Process of removing Ammonia

[Angeltold]

Etsy is a good place to get aquarium plants. Just make sure you disinfect them before adding them to your tank no matter where you get them from.

How do you disinfect plants? I think i had one kill my fish before. But I’ve been treating it and re added it. (The java moss) I was just going to soak them in conditioned water.

 

[Byron]

How do you disinfect plants? I think i had one kill my fish before. But I’ve been treating it and re added it. (The java moss) I was just going to soak them in conditioned water.

I just answered this same question for another member, so will copy over.

If they come from a tank of plants with no fish, I just put them in the tank. I do not ever rinse them in anything but a bucket of tap water, as I have no worry about snails like some do, and any chemical really effective on snails or algae will harm if not kill the plant. If the plants come from tanks with fish, caution would say we quarantine them just as we would new fish. Plants in a tank with no fish (meaning in your quarantine tank) would presumably deal with fish disease things, though who knows?

 

[Angeltold]

I just answered this same question for another member, so will copy over.

If they come from a tank of plants with no fish, I just put them in the tank. I do not ever rinse them in anything but a bucket of tap water, as I have no worry about snails like some do, and any chemical really effective on snails or algae will harm if not kill the plant. If the plants come from tanks with fish, caution would say we quarantine them just as we would new fish. Plants in a tank with no fish (meaning in your quarantine tank) would presumably deal with fish disease things, though who knows?

Ok i got a couple plants. And a light. They’re bottom plants though so i dont know how to plant them.

 

[Byron]

Ok i got a couple plants. And a light. They’re bottom plants though so i dont know how to plant them.

What is/are the plant species? A photo if you don't happen to know the name(s).

 

[loydie]

You have made a lot of posts recently. All the post combined, gives a hint of a uncycled new tank. You say that you have changed the filter, do you still have the old filtersponge?

I also have a 2.5 Betta tank, but i completely cleaned it so that one just has a small trace of ammonia.
I’m keeping part of the old filter to help created a safe biological environment.

When you say that you completely cleaned the 2.5 gallon tank, what do you mean by that? If you have removed all the water, new filter, gravel etc. then you will also have ammonia spike in that tank.
Ammonia gets broken down by beneficial bacteria. Those bacterias mainly attaches to your filter and biomedia (ceramic rings etc.). Ammonia doesnt attach to anything, but is flowing around in the water. That means if you do a 50% water change, you will reduce the ammonia by 50ish%. - This does not mean, that a 100% water change will solve you problems -

Plants will use ammonia and nitrates as their "food". A fast growing plant like sessiliflora or guppy grass "eats" ALOT, whereas Anubias grows slowly, and therefore consumes less nutrients.
But to answer your question: Daily water changes of 30% - 50% until 0 ppm ammonia consistently. Add fast growing plants, surface plants and stem plants are both very good (hygrophila polysperma, limnophila sessiliflora and anacharis, are all excellent and most stores have them).
Your shrimps will without a doubt thank you, if you get some guppy grass or java moss for them to hide in.

 

[Angeltold]

You have made a lot of posts recently. All the post combined, gives a hint of a uncycled new tank. You say that you have changed the filter, do you still have the old filtersponge?

When you say that you completely cleaned the 2.5 gallon tank, what do you mean by that? If you have removed all the water, new filter, gravel etc. then you will also have ammonia spike in that tank.
Ammonia gets broken down by beneficial bacteria. Those bacterias mainly attaches to your filter and biomedia (ceramic rings etc.). Ammonia doesnt attach to anything, but is flowing around in the water. That means if you do a 50% water change, you will reduce the ammonia by 50ish%. - This does not mean, that a 100% water change will solve you problems -

Plants will use ammonia and nitrates as their "food". A fast growing plant like sessiliflora or guppy grass "eats" ALOT, whereas Anubias grows slowly, and therefore consumes less nutrients.
But to answer your question: Daily water changes of 30% - 50% until 0 ppm ammonia consistently. Add fast growing plants, surface plants and stem plants are both very good (hygrophila polysperma, limnophila sessiliflora and anacharis, are all excellent and most stores have them).
Your shrimps will without a doubt thank you, if you get some guppy grass or java moss for them to hide in.

