Chlo Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Hi, I have a quick question: My two betta tanks are cycled, but I always seem to see 0-0.25 ammonia when I test the water. It also kind of depends on the lighting, in some brighter lights it looks more yellow and in others more green (but I'm pretty sure it is reading 0.25). Does this mean both tanks are not fully cycled? They finished around a month ago. My tap water has 1 ppm ammonia but I tested before I did a water change, not after. Could this be caused by the test kit?? I have the api one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudofish Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Do you have a substrate like fluval stratum that could be leeching some ammonia? Do you have 0 nitrites with some nitrates? Also is it a planted tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chlo Posted May 30, 2021 Author Share Posted May 30, 2021 I don't think my substrate increases ammonia, there are no nitrites and some nitrates, and one of them has plants and the other doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 (edited) There could be ammonia in your tap water have you tested your tap water for ammonia Edited May 30, 2021 by Colu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 If your tap water has 1 ppm I’m not surprised that you have a small amount in your tank water. I’m going to say that as long as you dose your water change water with prime you’re safe. It converts the Ammonia to a safe form that will still read on the test. Maybe a more experienced forum member has a link to the info on the Seachem website or explain the chemistry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Just now, Patrick_G said: If your tap water has 1 ppm I’m not surprised that you have a small amount in your tank water. I’m going to say that as long as you dose your water change water with prime you’re safe. It converts the Ammonia to a safe form that will still read on the test. Maybe a more experienced forum member has a link to the info on the Seachem website or explain the chemistry? I must be going blind missed that he tested tap water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudofish Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Yea I was assuming he added water conditioner during changes. Also it seems like the ammonia that is in the tap water should still be converted to nitrites then to nitrates like any other source. But I guess that would be the only source assuming no crazy overfeeding going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstname-lastname Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 The API kit is notoriously hard to tell the difference between 0 and 0.25ppm depending on the lighting. If you have 0 nitrites and you're making nitrates, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you might not have ammonia apart from briefly after a water change 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudofish Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 2 minutes ago, firstname-lastname said: The API kit is notoriously hard to tell the difference between 0 and 0.25ppm depending on the lighting. If you have 0 nitrites and you're making nitrates, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you might not have ammonia apart from briefly after a water change Yea I think you're probably right. I sometimes confuse the colors. I read it by a window with sunlight now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 10 minutes ago, firstname-lastname said: The API kit is notoriously hard to tell the difference between 0 and 0.25ppm depending on the lighting. If you have 0 nitrites and you're making nitrates, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you might not have ammonia apart from briefly after a water change Yeah, I agree. Sometimes I have to make a control tube with water from another tank for comparison, just to make sure I’m no seeing a hint of green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Streetwise Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Can you share a photo? Do you have a decent amount of plants? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShelton Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 What is the pH in the tank(s)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 My tanks all read .25 ppm for ammonia, the fish and plants flourish. If your nitrites are 0 and nitrates are in range 5-40ppm I wouldn't fret too much. The internet has posts about the API liquid test kit often reading .25ppm for ammonia, it's called a false positive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 Also if your ph is acidic .25ppm Ammonia is pretty safe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac M Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 (edited) Hi @Chlo, did you test your tap water prior to using a water conditioner or after using a water conditioner? Also, what water conditioner do you use? It would be very helpful if you could find your local water report and see if chloramines are added to your tap water. If you use a water conditioner like Prime and your tap water has chloramines, the chlorine gets removed from chloramine and leaves behind ammonia. Prime then binds ammonia (I think it makes it into ammonium but not 100% sure) temporarily so your beneficial bacteria and plants can consume it while keeping your fish safe. However, an API test kit will test for ammonia and ammonium in your water giving a positive reading for ammonium (which is safe temporarily with Prime before it goes back to ammonia). I would test your aquariums 24-48 hours after your water change for ammonia and see if it still gives a positive reading. I would also test your tap water without adding in water conditioner and see what reading you get. I hope this helps! Edited May 31, 2021 by Isaac M To Further Clarify Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chlo Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 9 hours ago, Isaac M said: Hi @Chlo, did you test your tap water prior to using a water conditioner or after using a water conditioner? Also, what water conditioner do you use? It would be very helpful if you could find your local water report and see if chloramines are added to your tap water. If you use a water conditioner like Prime and your tap water has chloramines, the chlorine gets removed from chloramine and leaves behind ammonia. Prime then binds ammonia (I think it makes it into ammonium but not 100% sure) temporarily so your beneficial bacteria and plants can consume it while keeping your fish safe. However, an API test kit will test for ammonia and ammonium in your water giving a positive reading for ammonium (which is safe temporarily with Prime before it goes back to ammonia). I would test your aquariums 24-48 hours after your water change for ammonia and see if it still gives a positive reading. I would also test your tap water without adding in water conditioner and see what reading you get. I hope this helps! Oooh, I actually tested my tap water without using water conditioner, not with it. I also use prime. Maybe the test is showing ammonium, but why would it show it after it has been a week since I did a water change? Shouldn't the bacteria have already processed it? I'll also try to test my water after my next water