Pesky Persistent Low Level Ammonia Reading

[tlkng1]

Hi All..

I have a freshwater 75 gallon that has been set-up for well over two years. In the past 6 months, I have had this persistent low level ammonia reading, between .25 and .50 PPM. I use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, which is about a year old now.

I have two filters going. One is a large sponge with a Hagen (can't remember the actual model) 70 powerhead in one corner, and an AquaClear 110 in the other. Media is stable; I rinse both sponges (in water removed from the tank) and replace the carbon and ammonia removal media once a month. I do 25% water changes weekly.

I am getting, as I said, Ammonia readings at .25 and .50, Nitrites are 0, Nitrates are reading 0 - 20. pH in tank is reading 7.8, which is also what the dechlorinated water straight out of the tap tests out at; temp is more or less steady between 74 and 76. Just for test purposes, I did a full 50% water change on Tuesday and the ammonia level didn't change as of Wednesday's (22 July) or this morning's (24 July) reading.

The tank has two small clusters of live plants and the rest are artificial. My current inhabitants are two white clouds and two Cories, all four of which are active and healthy.

I want to add Swords, Mollies and a few Platies, however, I am hesitant with the consistent Ammonia readings.

Any ideas? The thought HAS crossed my mind that the Ammonia test reagents might be the culprits.

Thanks

Terese

 

[MrCatfish]

A 25% weekly water change maybe your problem, the tank may be constantly cycling.

I only do 25% once a month, you don't have a heavy fish load either so possibly over feeding.

Just my inital thoughs.

Eric

 

[tlkng1]

Not Overfeeding

In this case no overfeeding..I am extremely careful in that. If anything, they may be getting fed a little lean. I feed a frozen variety; its the pack from Sanfrancisco Brand, the multiple freshwater pack. One of those little cubes lasts me a full week.

Thanks

T

 

[blue_ram]

Test your tap water for ammonia

 

[unwritten law]

yeah test the tap... I don't know if that ammonia removal media is throwing it off a bit but maybe...

 

[tlkng1]

Fudge....dechlorinated tap water tests 0 for Ammonia.

 

[MrCatfish]

I would stop doing weekly water changes, there is really no reason for that and espcially not 25% even in my 90 gallon reef I only did 6% a week just to avoid shocking the tank with a 25% change all at once.

Try it for a couple weeks and see what happens.

Also buy a new amonia test kit just to be sure that is not the problem.

Just my thoughs if you are sure your not over feeding . Those little cubes have a lot of particals, how long after you feed does it take for all the food to get eaten.

I am a little rough getting back into fresh water but with 4 small fish in a 75 gallon there should be no ammonia how often do you syphone you gravel and clean your filters?
sometimes messing with a tank to much is the problem.

Eric

 

[tlkng1]

HI Eric...

I just rub my thumb across the cube a few times; not to much actually gets in the tank. I watch the fish and as far as I can tell, very little actually gets to the bottom. The white clouds are pretty quick and my cories dart about doing their job

I started doing 25% in an effort to control the ammonia..I didn't want it to get too high. I just did another 20%, pulled the sponge out of the filter box, and it had an algae build-up; that might be what was causing that little bit of ammonia. After a thorough clean of the filter box and a new sponge, I replaced the carbon and ammonia remover with new ones. I still have another sponge filter in there so the "seeding" hopefully will be much faster; I didn't rinse that one this time. Every piece of anything hard got a hard scrub down; even took the power head apart. When I clean the filters in a regular water change, I just squeeze them out in the same water that is being syphoned from the tank until the water stays clean. I have to admit, my sponge filter is very efficient in taking stuff out of the water. It looks clean until I squeeze it out the first time..the I see just what it is pulling out.

I pulled the small live plants and put them in a different tank I have set-up. I doubt those small three were contributing much to the "atmosphere" in the water. I am hoping that through cleaning any algae build-up and doing another 20% water change, the ammonia level will drop. Once the ammonia level goes back to where it should be, I'll put the plants back in...maybe

As for the gravel, I try to comb through it at least twice in the month. I know that cleaning it TOO well can lead to issues and even though this tank has been up two years, I have had tanks set-up for many years. Be proud , when I first started with tanks and did water changes, I would take the whole thing apart, as in 100% water changes and washed all the gravel every time..my how times have changed I think I have the gravel combing down..I am paranoid.

Will see what happens. At this point, there isn't anyhting else I can do other than watch and hope. I've done everything from the outside that I can do...up to Mother Nature now, or King Neptune......As you said, I'll leave it for the next couple of weeks and let it percolate a bit.

Here is a question I have never thought about though. Is it possible to have too few fish in a tank? I mean, once a tank is cycled, if the bio-load drops below a certain point, can that actually affect the tank's ongoing biological cycle?

Thanks for the help

Terese

 

[unwritten law]

saying you suggest stop doing water changes to avoid ammonia sounds pretty stupid to me... I can understand why you don't want to shock a reef tank but freshwater is different, and 25% weekly is recommended.

 

[1077]

Even with low levels of ammonia that original poster has expierienced, I would have expected some deaths over a period of six months. Even at those low levels,over time,,It would have had a negative effect on the fish.
If no fish have been showing signs of possible ammonia poisoning, I would be suspect of ammonia reducing media possibly rendering skewed readings. No ammonia in the tapwater might tend to support this theory. With healthy biological filter,perhaps the ammonia reducing media isn't needed.

 

[homebunnyj]

Unwritten and 1077, I completely agree with you guys. In my experience a 25% weekly w/c can hurt nothing and help a lot of things in a freshwater tank. And with such a small fishload I really would drop the carbon and ammonia media. There's no need for either one, and the ammonia one can skew test results and complicate things a bit.

Now that you've scrubbed surfaces down you might see a bit of ammonia for a couple of weeks, but if it doesn't go away after that it would be time to reevaluate the issue. In the meantime, you might want to look around your tank, moving any ornamentation if there is any, checking for pockets of waste buildup.

Also, the plants should help the water quality a bit, so you'd probably be better off having them in the tank while your bacteria repopulate the various places you scrubbed.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[tlkng1]

Hi All..

I sent the question into That Pet Place to one of the marine biologists. His answer was pretty close to what has been said here. He is suspicious of the low reading and said the ammonia remover media can give skewed results. He also suggested trying another ammonia test kit. Since Nitrites are 0 and the Nitrates are low, he is pretty confident it isn't a cycling problem. He also indicated that some products, like Amquel or Prime, can also skew the ammonia readings. Terrific, he just happened to name the two dechlorinators I use the most often.

I am going to remove the ammonia media but leave the carbon in for now just due to the fact I changed out that one sponge. The water is crystal clear and the cories and white clouds are flitting about, seemingly quite happy.

Thanks for the help...will keep everyone updated.

Terese

 

[blue_ram]

Fudge....dechlorinated tap water tests 0 for Ammonia.

That is good. How old is the carbon in the filter. After a few weeks, carbon slowly leeches the stuff it traps back into the water. In this case, a steady decay of trapped particles will cause a slight rise in ammonia.

 

[tlkng1]

Alert over

I bought another ammonia specific test kit (SeaChem) and ammonia reads 0...took it twice just to make sure.

Will still keep an eye on things over the next week or so.

Thanks to all ..it was still a great discussion.


Terese