# lowering ammonia levels



## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

today I took a sample to 2 pet stores. Both state that all levels are fine except ammonia. I purchased a test kit and confirmed this at home. I've done a water change and added a few live plants (total of 3).

At this point all the fish are fine, surprisingly. Being that I know the tap water is extremely hard here, I decided to test the unaltered tap water, and it still turned green, level was about 1.0ppm. The tank water was close to 8ppm! The water is slightly cloudy.

I've never had an ammonia problem that was this bad so I'm at a loss as to what to do other than (daily) water changes. anything to buy in the store (walmart)>

If I need to test the other stuff let me know. the kit tests for ph, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia. do I need to test for alkaline?


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2010)

well when u say its ok, what were the readings? your readings should be O ammonia. please keep in mind, ammonia and hardness go hand in hand. the harder the water, the worse the fish get affected.

you ideal readings should be 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 10 Nitrate. if you have ammonia showing, i suggest you get something like Stability to kick start the cycle and speed it up.


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## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

i didnt test nitrate/nitrite because they told me it was ok and i didnt know what the numbers were. I will test shortly.

the water out of the tap is very hard thru the house. would it help to get a water softner for the tank? I had it in the basket but decided not to get it. dont know the brand tho


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

How long has the tank been set up? It is likely the cycle is not complete yet. If that is true, then you will see ammonia spike first, then nitrite, then nitrate. After the ammonia and the nitrite are 0 and nitrate is positive, then your tank should be cycled.


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## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

here are all my results:

Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 0ppm
pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 4ppm

from this angle it looks a little lower on ammonia


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## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

bmlbytes said:


> How long has the tank been set up?


about a week


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## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

everything is the same, and the ammonia is coming down. nitrate is still negative, but that should be coming around, yes?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

When the ammonia goes down without you doing anything (like water changes), you should see nitrite start to come up. This is the second dangerous time. Do water changes to keep the nitrite down. The ammonia should go down to 0 and stay there, then you watch the nitrite and nitrate. When the nitrite starts to go down, the nitrate should come up. When the nitrite goes to 0 and stays there and nitrate keeps going up, your cycle is done. Once the cycle is done, you watch nitrate. You should learn in a few weeks how often/much water you need to change to keep nitrate steady (down at a water change and back up to where you started at the next water change. Repeat the nitrate testing every time you add more fish.

As to the hardness/alkalinity, high hardness means its very difficult to get your water's pH to fall. A dropping pH could indicate high nitrates, but it makes more sense to test for nitrate. Danios will do just fine. So will many other fish. You probably want to avoid fish from "blackwater" biotopes such as rams, many apistogramma species and discus. One exception being plecos. Although they come from the same water as discus, they are often kept in very high pH/hardness water with fish from the other side of the world. Fish from central america, mexico, Africa, and much of Asia will do likely do fine in your tank. I do suggest you look up each fish you are thinking of adding. IMO, consistent pH/alkalinity is important. Test your tap water once in a while and see if it changes. And test the water new fish are in to see if the tank water is a large change, But IMO, you don't need to keep testing pH or alkalinity unless you are doing something (adding buffers, using CO2) that is likely to change it. 

Water softeners like they sell for showers, don't help fish at all, they trade hardness for saltiness. RO filters are a good way to get really soft water from really hard water, but you don't need it unless you are determined to spawn super soft-water fishes. 

If you fish ever act differently (gasp for air, don't come out to eat, whatever), test everything.


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## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

thanks for the advice. in the past all i ever tested were ammonia and ph. i never checked nitrite or nitrate before and never understood its importance. i havent tested anything tonite yet so i dont know the last 24 hour progress yet.


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