change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chlo Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 Oh whoops, I missed all of your other responses, lol. I don't have a ton of plants in one of my tanks, and the other doesn't have any. My pH is 8, which I heard is bad because ammonia is more toxic at a higher pH. I have tried looking at the results in different lighting, but I'm pretty sure it's faintly green. I also just tested my 20 gallon, and it turned out a little more yellow, so I don't think it is a false positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac M Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 @Chlo oh ok I see. If you tested it without adding water conditioner, then we can probably safely assume that your tap water has 1ppm of ammonia in it. If your aquarium still has ammonia in it after a week, then maybe your aquarium is not fully cycled/ established enough to handle that ammonia or like others said, maybe the colors are so close that it can be misread. Prime should no longer be effecting your test kit after a day or 2 though. Could you post a picture of your aquariums? It is just odd to me that you are getting the same reading on both aquariums. Makes me lean towards it being an error with the test kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chlo Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 Here is the tank with plants, it used to have more but I moved some of the plants to the 20 gallon so I added some fake plants. Also, when I compared the tests for my two tanks this one was maybe faintly a tiny bit more green than my other tank, but I also hadn't waited the full 5 minutes yet. Also, I recently added another snail to this tank, so maybe that could have caused an ammonia spike??? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac M Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 @Chlo thank you for posting the picture, your tank looks great, your betta reminds me of a betta I used to have! Well, if you get a different color on your 20 gallon then maybe your aquarium has not fully cycled yet. At least to handle the load your tap water adds to it along with the fish and snail. I know you said there are no nitrites and some nitrates. Do your nitrates increase throughout the week? Do you know if your tap water has nitrates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chlo Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 57 minutes ago, Isaac M said: @Chlo thank you for posting the picture, your tank looks great, your betta reminds me of a betta I used to have! Well, if you get a different color on your 20 gallon then maybe your aquarium has not fully cycled yet. At least to handle the load your tap water adds to it along with the fish and snail. I know you said there are no nitrites and some nitrates. Do your nitrates increase throughout the week? Do you know if your tap water has nitrates? My nitrates do increase, recently when I did a water change it was 10-20 ppm. I also tested my tap water for nitrates before, and it was zero. I guess it makes sense that the bacteria is having a hard time processing the waste from my betta and two snails, plus from the tap water. Should I add prime everyday then to detoxify the ammonia until it reaches zero? Is there anything I can do to speed it up if it is not finished cycling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac M Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 @Chlo given that you have a 20 gallon aquarium that is cycled and not showing ammonia (or at least less than the smaller betta tank(s)), I would recommend using a sponge or something from the 20 gallon to help boost the betta tank(s). Something else I would recommend is to add additional plants that grow quickly to your aquariums to help with the removal of ammonia. The Anacharis or Elodea you have in your betta tank is a good start but maybe it is just not growing well enough just yet to help keep up with the ammonia either. Floating plants, fast growing stem plants and even plant like pothos grown with the roots only in the water could all be very useful. Once your aquariums become established and seasoned, this problem should go away however. Even if you do not add any additional live plants. You are doing great though, it just takes time! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chlo Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 57 minutes ago, Isaac M said: @Chlo given that you have a 20 gallon aquarium that is cycled and not showing ammonia (or at least less than the smaller betta tank(s)), I would recommend using a sponge or something from the 20 gallon to help boost the betta tank(s). Something else I would recommend is to add additional plants that grow quickly to your aquariums to help with the removal of ammonia. The Anacharis or Elodea you have in your betta tank is a good start but maybe it is just not growing well enough just yet to help keep up with the ammonia either. Floating plants, fast growing stem plants and even plant like pothos grown with the roots only in the water could all be very useful. Once your aquariums become established and seasoned, this problem should go away however. Even if you do not add any additional live plants. You are doing great though, it just takes time! I'm thinking about changing one of my betta tanks to a sponge filter, maybe if I do get one I can run it in the 20 gallon. I'm not sure if I will get one, because I've been trying to put peat moss in my internal filter to lower the pH, and I don't know how that would work if I used a sponge filter. Also, yeah, the anacharis was growing better in my other betta tank when it had plants, but it seemed to not grow well in the fluval tank (maybe too much light not enough fertilizer???) I think I might have needed to put root tabs too, maybe. The part that I buried in the gravel seemed to die. I do have frogbit which has grown fine for me, but my snails keep eating some of it...but I moved some to my 20 gallon to grow more in there and then transfer some more back to the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac M Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 @Chlo yeah that would be good. I would put the sponge filter in the 20 gallon 2-4 weeks before adding it to the betta tank to be safe. Why do you want to lower your ph for? I know you had made a comment about ammonia being more toxic at a higher ph. Yes it is true that the proportions of ammonia vs ammonium is less favorable at a higher ph but once an aquarium is cycled and seasoned, the ammonia in your aquarium water will be zero so it will not matter. I am not an expert in anacharis as the last time I grew it was maybe 7 years ago but it is a fast growing plant that will grow roots all over the stem. You can simply float it and then plant an area with the roots into the substrate. Usually with stem plants you do not need root tabs, they do appreciate a liquid fertilizer though. If you recently changed the anacharis to the tank, it is maybe still acclimating to the changes as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Streetwise Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 A gentle way to lower pH is by adding a large piece of wood, and letting it slowly break down, hopefully with shrimp and bottom-feeders grazing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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