Ammonia levels- Confused with readings

[keithk831]

So I have read a lot on here about bringing your ammonia levels to "5ppm" when doing a fishless cycle. Well, I currently have an in-tank ammonia monitoring dial that changes color with the ammonia levels.

My question is this: the dials show 0.5ppm as "Toxic", 0.2ppm as "Alarm", 0.05ppm as "Alert", and <0.02ppm as "Safe". So, with my current levels reading 0.2ppm as of right now, where am I at? Safe or "Alarm"?

I bought this dial at Petsmart. The brand is Seachem and it seems to be reliable. I have been adding about 1 TBSP of ammonia (10% concentration) to the 26gal to bring it to 0.5ppm. Should it really be brought to 5ppm? That's way off my chart.

 

[Veloth]

As you probably know your chart is for the fish's health. If you have no fish it doesn't matter about the chart. I have never used one of the in tank monitors so I don't know if the excess ammonia will damage it. When I cycled my 20 gal tank I kept the ammonia at about 3.

 

[keithk831]

As you probably know your chart is for the fish's health. If you have no fish it doesn't matter about the chart. I have never used one of the in tank monitors so I don't know if the excess ammonia will damage it. When I cycled my 20 gal tank I kept the ammonia at about 3.

Yes, but i'm getting conflicting numbers between that chart and this forum.

 

[epond83]

The dial is correct for fish, but since there are no fish just bacteria growing who use the ammonia the is no 'alarm' level.

 

[keithk831]

The dial is correct for fish, but since there are no fish just bacteria growing who use the ammonia the is no 'alarm' level.

I know that. All I want to know is what the discrepancy is between the two.

 

[Punkrulz]

Keith,

I'm really not following what you're asking for then. From re-reading your posts a few times, I'm gathering that you're curious what level you're at, whether it's safe, or alarm, per the dial.

What the users here are trying to tell you is that the alarm status is irrelevant. If you are doing a fishless cycle (no fish in the tank what so ever), then the status levels of your dial will not matter at all... because there is nothing for the ammonia to be harmful to. You can ignore the warning of the dial, however when you place fish in the tank then you will have to heed whether you're safe, alert, alarm, etc.

Just keep an eye to keep your ammonia at 5ppm for the fishless cycle, and not to worry about whether you're safe, alarm, whatever... because w/o fish, it doesn't apply.

 

[keithk831]

Well here's the deal. I'm about halfway thru the cycling process now. The tank is slowly eating ammonia, nitrites are at about 2.0, and I have low levels of nitrates. Since we decided we arent going to add a full load of fish at once, i'm going to wait until the ammonia and nitrite levels get to safe levels and move the fish over. Granted, it won't be fully cycled, but mostly.

Here's what i'm asking about. My dial (forget the fact there's no fish in it) says that "Toxic" is 0.5ppm. Here, i'm reading that 5ppm is toxic. My gauge doesnt go above 0.5ppm. There's a big difference between 0.5ppm and 5ppm. I also took a bag of water to Petsmart and it tested very high levels of ammonia.

I'm wanting to know which is "correct" for cycling. 5ppm (which would be ridiculously high and off the charts according to the standards set on the dial and Petsmart's test kit), or if you all mean 0.5ppm (which is considered "Toxic" on the dial). So when you say "5ppm" are you meaning 0.5ppm, or really 5ppm. Then, how could you possibly know it's at 5ppm if two test kits I have used don't even exceed 1ppm.

Does this make sense?

I have been adding ammonia to the "Toxic" level of 0.5ppm, and it seems like the tank's cycle is going well (see today's test results above). I haven't seen the ammonia get below 0.2ppm yet, but it goes from 0.5 to 0.2 in about a half a day. I have been adding ammonia for about 2 weeks, and I have seeded the tank with plants and water from the 5g, the biowheel from the 5g, a bottle of Top Fin "Bacteria Supplement", and 1/4 bottle of Nutrafin Cycle (not all at once).

 

[Surprise_Clown_Loach]

I understand what you're trying to say! (I just do not know the answer.. :O )

Can you link the thread on this site that states the ammonia lvls?

