Ammonia off the chart!!!!!!

red tiger

red tiger

Member
Hello,
I Have been cycling my tank (10 gallon) for about two weeks now, which i have 8lbs of live rock and 20 lbs of Live argonite. I have been circulating the water with a powerhead, and have an open top to allow gassing exchange. For the first week I had no ammonia reading, So I added a drop of ammonia for three days, which i started to get a reading of .25, and now when i test it, it is dark dark green, It's off the chart.
I have done water changes but my Ammonia and Nitrite are not changing. They are both real high? Will it hurt my live rock? I am using distilled water when i do the water changes.
 
S

saxman

Guest
Are you using PURE ammonia (no scents or surfactants)?
Did you test the water after you added each time you added the NH3?
Are we talking a single drop each day or more than a drop?
Are you getting ANY NO3 reading or is the cycle stalled at NO2?
Was the LR cured or raw?
How fresh are your test kits?
 
red tiger

red tiger

Member
Yes, Its Pure Ammonia, no scents
No, I tested for ammonia first, which usually was .25-.50 then added one drop of ammonia
A single drop a day for three consecutive days
The test is for NO3/NO2 combined
The LR is cured
Fresh test kits, opened 2 weeks ago!
 
S

saxman

Guest
Since you already HAD NH3 in the tank, AND had a nitrite spike, why did you add more NH3?
By adding so much NH3, you've stalled your cycle. What happens is the bacteria that convert nitrite (NO2) to nitrate (NO3) grow much more slowly than those that convert NH3 to NO2, and these bacteria are very sensitive to NH3 spikes, so what you've done by adding more NH3 to a tank that is just beginning to convert nitrites is kill them off. Once you see nitrites, it's REALLY important not to add any more NH3 until you begin to see nitrates come up.
You need to wait until the ammonia is converted to nitrites and the nitrites begin to go down before adding more. Each time you add ammonia, you should see this period of time shorten.
HTH
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
Bleach? seriously.... people do that....... What ever happen to cycling a tank with raw shrimp and a dose of patients??
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
Nope, some just may not know that there is a difference. You should not use chlorine bleach real ammonia is not as common now as in the past.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
haha right. I thought in the past they peed in the tank and threw in the damsels....... get it......... come on now...... pissy fish?!?!?! LOL Buhahahahaha okay come on ...... that was funny. Really I promise
 
swisswiss

swisswiss

Member
lol Kiefers, and yes i agree with you on the "What ever happen to cycling a tank with raw shrimp and a dose of patients??" why would you add ammonia?? let nature do its thing, give it the time it takes. the live rocks will have provided the right amount of ammonia. not all might be lost but i fear you have just prolonged your cycling period now.
 
red tiger

red tiger

Member
It was Ammonia, Not bleach! What I did last night i purchased salt water from my LFS and i did a 75% water change, it seemed to lower the ammonia level to a .50 and nitrites don't seem to get a reading, well at least can't tell from the color reading if it's truly a zero reading.
 
S

saxman

Guest
Your cycle won't continue until the system grows a large enuff colony of Nitrosomonas to process it into nitrite, thus detoxifying the tank so your Nitrobacter colony can develop.
At this point, you may want to bite the bullet and add a bottle of Super-Bac to the tank to get it "off the dime". The stuff smells terrible, but works really well, IME.
 
red tiger

red tiger

Member
Last night i checked the water and my Ammonia is between 0 and .25, my Nitrites are about .75 and it dramatically dropped overnight!
 
S

saxman

Guest
You're back on track! Now keep an eye out to see when your 'trates begin to show up. That means your tank is now processing the nitrites.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
Great job! Not to high jack the thread but I can feel where you are with this. I am recycling my biocube and had to waite 4 days for an ammonia spike. Now my Nitrites are 1.0 and my Nitrates are coming up, Tonight the trates were between 10 and 20.
The main thing R/T is patients, patient, and more patients.
 
red tiger

red tiger

Member
Ahha! Yes, Patience. What I have done is put a cover on it, to take my attention somewhere else until the cycle is complete. This morning my ammonia was at Zero but the Nitrates are still a bit high.
 
red tiger

red tiger

Member
Hey guys,
My Tank has officially Cycled! Last night my ammonia was a Zero and Nitrites was at 8.0. Today after work, I checked it and it was a zero with a Nitrate reading of 20, I did a 25% water change and waited an hour, and retested. I have Zero's all across the board. Tomorrow I will purchase my first salt water companions.
Thank you for your advice and support!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top