# About Ammonia Neutralizer



## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Hi!!

I just bought a test kit for my 14 gallon tank. When I bought it, Petco conviniently left out the proccess of cylcing the tank, so now I'm stuck with one molly that i'm determined to keep alive through this proccess. My test strips tell me that both my Nitrite levels and Nitrate levels are a healthy low. I bought an ammonia kit to test the levels and they were only very slightly high. So I used an Ammonia Neutralizer (the brand is Aqueon). As long as the levels of the Nitrites and Ammonia remain low, is it okay to get one or two guppies? I know my tank hasn't come to a full cycle yet, but isn't that just to keep the ammonia and the nitrite levels low? Thanks!


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Oh, and about the guppies, I know they are schooling fish. If I did, I'd get three or four females. Would that be enough? Or should I get five or six?


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

ammonia and nitrite levels must be at 0 for the fish to be safe. use a product like seachem prime to neutralize them so they are non toxic to the fish. As the nitrite levels rise add some aquarium salt to the water also - it neutralizes the effect the nitrite has on the fish and your mollies and guppies also like a bit of salt.
DO NOT Add any more fish until the tank has completely cycled unless you are using a product like Stability.
3 guppies is a good number. The females really do like to have company- you will see them nuzzle each other if one gets taken out of the tank and then returned to it.I prefer female fish - they are happy just hunting for food and tend to be quite placid. Add a male and the problems start!


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## dan3345 (Jan 27, 2010)

I don't know that I would recommend chemicals to neutralize anything. I just do lots of water changes and it turns out fine. Im sure chemicals are great though. Just make sure you buy from a reputable brand because some (topfin) are just flat crap. And a waste of money. Same goes fro I think everything topfin sells. Lol if you haven't figured it out I hate them.


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Ok! Thanks guys, I'll watch for that. So, pretty much as long as the levels remain at 0, it's fine to get more fish? Thanks! And thanks so much for the tip about females. But I read somewhere that it's possible to have a guppy/molly hybrid. Is this true? Because I think I have a male Molly. Does it even happen often anyway? I was just wondering.  It would just be kinda crazy to wake up one morning and have little guppy/molly fry swimming around the tank trying to avoid their parents. That would be a sight.


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## dan3345 (Jan 27, 2010)

So first, just because your levels are 0 does NOT mean it is safe to go out and buy more fish. The tank is cycling, and should be assumed always that it is not finished until water parameters remain constant for a month or more. If you buy more fish too soon and increase the bio-load too fast you can flip the tank which will cause really high amounts of ammonia and nitrite and possibly nitrates. And also I don't know if I believe the hybrid story. Fish aren't that stupid.. it would surprise me to find out that they are.. You could try, but the offspring could have many health problems due to the awkwardly mixed genes. My assumption is that even if they were born they probably would not survive. But what do I know.


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Thanks for the help. Now I understand.  I'll wait for a while to cycle the tank. But should I let the ammonia and nitrite levels rise, or should I keep them as low as possible?


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## OldMan (Dec 30, 2008)

Guppy molly hybrids are indeed possible but are seldom ever seen. 
Adding any fish to a tank in a fish-in cycle is a very bad idea. You need to worry more about keeping both the ammonia and nitrites at undetectable levels. That does not mean dosing chemicals when they get too high, it means doing a large water change. 
Depending on the liquid test brand name, the minimum ammonia will be between 0.1 ppm and 0.3 ppm. Just stay below that first step and ammonia will be OK. If you do not get a solid zero for nitrites using your paper strip, it is time to find out the real concentration by using a liquid test and again do whatever water changes are needed to get below that first step on the color chart. 
There are a large number of dechlorinator products available and they all work about the same. I use Prime because it works out cheaper to use than most of the others and I am looking after 25 tanks that all need some water changes. I know that is a lot of hauling buckets but it is what is needed if I want to keep my fish healthy.


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