High ammonia

[Fishyyyy]

Hi I have just recently upgraded my tank from a 64 l to a 120l. This tank has been up about 4 days now and I’m using the same filter and same sand from the old tank. have been checking the water parameters and ammonia is 0.25-0.5, nitrites is 0 and nitrates is 40.

Any idea how I can get the ammonia to go down or will it go down by it self as I already have a mature filter in there?

Thank you just worrying as my fish are in there

 

[itiwhetu]

Stop feeding for now. What fish do you have in the tank? A photo would help.

 

[itiwhetu]

Interested in pH etc as well

 

[Fishyyyy]

Stop feeding for now. What fish do you have in the tank? A photo would help.

Yeah I have stopped feeding and 3 guppies, 5 cherry barbs and 3 cories
PH don’t know at the moment
Water hardness 300ppm

 

[Colin_T]

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[Fishyyyy]

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/
chloramine before it's added to the tank.

My nitrates levels from the tap are just about under 20ppm so I struggle to keep it low but for the ammonia I will continue water changes and yeah I also treat the water before putting it in

 

[Essjay]

You don't say if you have any but live plants, especially floating plants, will also help to reduce the ammonia level - and they'll help with nitrate as well by turning ammonia into protein rather than nitrite then nitrate.

 

[Fishyyyy]

You don't say if you have any but live plants, especially floating plants, will also help to reduce the ammonia level - and they'll help with nitrate as well by turning ammonia into protein rather than nitrite then nitrate.

No I don’t have any, do you have any recommendations of floating ones that are easy to care for as I have never had live plants

 

[Essjay]

Floating plants include duckweed (but once you have it you'll never get rid of it), red root floater, salvinia, Amazon frogbit, water lettuce and water sprite - the list is increasing plant size from the smallest to the largest.
Stem plants can also be left floating though they don't look as pretty - elodea and hornwort are useful for this.

Plants use ammonia as food and those on the water surface have plenty of their other requirements too (near the tank lights, and they can get carbon dioxide from the air) so they grow faster; the faster they grow, the more ammonia they take up.
Most of the fish we buy originate in water with overhanging vegetation, and floating plants make the fish feel more comfortable, another plus for floating plants.


Not many shops sell floating plants but many on-line shops (including eBay, but check feedback) sell them.

 

[Colin_T]

My nitrates levels from the tap are just about under 20ppm so I struggle to keep it low but for the ammonia I will continue water changes and yeah I also treat the water before putting it in

if your tap water nitrate level is 20ppm, just try to keep the level around 20ppm

 

[AbbeysDad]

Have you tested for ammonia in your source water? Often source water with high nitrates also has ammonia.
Is your water treated with Chloramine? Water conditioners break the chlorine/ammonia bond and convert the ammonia component into somewhat harmless ammonium, but it still tests as ammonia.
Substrate cleaning and large water changes may or may not help!

I like to keep Seachem Safe or Prime on hand for ammonia spikes. You might find value in my articles on My Nitrate Fight and Lowering Aquarium Nitrates. as well as numerous other articles on Filtration and Water Quality. (I too have nitrates in my source (well) water - not as bad now, but once very high. Your ammonia problem may be temporary, but perhaps the nitrate problem not so much. It's tough to keep nitrates low when your source water fights you.

I can also recommend API Nitra-Zorb as it's a product sold in pouches for filter use. It is a resin that adsorbs ammonia and nitrates and is rechargeable with ordinary salt water.

Good luck and keep posting.

 

[Fishyyyy]

Have you tested for ammonia in your source water? Often source water with high nitrates also has ammonia.
Is your water treated with Chloramine? Water conditioners break the chlorine/ammonia bond and convert the ammonia component into somewhat harmless ammonium, but it still tests as ammonia.
Substrate cleaning and large water changes may or may not help!

I like to keep Seachem Safe or Prime on hand for ammonia spikes. You might find value in my articles on My Nitrate Fight and Lowering Aquarium Nitrates. as well as numerous other articles on Filtration and Water Quality. (I too have nitrates in my source (well) water - not as bad now, but once very high. Your ammonia problem may be temporary, but perhaps the nitrate problem not so much. It's tough to keep nitrates low when your source water fights you.

I can also recommend API Nitra-Zorb as it's a product sold in pouches for filter use. It is a resin that adsorbs ammonia and nitrates and is rechargeable with ordinary salt water.

Good luck and keep posting.

No my water source doesn’t contain ammonia because before I upgraded my 64 litre didn’t have problems with ammonia.
Yeah I treat all new water that goes it into the tank. Never had a problem until I upgraded the tank