New Plants

[cheekydevil]

I have currently had my tank set up for 4 months and all the water tests have been fine till now. My ammonia level has rocketed in the pass couple of days. The test is a 'urine' yellow (between 2.4 - 4.9 when using the colour chart). I dont know what these figures mean but i know that they are not good because usually the colour is see through. How has this accured ?? I have changed nothing bar from adding some aquatic plants (dont know what type) which was given to me by a friend.

Could these plants be affecting my results??

All other tests are colourless (0), pH is green (in the 7 mark)

Plus how do i lower the ammonia levels, all i am doing now is regular water changes. Gonna do a 50% change later on.

Thanks for any help

 

[BHornsey]

Hi,

If you have just planted then disturbing the substrate can release ammonia from decaying matter. Normally, in a planted tank, you would do a water change to remove some of it. However, the tank isn't long established and you wouldn't normally get a measurable reading.

Have you replaced any of the filter media or dosed any medication which could have removed any of the filter bacteria?

Just carry on with your water changes, 50% every other day, until the filter re-establishes and ammonia drops.

Plants themselves wont cause an ammonia spike, they will consume it.