Ammonia, No Fish ?

[alan3513]

Just setting up my second Fluval Roma 125 tank. I'm going to transfer half of my current filter sponge to the new +3 filter so that i have half new and half old sponge in each filter. Will also be transfering half my fish at the same time so that i'll hopefully have enough bacteria in each tank coping with the same amount of fish, i will then be able to gradually build up the fish in each tank. Before i did this i've put in well washed sand (Argos play sand), filled the tank and put in a brand new Fluval U3 filter, just to clear the tank although their was very little to clear. It's been running a couple of hours and when i did my water checks on my first tank i thought i'd check the new one, The ammonia in the new tank is between 0.50 and 1.0. How can this be when theirs nothing in the tank except sand ?. My first tank and my tap water are both zero. Thanks in advance for any advice, Alan

 

[OldMan47]

When I test my tap water I find no ammonia but after I treat the water with dechlorinator, I find ammonia at about 1 ppm. Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia so that is probably the source. The dechlorinator breaks the bond and the ammonia becomes detectable by our test kits. Try doing your partial filter change and test again in an hour or two. I find my filter takes care of that trace of ammonia fairly quickly in my tanks. It happens so fast that I finally stopped worrying about it.

 

[alan3513]

Thanks OldMan47, Will try that

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, my water authority uses chloramines too. I've done the same test several times and always obtained the same result as OM47, getting a bit of ammonia from the dechloramination process. Its never been an issue.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[alan3513]

Thanks waterdrop, The problem is i hadn't yet put in the dechlorinator, just tap water as their were no fish in the tank and was just clearing the tank water after putting in the sand, once cleared i was then going to put in the dechlorinator. Then in a few days when i have sufficient time, transfer half the filter sponge and half the fish, thanks again, Alan

 

[waterdrop]

Well you may just have a little ammonia in your tap water straight out, not a big deal either. Just account for it on your ammonia adds during fishless, and then after you have a cycled filter it will quickly handle it after water changes, which you can make a bit smaller, perhaps with a break between two water additions or something. Make sense?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[alan3513]

Hi waterdrop, Thanks for the good advice. I had tested the tap water at the same time as i checked the new tank and that was zero (see first post). Just retested new tank again and Ammonia is now zero so hopefully thats it okay now, Thanks again, Alan

 

[OldMan47]

I would not leave un-dechlorinated water in a tank that I want to use. Even if you don't have the fish in the tank yet, the bacteria you want to grow will not easily survive chlorinated water.

 

[alan3513]

Hi OldMan47, Thanks for the advice, I only left the undechlorinated water in the tank for a few hours to clear the water after putting in the sand, once cleared then i put in the dechlorinator, thanks again, Alan