Something happened

[brianriv]

I have been all excited thinking my tank was just about to finish cycling. The Nitrites are just about gone. The Ammonia has been gone for awhile now but just a few minutes ago I did a 25% water change and tested the water and the Ammonia is up to 1.2. Yesterday it was at 0. I thought maybe the water i put in so I tested the tap and it's at 0 ammonia. I added Dechlorinater when i did the water change. I am so upset I thought I was going to be able to get a new fish in a couple of days now it looks like I will have to wait even longer. This has and is a very long cycle. It has been two months. Any ideas on what might have caused this rise in ammonia? Is this normal while doing water changes? Help please.

 

[Bol]

Are you doing a fishless cycle? If so, when's the last time you added ammonia?

Also, what kind of dechlorinator do you use, and what type of ammonia test?

 

[Teelie]

Yeah. I know exactly what happened. When you dechlorinate water, the chlorine breaks down into ammonia. You should use something like Ammo-Lock that breaks down chlorine and chloramine and detoxifies the resulting ammonia at the same time.

 

[Bol]

When you dechlorinate water, the chlorine breaks down into ammonia.

Not quite , but close . Chlorine is an element; it doesn't break down. "Chloramine" is the word you want.

If you have

* a dechlorinator that only neutralizes chlorine (not chloramines), and
* you have chloramines in the water to be treated, then

the dechlorinator can strip (and neutralize) the chlorine from the chloramine, producing ammonia.

Many, if not most, dechlorinators also neutralize chloramines, though.

However, this situation sounds kind of unlikely in this case, since you've been getting "0" ammonia readings recently. Knowing the brand name of the dechlorinator would help.

 

[Teelie]

Ah well, was close. I never deal with unfiltered tap water so it never really concerned me.

 

[Sky042]

actually it'll break it out into ammonium which not all test sets can detect. However we also need to know more about your fishless cycle. If you take your water sample too soon after adding the last bit of ammonia you can show a level. You need to test your water 24 hours later just before you add another dose of ammonia or your readings could be screwed.

 

[brianriv]

To answer your questions:
1. No it's not a fishless cycle. I have 6 platies and 4 Zebra Danios.
2. I use Hagen Mini Master Test Kit
3. I use Tetra Aqua, Aqua Safe.

Well to be honest I think I figured out what I did wrong. I feel so embarrassed. I did a newbie no no. I have an aquaclear 500 and I took out one of the filters and put in nitra-zorb. I realized after I posted my problem that I was the problem. I guess I just have to wiat for bacteria to form on this new filter. Well I guess I learned something to warn other newbies about. Thanks for the help. If by any chance this isn't the problem I would feel better cuz it wasn't me. lol Let me know. thanks