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#1
23-07-2006, 12:29 AM
posted to rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants,rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc,alt.aquaria
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Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
Hi!
I had a 55 gallon tank set up at the beginning of this year... I got a whole bunch of plants and some fish. Everything seemed to go smooth with the usual algea that disappeared after a while when I started adding CO2 and fertilizing with K and Micronutrients. At the beginning of june I noticed that I had a high amount of nitrates (20ppm) so I decided to change the water. The ammonia was about 1 at that time. I changed about half of the water. The nitrate went down by about a half but at the end of next day ammonia climbed to 2. So, in a hurry, I did another water change... and guess what... nitrate down by 50%. to 5ppm...ammonia up to 4!!!! To keep the water ph from crashing I added some bicarbonate as a buffer since my tap water KH s zero. As the days passed some of my plants started rotting .... limphonila, narrow and wide-leaf ludwigas, some of hygro. The only ones left now are anubias, chain-sword, amazon and bacopa. From what I read, ammonia is more toxic at higher ph levels so I tried not to buffer the water much... but the ph crashes very easily. On the other hand I also read that the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrites and nitrates is more active at neutral ph levels and less active when the ph is low. So, do I make my fish suffer while the bacteria processes the ammonia or keep ph low to protect my fish but risk ammonia not being processed. My ph is through the roof right now... like more that 4 or even 8. I was using Amquel previously to condition my tap water but now I have AmmoLock. Could AmmoLock be the problem? Thank you for your help and comments! Additional Note: I stopped adding CO2 because after the ammonia hell appeared the fish seem to struggle breathing when CO2 is added for the plants. Here's some entries from my tank log in reverse date order: 6/23/2006 8pm KH:1 PH:6.5 CO2:36 PHOSPHATE:0.5 AMMONIA: high off the chart 6/22/2006 8:30am KH: 2 PH:6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA 8? 6/20/2006 8:40am KH:2 PH:6.6. AMMONIA 8? Added 3 capfuls of ammolock 6/11/2006 7:15pm KH:0 PH: 6 ? CO2: AMMONIA: 1 NITRATE: PHOSPHATE: Added small teaspoon of Arm&Hammer Bicarbonate 6/10/2006 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: ??? 6/9/2006 6:15pm KH: 2 PH: 6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA: 4 !!!! PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 5 (7.5?) Found one dead bloodfin tetra fish floating on surface Changed about 40% water. Added K and TMG. 6/8/2006 6:30pm KH: 2 PH: 6.4 CO2: 23 AMMONIA: 2 PHOSPHATE: 0.5 NITRATE: 10 Changed about 45% of water and Added K and TMG 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.4 (6.5?) CO2: 35 (28?) AMMONIA: 1 PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 10 Added K and TMG 6/7/2006 6:25pm KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: 1 (0.85?) PHOSPHATE: 0 (0.1?) NITRATE: 20 Changed about 40% of water |
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#2
23-07-2006, 04:16 AM
posted to rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants,rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc,alt.aquaria
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Ammonia Hell, HELP!!!
Are you using a water treatment that handles chloramines? Has your water
supplier just changed to chloramines? "Shorty" wrote in message ps.com... Hi! I had a 55 gallon tank set up at the beginning of this year... I got a whole bunch of plants and some fish. Everything seemed to go smooth with the usual algea that disappeared after a while when I started adding CO2 and fertilizing with K and Micronutrients. At the beginning of june I noticed that I had a high amount of nitrates (20ppm) so I decided to change the water. The ammonia was about 1 at that time. I changed about half of the water. The nitrate went down by about a half but at the end of next day ammonia climbed to 2. So, in a hurry, I did another water change... and guess what... nitrate down by 50%. to 5ppm...ammonia up to 4!!!! To keep the water ph from crashing I added some bicarbonate as a buffer since my tap water KH s zero. As the days passed some of my plants started rotting .... limphonila, narrow and wide-leaf ludwigas, some of hygro. The only ones left now are anubias, chain-sword, amazon and bacopa. From what I read, ammonia is more toxic at higher ph levels so I tried not to buffer the water much... but the ph crashes very easily. On the other hand I also read that the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrites and nitrates is more active at neutral ph levels and less active when the ph is low. So, do I make my fish suffer while the bacteria processes the ammonia or keep ph low to protect my fish but risk ammonia not being processed. My ph is through the roof right now... like more that 4 or even 8. I was using Amquel previously to condition my tap water but now I have AmmoLock. Could AmmoLock be the problem? Thank you for your help and comments! Additional Note: I stopped adding CO2 because after the ammonia hell appeared the fish seem to struggle breathing when CO2 is added for the plants. Here's some entries from my tank log in reverse date order: 6/23/2006 8pm KH:1 PH:6.5 CO2:36 PHOSPHATE:0.5 AMMONIA: high off the chart 6/22/2006 8:30am KH: 2 PH:6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA 8? 6/20/2006 8:40am KH:2 PH:6.6. AMMONIA 8? Added 3 capfuls of ammolock 6/11/2006 7:15pm KH:0 PH: 6 ? CO2: AMMONIA: 1 NITRATE: PHOSPHATE: Added small teaspoon of Arm&Hammer Bicarbonate 6/10/2006 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: ??? 6/9/2006 6:15pm KH: 2 PH: 6.6 CO2: 15 AMMONIA: 4 !!!! PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 5 (7.5?) Found one dead bloodfin tetra fish floating on surface Changed about 40% water. Added K and TMG. 6/8/2006 6:30pm KH: 2 PH: 6.4 CO2: 23 AMMONIA: 2 PHOSPHATE: 0.5 NITRATE: 10 Changed about 45% of water and Added K and TMG 7:30am KH: 3 PH: 6.4 (6.5?) CO2: 35 (28?) AMMONIA: 1 PHOSPHATE: 0 NITRATE: 10 Added K and TMG 6/7/2006 6:25pm KH: 3 PH: 6.6 CO2: 22 AMMONIA: 1 (0.85?) PHOSPHATE: 0 (0.1?) NITRATE: 20 Changed about 40% of water |
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