Ammonia!

[Nedim]

Ok, so I'm checking my water parameters this morning and I see that the ammonia has went up to .25! How could this have happenned? I did roughly a 15% water change just last night and another 15% water change like 3 nights before that. My ammonia was at 0ppm both times, I just needed to lower my trates. Right now, the levels are- pH-7.8(in the process of buffering it) Nitrites-0ppm Nitrates-20 ppm and Ammonia-.25 ppm.


I can't ever seem to lower the nitrates, the lowest I've gotten them is 20ppm. I know that some causes of high trates are biowheel filters, over feeding and the water used to do water changes. How should I go about fixing this?

 

[JellyMan]

your amonia will rise from time to time when you add livestock or have leftover food untill the require bacteria and nitrites eat it, you can try to lower your phosphates by the attempting the following 1) Change your food and lower the amount you give. 2) Change your water. 3) Some people would say change your filter however I happer to like the bio wheel filter as with others on here that share the same oppinion there so I will not suggest that one. Are you using distilled water and are you rinsing your saltmixing container before you place the new water in the aquarium? And is the container made of plastic?

 

[Bifferwine]

Try switching to frozen food. See what happens if you take the biowheel off. If it doesn't make a difference you can always put it back on. Check the parameters of the new water before you do a water change.

 

[Nedim]

The bucket is plastic. I added an ocelaris clown the other day, maybe that caused a slight spike? I also added some flake food, which I havent done in a long while. Normally, I feed freeze dried daphnia, but I can get frozen food at work. I use tap water that I treat with aquasafe. Salt mix is IO and I rinse the bucket before I make a new batch of water.


BTW, what exactly are phosphates?

 

[yote]

Some test kits also read 0.25 on ammonia even when its actually at 0.
Think of phosphates as fertalizer for algae.

 

[Bifferwine]

Phosphates feed your algae. If you have algae problems, lowering phosphate levels is an important step to get rid of it.

 

[Nedim]

So I should just sit tight and test again tomorrow?

If I get the same reading, is it safe to do another water change so soon?

 

[Bifferwine]

I'd say test again tomorrow.

 

[JellyMan]

phosphates are fuel for algae how did the testing go?