 

[DesignsOnYou]

I understand what you're saying too. I THINK that .5 is allegedly toxic to fish, and that 5 is where you want it to cycle w/o fish, and that they're two different levels for two different situations, which is the discrepancy. I don't know if that helps. I think the 5 would perhaps speed up the cycle? And most dropper kits, not strips, do go that high.

 

[epond83]

yeah, you have it at 5ppm to provide an abundance of 'food' for the good bacitera. And yes anything abouve .5ppm is toxic to fish which is why fish in cyclying is slower because less 'food' for the bactiera slowing down there reproduction.

also if you are showing nitrates (and you don't have nitrates in your tap water) i belive you could slowly start adding fish assuming your ammoinia is in the safe rage for fish.

 

[keithk831]

also if you are showing nitrates (and you don't have nitrates in your tap water) i belive you could slowly start adding fish assuming your ammoinia is in the safe rage for fish.

That's kind of what i'd like to do...if I can get ammonia and nitrites down. As of now, nitrites are in a "stress" range.

 

[Orion]

First off, any ammonia isn't healthy for fish and in a properly maintained tank there shouldn't be any after the cycle. 5ppm is correct because this high of an amount would let you nearly add as high of a bio load as you wanted to once the tank got done cycling and you wouldn't have to worry about any spikes in readings. If you only cycle at .5, then the bacteria colonies are going to be significantly lower and you won't be able to add many fish until the tank starts to go though a mini-cycle.

So you really should just forget the levels on the dial. The only thing you need to remember is that any ammonia, it doesn't matter how little, is bad for fish. Once you stock your tank if you have ammonia show up you need to increase water changes until it goes away, not just until it gets to an 'acceptable' level on the dial.

 

[keithk831]

Yesterday I added a lot more ammonia to bring levels "off the chart". I came home from work and the water was really cloudy: bacteria bloom. I'm doing a partial water change today (for a different reason), and once I get ammonia and nitrite levels down to safe i'm going to add a few fish. It's just a partial cycle, but I don't need a full cycle since we're only adding a few fish at a time.

 

[Punkrulz]

Keith, not sure if I'm correct in this but in reading Orion's post, I highly advise waiting until you have absolutely 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, as they are both very harmful to your fish. With Orion's post, I'm understanding that if you're adding a little fish at a time here and there, then it's safe to work with lower amounts of ammonia while cycling... but as soon as you put fish in, you don't want ammonia in there.

It doesn't matter if you have 1 fish or 15, any amount of ammonia / nitrites are horrible to the fish. True, I believe you could get some hearty fish and I guess finish into a cycle w/ fish... but you really should be patient on this one to get the best out of it. I don't think you can really speed up the process by adding tons more ammonia than normal.

 

[FishGeek]

I would have to agree there Punkrulz.

 

[keithk831]

Keith, not sure if I'm correct in this but in reading Orion's post, I highly advise waiting until you have absolutely 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, as they are both very harmful to your fish. With Orion's post, I'm understanding that if you're adding a little fish at a time here and there, then it's safe to work with lower amounts of ammonia while cycling... but as soon as you put fish in, you don't want ammonia in there.

It doesn't matter if you have 1 fish or 15, any amount of ammonia / nitrites are horrible to the fish. True, I believe you could get some hearty fish and I guess finish into a cycle w/ fish... but you really should be patient on this one to get the best out of it. I don't think you can really speed up the process by adding tons more ammonia than normal.

Don't worry...i'm not going to add fish until it's safe. I'm just going to hold off on adding any more ammonia from here on out (even though it's not eating ammonia from 5ppm to zero in 1 day, it is still eating ammonia).

 

[DesignsOnYou]

I understand keithk831, my tank is taking longer than it's supposed to to cycle with the BioSpira, for a variety of possible reasons, but I'm really tempted to add fish in once the levels get near zero, but aren't there yet. I'm already showing nitrates, so mine is cycling, just not 0 on ammonia or nitrite yet. I'm trying to resist that urge, but I feel you.