Ammonia in tank without fish yet???

Anne L.

Anne L.

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Dec 3, 2003
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I've searched around here to see if I could find an answer, but no luck, so can someone tell me why this is happening?

I tested the water in my new 10 gallon for ammonia, just for the heck of it; the water is a little cloudy. I've had the tank running without fish since last Sunday, with water conditioner and "cycle" in it. pH is 7.4.

I tested for ammonia last night and test shows a faint yellowish tinge. Test kit has 0 reading then goes to 0.5, does not have a .25 reading. I'd say the yellow is likely close to a .25 or possibly below. There are no fish in the tank as yet, because I want to start fishless cycling right away.

Is this normal, or is something weird going on here?
 
Perhaps your water supply is using chloramine instead of just chlorine. I would call you water supply workers and see if this is the case. If it is when you add the water conditioner it will split the chlorine and ammonia apart, neutralizing the chlorine and leaving some ammonia.
 
It could be from chloramines in your water supply as already mentioned, it can also be from the Cycle - which is a significant bioload all by itself. Cycle is not what you need - a waste of money IMHO.
 
Yes, I agree that Cycle is really just a waste of money.

Also depending on your test sometimes you get ammonium showing up as ammonia. Only ammonia is harmful to fish. I think there are tests out there that are more specific.

The water will clear up in a few days. That is generally from the substrate and will settle out or get picked up by the filter.
 
I'll bet that it is from the Cycle as you folks mentioned. It was just a little wee bottle that came with the water conditioner, so not a big waste of money for me.

It doesn't appear that our water system uses chloramine according to our city water techs, so should I just do the fishless cycling as I planned, and see what happens?

I don't want to get too high end here and buy a whole bunch of extra tests, although I'll get the nitrate/nitrite test for the cycling.
 
test the cycle

I think you should pour some Cycle in a test tube with a bit of water and tell us if it contains ammonia.
 
Anonapersona, that's an interesting thought. I might just do that if I get a chance. Busy with Christmas stuff and all that.

I'll post the result here - because likely now I'll do it just out of curiosity.
 
AP - it is the bacterial breakdown of the proreins from the dead bacteria in Cycle that boosts the ammonia titers. Heterotrophs are around everywhere and arrive with the water, you, your hands, etc. They are the the needed component we don't have to cycle to get - but their balancing themselves out can result in cloudy water in young tanks.

Most aquarium kits do test TAN, total ammonical nitrogen, as TKOS said. Ammonia and ammonium are in equilibrium based on temperature and pH. Only the dissolved gas - ammonia - is toxic. The ion ammonium is much, much less so. That is the mode of action of the ammonia-neutralizing agents - they lock ammonia into the ammonium form linked to a material which will not release, so that the now ionic form is trapped until bacteria consume it. It cannot rejoin the NH4+ <-> NH3 dance.
 
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