This board has been an invaluable resource for us in our new hobby of fishkeeping. Thanks for all your help in answering questions, and for all the great articles. I'm still concerned however, about the ammonia readings we're getting in the tank and I'm wondering if it's normal.
We got my 13-year-old a 14 gallon tank in October and placed 6 zebra danios in the tank. Currently, there are 5 danios and one otocinclus. He uses the API liquid test kit and tests the water twice a week. Usually the readings are 0-0-10 (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). Sometimes, however, he gets ammonia of 25. When he does, he usually scoops out and replaces about 10% of the water, maybe a little more.
We do 25% water changes every 7 days like clockwork. When replacing the water, we use about 8 drops of SeaChem Prime, which we drop into the tank (including a few onto the sponge filter, which is in a separate compartment which needs to have water added to it) before adding fresh water. (I now use an instant-read thermometer to be sure I'm putting water back in at the right temp). My son rinses the sponge filter and changes the charcoal/media filter on an alternating schedule every two weeks (i.e., rinse the sponge filter, wait two weeks, change the filter media, wait two weeks, etc.). He rinses the sponge filter in fish-tank water. (OK, he made the mistake of rinsing it in the actual tank once, but we're past that now.) Other than that, he feeds TetraMin crisps -- just a few, twice a day.
Why are we still seeing ammonia? Sometimes he'll test the water two days after a water change and that's when the ammonia will show up. Other times, the water is fine until right before our scheduled water change. Is the tank not cycled yet? Or is this normal?
We got my 13-year-old a 14 gallon tank in October and placed 6 zebra danios in the tank. Currently, there are 5 danios and one otocinclus. He uses the API liquid test kit and tests the water twice a week. Usually the readings are 0-0-10 (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). Sometimes, however, he gets ammonia of 25. When he does, he usually scoops out and replaces about 10% of the water, maybe a little more.
We do 25% water changes every 7 days like clockwork. When replacing the water, we use about 8 drops of SeaChem Prime, which we drop into the tank (including a few onto the sponge filter, which is in a separate compartment which needs to have water added to it) before adding fresh water. (I now use an instant-read thermometer to be sure I'm putting water back in at the right temp). My son rinses the sponge filter and changes the charcoal/media filter on an alternating schedule every two weeks (i.e., rinse the sponge filter, wait two weeks, change the filter media, wait two weeks, etc.). He rinses the sponge filter in fish-tank water. (OK, he made the mistake of rinsing it in the actual tank once, but we're past that now.) Other than that, he feeds TetraMin crisps -- just a few, twice a day.
Why are we still seeing ammonia? Sometimes he'll test the water two days after a water change and that's when the ammonia will show up. Other times, the water is fine until right before our scheduled water change. Is the tank not cycled yet? Or is this normal?
