.

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_chlorine.htm

 

[Otherone]

It does if your water company uses Chloramines, and you do not have a dechlorinator that removes chloramines and ammonia. My water company switched to Chloramines a fews back. That was a new lesson to learn.

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_chlorine.htm

New lesson indeeed. I do use a chloramine cleaner but use the chlorine removal amounts and for the most part my ammonia stays at zero in 11 tanks and 1 indoor pond. As stated before there can always be a rise in the ammonia level but usually never more than .01 ppm and almost always goes back to zero very quickly...............I test weekly for ammonia because I'm guilty of overstocking and overfeeding.