ammonia vs. ammonium and ph question

turkeyofthesea

turkeyofthesea

AC Members
Nov 25, 2008
25
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denver, co
Hi all,

I'm in the process of a fishless cycling that has been going for over 5 weeks and wonder if anyone can shed some light on my levels.

I've been at 4ppm ammonia since the start (i used ada aquasoil which leeches ammonia), .25 nitrite only this past week finally, and 0 nitrate. my ph is 6- 6.2 and has only once spiked after i freaked (about the lack of drop in ammonia) and did a 25% water change, although it dropped back the next day.

Could the "ammonia" my adi liquid test kit detects actually be ammonium? i have read that when the ph is low the ammonia could actually be ammonium. If it is what do i do?

Or could it be that my ph is too low and my temp (78) and has stalled my cycle?

Any suggestions would be great!

Other things you might need to know about my tank:
10g, HOB filter with new sponge
treated tap water and stress zyme added
heavily planted with anacharis, swords, and java fern (already making babies)
ada aquasoil and powersoil substrate
bogwood
two rocks
planaria and malaysian trumpet snails only fauna (i guess came from plants)
:help:
 
turkeyofthesea said:
Hi all,

I'm in the process of a fishless cycling that has been going for over 5 weeks and wonder if anyone can shed some light on my levels.

I've been at 4ppm ammonia since the start (i used ada aquasoil which leeches ammonia), .25 nitrite only this past week finally, and 0 nitrate. my ph is 6- 6.2 and has only once spiked after i freaked (about the lack of drop in ammonia) and did a 25% water change, although it dropped back the next day.

If you have no fish, you do not need to do water changes - the ammonia will not hurt anything.

Could the "ammonia" my adi liquid test kit detects actually be ammonium? i have read that when the ph is low the ammonia could actually be ammonium. If it is what do i do?

The API test will pick up NH3 (ammonia) and NH4+ (the ammonium ion). At a pH of 6-6.2 pretty much all you have is NH4+ -- but it doesn't matter because the bacteria happily digest both!
Or could it be that my ph is too low and my temp (78) and has stalled my cycle?

Any suggestions would be great!

Other things you might need to know about my tank:
10g, HOB filter with new sponge
treated tap water and stress zyme added
heavily planted with anacharis, swords, and java fern (already making babies)
ada aquasoil and powersoil substrate
bogwood
two rocks
planaria and malaysian trumpet snails only fauna (i guess came from plants)
:help:
Click to expand...

(See notes in red above) Temp is fine. Did you seed your tank with any filter media? The bacteria don't just spontaneously create themselves, you have to have some in the tank so they can reproduce. These bacteria are in the the air and soil around us, but it can take some time to get both types of bacteria needed for the complete cycle if you don't have a source of bacterial colonies. If you have a friend, or know someone at a lfs try to get some filter material or substrate so that you can get some more bacteria.
 
thank you!!! i didn't add any established bacteria, i will try to get some from a neighbor. i was adding stress zyme, but i guess it must be bogus. i thought plants would have some on them, but maybe not enough.
 
Last edited:
What kind of fish are you planning on?
 
I have red cheeries in my 10 gal - just got them actually and love them. You have to be careful about the plecos - I think most get too big for a 10 gal - but corydora catfish are cute as buttons and you could get a 3 of the smaller type. Don't know much abut ember tetras -- as long as they're the smaller sized tetras I suspect they'll do fine - you can do a it of research to find out what size school the tetras like to be in.
 
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