My shrimp tank does have Java moss.
My betta tank has the old filter still.
I cut up the old filter from the 20g and put pieces of it into all 3 tank filters.
Oh no, does that mean my shrimp tank will spike? Will the Java moss help protect them? Should i move them in with the Betta and let it cycle? They just started to get use to their environment.
My tap-water alone has .4 ammonia in it.
I did a 25% water change today and came back 7 hours ish later, and its at like a .2 maybe? Im astonished. Are we sure my roommate didn't mess with my tank? I did put some Java moss in there, maybe thats why.
My 20G the only thing I changed was the filter. And I think maybe the api quick start may have spiked the ammonia and nitrates? Is that possible? I had overfed my fish in the past, but not by much. Ive had this tank for maybe 3 months.
Thanks for your response ^^

 

[Angeltold]

What is/are the plant species? A photo if you don't happen to know the name(s).

I got a java fern and an amazon leaf.
They're soaking in water.

 

[Angeltold]

So now my ph is above 8.8?? I didnt add any ph neutralizer when i changed my water. Lol it really does cycle. My ppm was at 7.3 today. And my nitrates lowered to 40 ppm.
Help!

 

[Angeltold]

When the possibilities outweigh the bad, and everyones in bed.. i did a 25% water change (5 gallon bucket), and treated the new water for ph, and conditioner drops, swapped it out, and got these results.

 

[joeyr188]

When the possibilities outweigh the bad, and everyones in bed.. i did a 25% water change (5 gallon bucket), and treated the new water for ph, and conditioner drops, swapped it out, and got these results.

Looking a lot better 8.8 is very high! By chance what fish is in the tank

 

[loydie]

My shrimp tank does have Java moss.
My betta tank has the old filter still.
I cut up the old filter from the 20g and put pieces of it into all 3 tank filters.
Oh no, does that mean my shrimp tank will spike? Will the Java moss help protect them? Should i move them in with the Betta and let it cycle? They just started to get use to their environment.
My tap-water alone has .4 ammonia in it.
I did a 25% water change today and came back 7 hours ish later, and its at like a .2 maybe? Im astonished. Are we sure my roommate didn't mess with my tank? I did put some Java moss in there, maybe thats why.
My 20G the only thing I changed was the filter. And I think maybe the api quick start may have spiked the ammonia and nitrates? Is that possible? I had overfed my fish in the past, but not by much. Ive had this tank for maybe 3 months.
Thanks for your response ^^

Yes, a uncycled tank with shrimps in it will have ammonia spike. The java moss will help remove some of the toxins, but it won't remove enough for the water to be safe. And of course, a big amount of moss and 15-20 plants will be more helpfull than 3 plants and 4 strings of moss hehe.

If you live in the US, your water supply will most likely have added chloramine (NH2Cl) to it. So when you do water changes, you need to add a
water conditioner to the new water, BEFORE you pour it into the tank. This way you put "neutral" fresh water into the tank, instead of poison
As far as your roommate goes, i can't really help you on that one hehe. Hopefully no one would endanger live animals for fun. But overfeeding, dead fish and dead plants will all result in ammonia spike! If your tank has been running for 3 months without fish in it, then there is enough beneficial bacterica for a fishless tank. If you then add, as an example 15 fish, then there won't be enough bacteria to eat the ammonia right away, which will also result in ammonia spiking.

TL;DR - Add water conditioner to the new water in the bucket, before pouring it into the tank. Change water everytime you trace ammonia, until your tank is on proper route again. Don't feed your fish more than they can consume in 2 minutes, and remove dead leaves and fish if that were to happen.

 

[loydie]

Natural ways to lower ph is to add driftwood and/or catappa leaves. Bettas and shrimps adore catappa leaves. It will release tannins in your water, which will lower your ph slightly and turn your water tea brown.

 

[Byron]

So now my ph is above 8.8?? I didnt add any ph neutralizer when i changed my water. Lol it really does cycle. My ppm was at 7.3 today. And my nitrates lowered to 40 ppm.

I told you back in post #10 to not use any pH adjuster. You are only making the lives of the fish difficult and they may well die just from this. Leave the pH alone.

The pH is closely tied to the GH and KH of the source water. There are also other factors such as the level of CO2 that can affect pH. Using organic matter to lower pH may or may not work, again it depends upon the GH and KH which serves to buffer the pH to prevent fluctuations.

 

[Byron]

I got a java fern and an amazon leaf.
They're soaking in water.

The Anubias has a thick rhizome from which the leaves grow, and also the black thread-like roots. The rhizome must not be buried or it will tend to rot. Yo can gently poke the rhizome into a crevice in a chunk of wood, or use black thread to tie it to some object under water. It is a slow grower but one end of the rhizome will lengthen with new leaves and roots along the way.

The sword plant has a mass of roots at the base of the crown of the plant. Roots grow downward, and leaves upwatd from the crown. Push the root mass into the substrate gently, so the roots are all buried but not the crown.