Ammonia&Ph stuck! Can’t move them! Help please!

A

angleymi

AC Members
Sep 11, 2020
9
1
3
USA
Parameters:
Ph:6.0
Ammonia: 0.5ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate:0.20ppm
55 gal tank
Tararium UV Filter
Sponge filter
Gravel substrate, a few fake rocks
Some fake plants/ some plants.
Story: A few weeks ago I lost my last fish. The tank was empty for about 2 weeks. I tested using API kit. Saw I had an Ammonia spike to .80ppm. Did a 50 % water change. Dosed with Prime & Stability. Next day the Ammonia dropped. Did the water change and dosed again. Did this for a week-7 days. Ph stayed steady at 6.0 the whole time. Ammonia dropped to 0.25. No Nitrite change ever, stayed at 0 the whole time! But the Nitrates rose to 0.25ppm. I added a few plants and dosed Aquarium Co-op all in one and added fertilizer tabs into the gravel. Next day the Ammonia stayed and the Nitrates rose to 0.40.
I did one more 50% water change. This was Monday of this week. I tried doing an ammonia calculator app that measures NH3 & NH4. It told me I had 0.00001 NH3. Said I was okay for ammonia. So I stopped doing the water changes thinking that the API kit was reading it slightly off since they say it combines the NH3 and NH4 to get its reading.
Yesterday I added Seachem Neutral Regulator to try to get my PH up. I had also added two aerator balls to get more agitation. Read somewhere this would help raise the PH.
Today I tested again. PH is still 6.0. Ammonia is at 0.5ppm now! Nitrites 0 still. Nitrates 0.40ppm.
I’m at a complete loss of what to do next. Water changes for sure. But what else?

IMG_2665.jpeg
 
Just curious if you've also tested your tap water, if you did post those results.

Any chance your test kit is outdated?
 
I tested the tap and no ammonia nitrites or nitrates. PH was low too. It’s possible my kit is old. I think probably 4 years. Bought it at the time I set up the tank. How long do they last?
 
I would think that after 4 years you are getting inaccurate results so recommend getting a new kit.
 
I’ve gotten good results before but maybe you’re right that in past few months maybe the kit expired on its effectiveness. I guess I need to suck it up and buy another one. Guess I can buy the single ones first to test the accuracy.
 
Any updates on your water test results A angleymi ?
 
The Ammonia is sitting at somewhere between 0.25 and 0.50. I got one those Seachem ammonia readers and it says I’m safe for NH3 ammonia. PH went up to 6.5 so that’s promising but now I have an algae bloom! Nitrates at 0.40ppm. Been doing some 50. % water changes. Treating the algae with API Algaefix. Added an Algone to the filter. Plane on going to the LFS to get more plants. Thinking this will help with the algae. It’s a true cluster f**k going on in this tank. Thinking I need to get rid of the UV filter and put back my old hanging filter or maybe leave both? At this point I’m thinking of blowing it up! Not really but getting pretty frustrated. See attached for what it looks like now.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2667.jpeg
    IMG_2667.jpeg
    2.5 MB · Views: 1
angleymi said:
The Ammonia is sitting at somewhere between 0.25 and 0.50. I got one those Seachem ammonia readers and it says I’m safe for NH3 ammonia. PH went up to 6.5 so that’s promising but now I have an algae bloom! Nitrates at 0.40ppm. Been doing some 50. % water changes. Treating the algae with API Algaefix. Added an Algone to the filter. Plane on going to the LFS to get more plants. Thinking this will help with the algae. It’s a true cluster f**k going on in this tank. Thinking I need to get rid of the UV filter and put back my old hanging filter or maybe leave both? At this point I’m thinking of blowing it up! Not really but getting pretty frustrated. See attached for what it looks like now.
Click to expand...
Read that the rise in Ammonia this time might because of the algae bloom.
 
Most of your problems are due to two factors. The first is all the junk you are adding to the tank and do not need. These you should likely pour down the toilet.
Stability
Aquarium Co-op all in one
fertilizer tabs into the gravel
Tararium UV Filter
Seachem Neutral Regulator
API Algaefix

So, what should you be doing?
1. Stop adding anything to the tank but ammonia to help it cycle. You do not need to add a lot nor often, But your cycle no longer established.
2. To raise pH the best way is to raise the KH. There are a number of ways o do this. I prefer to add a bag of crushed coral to the filters. This is calcium carbonate and carbonates raise KH. KH is what Keeps pH up. The more acid the water is the faster it dissolves the coral and that in turn raises the pH. Using chemical solutions for pH is not the best route to go.
3. Cycling happens because of ammonia. Removing ammonia slows or stops a cycle. Since there are not fish left this is not an issue. You mneed to be adding ammonia not removing it. You can add ammonia by adding ammonium chloride, This is available as Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride or Fishless Fuel Ammonia from Fritz Aquatics, Because you have live plants do not exceed the dose of either of these two products. They will produce about 2.6 ppm of ammonia using an API kit.
4. Live plants use ammonium (NH49 and the needed bacteria and Archaea use ammonia (NH3). The more plants one has, the less bacteria that are needed. In a going tank we cannot add ammonia to feed plants, this is done with nitrate. In the more high tech planted tanks we usually have to add nitrate.
5. Definitely replace the test kits, they do expire and 4 years will certainly cause that.
6. To get to the point of doing steps 1-4, do a huge water change after you give the substrate a decent vac. Do not go deeo just fvac, the surface. Change as much water as possible.
7. You do not need a UV. Either replace the filter or turn off the UV. I would prefer a different filter as you noted.
8. You need to restart the tank essentially.

Also read here about ammonia and ammonium and testing: https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/NitrogenIonConversion.php

Both the ammonium chloride products I suggested use the Nitrogen scale (they only measure the nitrogen). The API and most hobby kits measure using the Total Ion scale which counts the hydrogen or oxygen parts of ammonia and then nitrite and nitrate. The conversion chart on the link above shows how to convert one scale into the other.

Also, I have written several cycling articles for another site similar to here but way more active. I rewrote the existing fishless cycling article on the site because of how many stalled cycles or other cycling issues were getting posted about in the site. I wrote the article there in 2013 and it has stayed as is since then and the problems with cycling went way down.

The cloudy water is caused by heterotrophic bacteria which multiplies rapidly when given excess food which is what you have been doing is supplying.

If a tanks only has a few plants the fish and tap water normally supply their needs. But to learn about plants, go here: https://tropica.com/en/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom