# Ammonia 1.0 ppm



## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Ok guys I had this problem in the past after I moved the first time and now it's back again. I now have a 60 gallon and a 40 gallon tank. At one point they were both established. And now after I moved they are both at

Ammonia- 1.0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0 or close to 5.0

Do you think I had an ammonia spike or my tank recycled and I have to wait for it to go through the process again. I have Fish in both tanks. They are doing fine not gasping at the top or on the bottom just going through their daily routines. Should I just wait this out and wait for the ammonia to drop? Water Changes? ANY info would be great!


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

I would do a large water change to get the ammonia below 0.25 ppm. You should also dose the tank with Prime to detoxify the ammonia (and nitrites if they spike too).

What's your KH level at?

Obviously you'll need to monitor your parameters closely for the next while and be prepared for daily water changes.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I have no idea what the KH Level is at. I'm switching back to Prime. That API water conditioner I never really did like. I'm just going to wait and see what happens. Please keep the ideas coming I will do a large water change. I did one the other night and didn't see a difference at all. The ammonia stayed exactly the same


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## tim_s (Nov 27, 2011)

Hi,

The fact you have nitrates "might" indicate the cycle is still intake but needs care. To be honest when you move a lot can change so let's move beyond what could have happened and start at the beginning.

1. What is your PH? (At a lower PH the toxicity of ammonia is lower)
2. Let's start with a water change, cycle or not we need to address the problem


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

The potential significance of the KH is that if your water isn't adequately buffered your pH can drop significantly and cause an ammonia spike. Most people buffer (raise KH) by adding baking soda to the water.

How large was the water change you did?

Edit: as *tim_s* has pointed out ammonia is more toxic when pH is higher so don't raise your KH until you bring your ammonia down through water changes.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I did a water change of 30 % on Sunday. Hmm adding baking soda huh? Should I do a 50 % change tomorrow and add some baking soda?


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## tim_s (Nov 27, 2011)

Dj823cichild said:


> I did a water change of 30 % on Sunday. Hmm adding baking soda huh? Should I do a 50 % change tomorrow and add some baking soda?


1. What is your PH currently? - Tank / Tap
2. What fish are you stocking?

If your fish are doing ok! my recommendation would be to focus on the ammonia

It is time to do a big water change and then 25% daily until the ammonia issue is resolved. Once 3-4 days of good water parameter - then - we can focus on buffering the water, if it is required


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Ok just tested the PH it's 6.6 to 6.8 that's the best color I could make out from the chart and the Api drip test kit. In the 60 gallon tank I have a 5 to 6 inch Oscar. In the 40 gallon breeder I have 3 to 4 inch Jack Dempsey. They are both doing fine with no real issues. I want to get this under control cause I care about my fish. Ok I will focus on doing the water changes the next 3 days starting tomorrow on both tanks. They are identical in readings I just checked.


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## tim_s (Nov 27, 2011)

- Stocking -

Both the tanks do not have a lot of breathing room here in terms of stocking, which is going to cause more sensitivity to changes within the cycle, however, you are hitting the bare minimal recommendations (Oscar personally should be in nothing smaller than a 75 G), your Jack will need more roaming space.

- PH -

You are lucky in that your PH is so low your ammonia is *locked*(ish), but we really need to bring your PH up to 7 PH - 7.5 PH to promote proper bacterial growth. - What is the PH of your tap? - my thoughts are to conduct 25% water changes daily and if your taps PH is higher this will bring the PH probably to around a 7 (this is why we need the PH of your tap water to work this out), once this is done we can talk about the options available too you. It is best we do not over complicate the setup more than it needs to be.

Your fish will easily survive this - if this is the only issue.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Ok Tim let me check the Ph from the Tap right now. I have both tanks very bare for the fish. But I understand what your saying


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Ok the Ph coming right out of the tap is 7.0 or pretty close to it.


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## tim_s (Nov 27, 2011)

Yes! but 7 is better than 6.6-6.8, at 7 the bacteria will have an "easier" time to grow and your fish will not be effected and with such a small drop of 0.2, this is tolerable.

Here is your strategy

Ammonia > 1 ppm : 75% water change
Ammonia = 1 ppm : 50% water change
Ammonia > 0.25 ppm < 0.75 ppm : 25% water change in the morning, 25% water change in the afternoon
Ammonia =< 0.25 ppm : daily 25% water change

Using this as a guide should help you, the bacteria responsible for converting ammonia into nitrite develops pretty quickly and thus a lot of the information above will not be required.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Ok I'm starting on the 60 gallon now with the 75 % water change. Dosing with the appropriate amount of Prime. I will do the same for the 40 gallon. Should I wait till tomorrow to test for the ammonia and all the tests? Or wait like an hour or so? Either ways I really do appreciate all your advice and help I hope this does the trick!


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Well I've done two 75% water changes and not a single change in the ammonia it's still 1.0 I dosed with Prime and all :x


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## trashburner (Feb 28, 2012)

You might want to check the ammonia in your tap water because I have it in mind


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I did sigh there is some in there as well. I'm thinking i'm screwed either ways


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Just tested the ammonia out of my tap it's .25 or .50 grrrr!


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I would suggest a different route. Since there is a good chance you are getting a reading of ammonia from the breakdown of chloramine, changing water may not help reduce the reading. Prime is often used to remove ammonia but I feel there are better products for that. Ammo-carb or Ammo chips is my first choice for removing ammonia as they are designed specifically for that rather than as a hangon for other purposes. A bag of either hung in the filter output will soak ammonia if it is there and then can be treated and reused. I like to stick to the very simple, very cheap, methods. They tend to work without the extra confusion from multi-purpose products.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Ok Pfun. I just don't get this at all and it's very frustrating sigh... I'm also starting to believe my tank has maybe recycled some since I have not readings of Nitrite and only 5ppm of Nitrate. Man this is upsetting :-?


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Not knowing all the details it is just a guess but it sounds very much like a frequent question we have here on the forum. People often find they have ammonia readings in their tank, Then they find they have ammonia in their water and it gets to be a real problem.

What you may have is chloramine used for making the water safe to drink. I've forgotten what exactly but I think chloramine is chlorine bonded to ammonia. If you use Prime to treat your water, the chlorine and ammonia are seperated and the ammonia is made non-toxic. The kicker is that the normal test kits we use still measure this ammonia making us think we still have a problem. We can add lots of Prime but the ammonia is still there to measure. What needs to be made clear is that Prime does not remove ammonia! It makes it non-toxic but we still think it is there.

Unfortunately we often get bad advise and get paniced into doing all kinds of things to our water to remove the ammonia when just ignoring it might be the best response. My purpose for using Ammo- carb is to remove the ammonia from the water which using Prime does not do. The Ammo does not let me continue to read ammonia.

Bottom line? You're not screwed, just been a bit confused like a thousand others.


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