API Test Kit Ammonia Reading

[ZElisha]

Hi all,

I have a 30 litre tank set up with a few plants. I added root tabs yesterday and this morning I have an ammonia reading of 0.25ppm I think. I've never used the API master test kit before and the colour of the water doesn't really seem to match any of the colours on the chart.

I tested my tap water and it too is coming up with a similar colour to the tank water (perhaps a tiny bit paler).

I did a quick search and found root tabs can cause an ammonia spike, however I've only had a slight rise and my water is still clear. Just wondering if it could be due to the root tabs, or that I might be reading it wrong and the ammonia is actually at 0 as my water is pretty much the same colour? I'm using tropica nutrition capsules.

All the other tests I can read fine on the chart, it's just the ammonia one; the water isn't yellow, more of a pale green/yellow colour?

 

[Essjay]

It is possible that the ammonia in your tap water is because your water company uses chloramine rather than chlorine to disinfect the water supply. Chloramine is an ammonia and a chlorine joined together and the ammonia half is detected by the tester. Dechlorinators/water conditioners split the chloramine up and remove the chlorine leaving the ammonia in the water. Most water conditioners also detoxify ammonia for 24 hours by which time the filter bacteria should have removed it.

But - it is winter and the weather is pretty gloomy at the moment. What lighting are you reading the test under? Daylight is best (though there's not much of it at the moment); old fashioned incandescent bulbs are also good. Fluorescent lights, including compact fluorescent bulbs, make the water in the tube look greener than it really is. I haven't tested halogen and LED bulbs so I don't know if they affect the colour. If you can manage to find some daylight tomorrow and check the ammonia of both tank and tap water, see what the reading is then.

 

[the_lock_man]

I agree with Essjay. THe API ammonia test is notorious for giving a false reading of 0.25ppm, especially under artificial lighting.

 

[ZElisha]

Fab thank you both! I did try to get as much daylight as possible but did also have lights on so that may have affected it. I'll try testing again tomorrow and see what the reading says.

 

[ZElisha]

So I've tested the water again this morning.
Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10 (this was already in my tap water).
However, the water seems to have gone slightly cloudy and I'm not sure why? Will this be safe for the fish as it seems my levels are normal? I don't yet have anything in the tank but will be using safestart (not yet added) and will be adding a fish this evening.
I rinsed off the gravel/ornaments/plants I have in there so I'm not sure if it would be from them as it was about a day after I added everything that the water went slightly cloudy.
Any idea what this could be?

 

[Essjay]

How long has the tank been set up? If it's newly set up, it will be a bacterial bloom. These are not the bacteria we want to grow. They live floating in the water (the bacteria we want grow on surfaces), feed off carbon based things (the bacteria we want feed off nitrogen based things) and multiply very rapidly. The good news is that they'll die once their food is gone, but it is impossible to say how long this will take as every tank is different. Water changes don't help because they multiply so fast that within hours, their numbers are back up again.

Which brand of root tabs did you use? Some are known to pollute the water column.


Re getting fish - are you aware of the nitrogen cycle? This is the process of growing bacteria which eat the ammonia made by fish and the nitrite made from this ammonia. You mention plants, and if there are a good number of fast growing plants you can do a plant cycle where the plants remove the ammonia.

 

[ZElisha]

The tank hasn't been set up long, only since Sunday and the plants were added on Monday so it sounds like it could be a bacterial bloom. Are these harmful to the fish at all (or the beneficial bacteria I do want)?

The root tabs I used were Tropica Nutrition Capsules.

I planned on using tetra safestart and adding a betta in there for the cycle as I've had success with it in the past, and planned to do regular water tests/changes and add more safestart if needed. Unfortunately I don't think there's enough plants in there to do a plant cycle (there's only a few crypts and 3 moss balls).

 

[ZElisha]

This is how the tank is looking; not majorly cloudy but not clear either.

 

[Essjay]

It does look like a bacterial bloom. These are harmless to fish, it just means we can't see the fish properly. It will go away when it's ready.

Tetra Safe Start is one of the recommended bacterial starters but it won't cycle a tank instantly. And it won't work at all if it's been stored incorrectly at any time since it left the factory. But one betta won't make that much ammonia. (For fishless cycling 3 ppm ammonia is recommended but I used just 1 ppm to cycle a 25 litre tank for a betta and that was plenty). Keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite every day once you have fish.

Floating plants would help with ammonia, and bettas do like them - even stems of elodea left to float.


I have not heard anything bad about those root tabs. A few months ago, one member used some cheap root tabs and ended up with a nitrite spike which is why I asked.

 

[ZElisha]

That's great, thank you for your help! I have a friend who runs a pet shop so managed to get some safestart straight from the warehouse; hopefully that means it hasn't been sitting around too long but if it doesnt work my LFS always has it in stock so I'll grab some more.

I'll definitely look into getting some floating plants then, maybe Duckweed or Frogbit? Would I need to dose liquid fertiliser for these?

Yeah I was a little worried that the root tabs may have been the cause and I hadn't buried them deep enough. Thankfully though my levels don't seem to be going up, but I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[Essjay]

I have frogbit in both my tanks and it grows well in both. The plants don't grow as large in the 23 litre but then it only houses shrimps and a nerite snail. The roots do grow very long - they reached the bottom of my 180 litre - but I just trim when they get too long. I use Seachem Flourish Comprehensive Supplement as I have a lot of plants which grow on decor and the frogbit. In the 23 litre tank I find a 1 ml pipette useful for getting the right dose.

Duckweed. I managed to kill duckweed but most people hate it because it's impossible to get rid of if you decide you don't like it. Miss one leaf and it comes back.
Another alternative is Salvinia.

 

[ZElisha]

Think I'll stay clear of Duckweed then! ? Frogbit sounds like a good idea though, I'll see if my fish shop has it.

 

[StevenF]

I would personally recomend salvinia for a floating plantEasy to remove if you don't want it. duck weed is nearly impossible to remove because you only need on microscopic plant for it to recover. Generally for floating plants if they die in the tank or don't do we'll the problem is likely a nutrient deficiency.

The root tabs I used were Tropica Nutrition Capsules.

Be advised that many root tabs or capsules are simply filled with slow release fertilizer beads designed for garden plants. Many garden plant fertilizers contain Ammonia nitrate and or ammonia sulfate. I don't know what is in your root tabs tropica typically doesn't list ingredients on the web. But if it has ammonia nitrate or sulfate your test might detect it.