# Ammonia



## ShaneN. (Mar 8, 2004)

I have a little Ammonia problem.... well i big Ammonia problem







what should i do about it?

i'm thinking i should add some ammo-lock which is supposed to get rid of ammonia but then what do you suggest? should i do 5 20% changes in a row? in theory i would have fresh water in 5 days. or how should i go about doing this?

my lfs thinks i should change a hugeeeee amount of water at once use some of this ph minus stuff.

also how about feeding? my lfs figures i should cut down to feeding my p's every 3 days. i'm kind of concerned that they are going to start killing eachother as one of my p's almost has no tail fin just because i skipped a day. since feeding is the problem SHOULD i cut back drastically on the feeding?


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## 8Jaws (Mar 23, 2004)

did you cycle the tank?


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## ShaneN. (Mar 8, 2004)

my tank just finished cycling actually *lowers head*


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## ShaneN. (Mar 8, 2004)

on a side note, once a tank is going properly will the bacteria take care of the ammonia?


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## mori0174 (Mar 31, 2004)

It sure will. Just look at the nitrogen cycle on Ash the fish catcher's homepage. It is the Nitrates that build up as the end product, and that needs to be removed by changing water periodically.


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## acehigh (Mar 5, 2004)

Sounds like the tank is not fully cycled yet! How long has it been set up? how long have the fish been in? How many fish? Also was a source of Ammonia added to cycle?

The bacteria will only grow to the size of the Ammonia in the tank! This is what it feeds on. If a lot of fish are added at once this will cause an increas in ammonia. The bacteria will not be enough to handle the load and need a little time to adjust.

When the tank has finished its cycle you should detect no Ammonia or Nitites. Have you had any Nitrite readings yet?

The best cause of action is to do water changes to keep your levels down, and keep monitoring the levels, they should come down. You can add Ammo Lock which will help de tox the ammonia, but by doing the water changes you would be removing it anyway.

I would not stop feeding if you have more than one in the tank, just cut back a little. Feed bit by bit, make sure they eat it all and remove any pieces after feeding. Use a gravel vac to remove crap when doing the water changes.

Most p's can live in a wide range of ph, some times it is easier having your ph a little out but stable. Than trying to change it and having it go up and down like a yo-yo. Test your water that you use for water changes, and see what level it is. You dont want to be adjusting your ph and stressing the fish more, unless you have to. You can always try adjusting it to the ideal level later, once the tank has settled down.

Hope this helps a little!
Good luck.


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## ShaneN. (Mar 8, 2004)

acehigh said:


> Sounds like the tank is not fully cycled yet! How long has it been set up? how long have the fish been in? How many fish? Also was a source of Ammonia added to cycle?
> 
> The bacteria will only grow to the size of the Ammonia in the tank! This is what it feeds on. If a lot of fish are added at once this will cause an increas in ammonia. The bacteria will not be enough to handle the load and need a little time to adjust.
> 
> ...


 some very good info, thanks.

in short i should continue doing frequent water changes (my tank IS just finishing cycling out) and feed them like once a day?

i have a gravel vac nad usually do 20% water changes. how often should i be doing them? i heard that water can actually get CLOUDY with excessive water changes.


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## acehigh (Mar 5, 2004)

Ive never had a problem with water going cloudy due to lots of water changes. A lack of maintanance can cause algie blooms. This can come from to much light, a build up of Nitrate and or Phosphate. Phosphates coming from decaying waste, Nitrates as the end product of the Biological filter. Both can be kept in check by water changes. Phosphates can be found in tap water as well, test your tap water to make sure the levels are below 1.0 mg/L.

I usualy change around 20% every 3 - 4 days. This is on an established tank with 8 5-6" rbp.

I would change 10-20% ever other day till your Ammonia & Nitrite come down to 0.

Then monitor the build up of Nitrate, when this gets a little high do a water change. You soon get a feel of how frequently you need to do them. All tanks very, depending on how many fish, feeding habits, Size of tank.


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## Guest (Apr 16, 2004)

Good advice Acehigh.









Definitely add the Ammo-Lock and a bit of salt to make the cycling process easier on the fish. Although 20% a day sounds a bit excessive, the water changes will make things easier on your fish also.

I don't know why your LFs was reccomending a pH lowering product to help with ammonia. I wouldn't bother trying to modify the pH at the moment.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

Bullsnake said:


> I don't know why your LFs was reccomending a pH lowering product to help with ammonia. I wouldn't bother trying to modify the pH at the moment.


 Because ammonia is less toxic at low pH... but for p's, I wouldn't try to tinker with pH while cycling. Just reduce feeding, add salt, and monitor your water parameters. You can do small water changes to dilute ammonia/nitrite levels.


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## rufus (Jan 6, 2004)

DonH said:


> Bullsnake said:
> 
> 
> > I don't know why your LFs was reccomending a pH lowering product to help with ammonia. I wouldn't bother trying to modify the pH at the moment.
> ...


 best advice you'll find


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## ShaneN. (Mar 8, 2004)

i added ammo-lock2 to the tank after a water change. it says something about treating it a few times before another water change

what is the usual process for this? i figured you'd need to do a whole bunch of changes after, but i guess not? it also says to check the levels after a week because the ammo-lock scews the readings but will it not affect after a week of filtration orrrrr?


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## ShaneN. (Mar 8, 2004)

bump.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

Products that detoxify ammonia will usually not work with normal ammonia test kits. The advice about waiting a week to test the water is probably so the residual effect of the water conditioner to disappear before the tests will be accurate. I don't reccomend this because that defeats the whole purpose of a test kit if you can't take ammonia readings when you need it most. When you actually have ammonia!!! Look for test kits that use salicylate reagents. Ammo-Lock should not interfere with the readings on those test kits.

The reason why it won't affect your filtration is because it chemically binds out ammonia and converts it to an ionized (less toxic) form of ammonium that is still an available food source for your nitrifiers.


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