Ammonia Readings Are Driving Me Mad!
- Thread starter Akasha72
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Akasha72
Warning - Mad Cory Woman
did my water test too and ammonia has fallen - about halved to 0.50ppm. PH is still really low. I'll be doing a water change in a bit. I'm just doing about 4 buckets a day which is close to 50%. I'm also lessoning the amount of sand to see if it helps - so with every water change I'm taking to top layer off. It's too deep anyway plus by taking some out I'm making it easier on myself in case it all has to come out and the gravel go back.
I'm actually looking for some black sand as I might take out the natural coloured sand, add back some of my black gravel around the plants and keep just the front bit as sand.
The lfs suggested adding a couple of handfuls of sand to a clean pot with clean de-chlorinated water and leaving it over night. They said to test the PH immediately and see what it read and then test again this morning. The reading has worried me. Yesterday it was PH 7. This morning it's off the scale. It went a navy blue! I can't even say what that is as there's no colour like it on the card reader but it must be well over 8!!
There is something wrong with this sand - I'm now certain of it
I'm actually looking for some black sand as I might take out the natural coloured sand, add back some of my black gravel around the plants and keep just the front bit as sand.
The lfs suggested adding a couple of handfuls of sand to a clean pot with clean de-chlorinated water and leaving it over night. They said to test the PH immediately and see what it read and then test again this morning. The reading has worried me. Yesterday it was PH 7. This morning it's off the scale. It went a navy blue! I can't even say what that is as there's no colour like it on the card reader but it must be well over 8!!
There is something wrong with this sand - I'm now certain of it
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Akasha72
Warning - Mad Cory Woman
Right, I'm now determined to get on top of this issue (even if it half kills me 
).
I've spent the last 2 days searching every local lfs for small bags of black sand so that I can replace this dodgy sand with half of my old black pebble substrate and half new black sand but I can't get none anywhere.
There is some on ebay but it's only 2kg and he wants £8.99 for it and there's no guatentee with it to say it won't affect PH so I'm not going to bother in case it solves nothing.
So. I came home and took the filter sponges out (YUK
) and got my syphon into the filter box. I couldn't believe the colour of what came out . I then set about syphoning out a large amount of this sand to lesson it's depth.
I've also changed my de-chlorinator from Stress Coat+ to Interpet Bioactive Tapsafe. It does the same thing, is more concentrated and at half the price I thought I'd give it a go. So far it's looking okay.
So I rinsed my sponges in tank water, got them back and re-filled the tank. I've also got rid of the stupid aquapure balls. What's the point in them being there if they are doing nothing.
Right now the fish are zooming around. I've not tested the water yet (was waiting for it to settle a bit first) but if the fish are anything to go by then it's happy days
). I've spent the last 2 days searching every local lfs for small bags of black sand so that I can replace this dodgy sand with half of my old black pebble substrate and half new black sand but I can't get none anywhere.
There is some on ebay but it's only 2kg and he wants £8.99 for it and there's no guatentee with it to say it won't affect PH so I'm not going to bother in case it solves nothing.
So. I came home and took the filter sponges out (YUK
) and got my syphon into the filter box. I couldn't believe the colour of what came out . I then set about syphoning out a large amount of this sand to lesson it's depth.I've also changed my de-chlorinator from Stress Coat+ to Interpet Bioactive Tapsafe. It does the same thing, is more concentrated and at half the price I thought I'd give it a go. So far it's looking okay.
So I rinsed my sponges in tank water, got them back and re-filled the tank. I've also got rid of the stupid aquapure balls. What's the point in them being there if they are doing nothing.
Right now the fish are zooming around. I've not tested the water yet (was waiting for it to settle a bit first) but if the fish are anything to go by then it's happy days
FishFanatic04
I'm in Planted School.
Yikes I've just caught up on this. You know what, I've just been dealing with the same thing. I changed my betta tank from gravel to sand AND unfortunatly bought a new filter and moved the old media to it. The next morning my Bettas tail looked a little ragged so I tested the water
2.o ppm ammonia!!! 1.0ppm of that was from the full water change {my tap has 1.0ppm} But that was terrible, the nitrites spiked as well. I think there is much more bacteria in the substrate then anyone assumes. My other sand tanks are always stable once they are cycled. I had to put my betta in another tank for this whole last week.
Luckily you didn't also switch filters.
There may be something up with the particular sand you bought, but thats terrible luck.
2.o ppm ammonia!!! 1.0ppm of that was from the full water change {my tap has 1.0ppm} But that was terrible, the nitrites spiked as well. I think there is much more bacteria in the substrate then anyone assumes. My other sand tanks are always stable once they are cycled. I had to put my betta in another tank for this whole last week.
Luckily you didn't also switch filters.
There may be something up with the particular sand you bought, but thats terrible luck.
zain611
Fish Addict
I would say to feed less and i may say you need to clean or even change the filter sponge but i think cleaning it may take all the muck in it but when i had a problem were my ammonia was rising not my nitrite and i never had a cycled tank i replaced the sponge and now its cycled although my nitrates are rising 
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Akasha72
Warning - Mad Cory Woman
I would say to feed less and i may say you need to clean or even change the filter sponge but i think cleaning it may take all the muck in it but when i had a problem were my ammonia was rising not my nitrite and i never had a cycled tank i replaced the sponge and now its cycled although my nitrates are rising
Umm ... think I'll stick with my water changes. Never, Ever change your sponges until they have fallen to bits. First rule of keeping a cycled filter
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Akasha72
Warning - Mad Cory Woman
well the good news is - ammonia readings are back to normal today - that is a reading of zero 
My best guess would be that sucking all that horrible gunk out of the bottom of the filter box did the trick. It must have settled there when I did the change over and been the cause of the ammonia readings - it;s the only thing that makes sense to me anyway.
Now ... I just need that blooming PH to come back up and all is well
Sand ... you have a reprive .... for now at least
My best guess would be that sucking all that horrible gunk out of the bottom of the filter box did the trick. It must have settled there when I did the change over and been the cause of the ammonia readings - it;s the only thing that makes sense to me anyway.
Now ... I just need that blooming PH to come back up and all is well
Sand ... you have a reprive .... for now at least
FishFanatic04
I'm in Planted School.
good news then!
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Akasha72
Warning - Mad Cory Woman
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