Need To Reduce Ammonia Levels In Tap Water .50 Help Please!

[kelnme]

I have two new Male Bettas each in their own 2 1/2 Gallon Tanks, just temporarily. I have a 5 gallon and 10 gallon to place them in when I get them cycled eventually.

But I put the fish into their tanks and used AmQuel Plus to reduce the ammonia levels, but it did not work.

I decided that I would try Prime, so before I changed all the water, I did a test using my tap water in a one gallon jug of water. I added 2 drops of Prime as it says to do per gallon of water. After adding the 2 drops of Prime, the ammonia in the tap water still tested at .50. I then tried 4 drops of Prime in the tap water....again still .50. I went all the way up to 10 drops of Prime into this "test jug" and the ammonia in the tap water still measured .50.

Am I supposed to wait a couple of hours after adding the Prime to test the ammonia levels? Or is the Prime supposed to work instantly and should show an immediate measurement of 0 after added.

I am using the API testing kit with the 2 ammonia bottles. I really could use some advice on this. Please Help!!

 

[kelnme]

I just cleaned out the entire 2 bowls for each Betta. Since the bowls are 2 1/2 gallons each. I just put in 5 drops of Prime in each bowl.
(The directions say, 2 drops of Prime per gallon.)

The tap water in their bowls is still measuring ammonia of .50.

 

[_cRaCkEr_]

just put live plants and add a pinch of rock or aqarium salt

 

[joycould]

I knew about the aquarium plants taking out ammonia but not the salt with it(filing that away for future use). The best plants I find is java moss, duckweed (I don't know if it is legal in Cali), hornwort, the beautiful water lettuce (I am soooo jealous of crackers) red rooted floaters and a couple of others. Those are all floating plants and easy to remove in small tanks and bowls. Java moss is one of my favorites since it is a very low light plant. Hornwort will probablly be the easiest for you to find. A couple of rooted plants is java fern which you tie to a rock or something you don't actually plant it, and the banana plant easy to find and doesn't have to be planted but will root itself but is a higher light plant.

 

[rdd1952]

Prime converts ammonia to a non-toxic form (ammonium I presume) so you will still get a reading after using it but supposedly the ammonia isn't harmful and will be removed by your bacteria colony.

 

[kelnme]

Thank you all for your posts. I appreciate any help I can get.

Rdd1952, I'm glad to know that the Prime has converted the ammonia to a non-toxic state. I guess I am getting a false-positive reading with the API testing kit. But now I have put in 4 doses of Prime into these 2 1/1 gallon bowls. I think that the instructions on the bottle say 2 drops for every gallon would suffice. There really should be something on the label that says that the Prime will convert the ammonia to a non-toxic state and will give you false-positive reading. It really would have helped me in this process!!

I have read, not in it's entirety yet, your methods on a fishless cycle. I will be preparing (probably next week) a 5 gallon and 10 tank tank for each of these two Male Bettas, which are named...... Thunder and Lightning.


I will be reading your article more carefully today and may try your fishless method. I hope I can get my hands on some pure ammonia.


Ann

Thank you also both Cracker and Joy.

I am going to try to get my hands on some java moss today to put in their bowls.


Ann

 

[nomadofthehills]

The bottle does say that lol.