Spikes....

[Angelbreeder25]

Okay so my tanks have been established for a while. Like 2-3 months. One is 75 gallons and the other 20. Recently ive been going through an ammonia spike in both. However with the api test kits nitrites and nitrates are reading zero.
Any clue on how to make this better?
Oh and ive been adding fluval cycle since last night. I added the second dose today.

 

[Rocksor]

Tell us how you service your filters and tank. We need to know the PH and total ammonia reading from the API test.

 

[Angelbreeder25]

The 20 is 1 ppm amm
75 2ppm
My filters are cleaned the sponges and carbon replaced once a month and i do not rinse the ammonia rocks/ spheres.
My ph in both is 7.6 but ive also used ph down which had helped bring it down for a while. However I cant get my ph to be at 6.5 like I want it for my blackwater fish.

 

[Rocksor]

The 20 is 1 ppm amm
75 2ppm
My filters are cleaned the sponges and carbon replaced once a month and i do not rinse the ammonia rocks/ spheres.
My ph in both is 7.6 but ive also used ph down which had helped bring it down for a while. However I cant get my ph to be at 6.5 like I want it for my blackwater fish.

You would need to lower the KH value to bring it down to 6.5. Mixing it with reverse osmosis water will help. BUt you need an understanding of KH and total dissolved solid levels (TDS) as well as measuring kits, before attempting to do this

 

[Angelbreeder25]

The weird thing is my ph comes out of my tap at 6.0

 

[Rocksor]

The weird thing is my ph comes out of my tap at 6.0

It hasn't stabilized with air pressure out of tap. Measure tap water PH after being in a cup for 24 hours for your true water PH.

 

[Angelbreeder25]

Ooo thats interesting! I never knew that?. Ill try this.
So any tips on the ammonia? Or should i let it just do its own thing?

 

[Rocksor]

Ooo thats interesting! I never knew that?. Ill try this.
So any tips on the ammonia? Or should i let it just do its own thing?

I would get Seachem Ammmonia Alert (stick on inside tank) for both of the tanks to measure the toxic ammonia. The API will test both toxic and non-toxic ammonia. If you don't want to get Seachem Ammonia alert, measure the ammonia from your tap water, and see how low you can get your total ammonia in the tank.

What temperature do you keep your tank?

 

[Angelbreeder25]

Ill definetly look into the ammonia alert, but i dont think its toxic as the fish and fry are acting normal.

 

[Rocksor]

Ill definetly look into the ammonia alert, but i dont think its toxic as the fish and fry are acting normal.

Here's a toxic ammonia calculator (while you wait for Ammonia Alert)

http://home.eng.iastate.edu/~jea/w3-research/free-ammonia/nh3.html. The top number is the API ammonia test value, also be sure to convert your temperature to Celsius.

You want the calculated value for toxic ammonia to be below 0.02 ppm every day.