Ammonia always .25 in all of my tanks

[Chlo]

41 minutes ago, Isaac M said:

@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. 

I guess I wanted to lower the pH because it is kind of high for bettas? But I guess I don't really need to do that, because I bought my betta locally. I also wanted to darken the water because my betta doesn't really like the light that much and is calmer when it is darker, but now I don't really need to turn on the light because there aren't any plants.

11 minutes ago, Streetwise said:

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.

I've thought about doing that, but the only wood I can find is pretty expensive and I would kind of need to redecorate my tank if I used wood.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Chlo

[Isaac M]

@Chlo I see, well if you still want to lower it while darkening the water and cannot get driftwood like @Streetwise suggested, you can try indian almond leaves. It also has the benefit of being anti-fungal as well which helps with bettas and their fins. 

[Chlo]

Update: I just realized I tested my water AFTER my water change on saturday (well, I'm pretty sure I did,  I can't remember anymore!!) But anyways, I tested my water yesterday and here are the results:

The one on the left is the betta tank I added a picture of here, the middle is my other betta tank without plants, and the one on the right is the 20 gallon. You can see that the 20 gallon is more of a brighter yellow than the other tests. But, the two betta tanks are definitely more yellow than when I tested a few days ago. So maybe the bacteria is just catching up?

[Isaac M]

@Chlo its tough to say without the chart there to compare the color to but that looks like 0 ammonia across the board right? But yeah, it is likely that the bacteria was just catching up.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Isaac M
Typo

[Guppysnail]

Indian almond leaves (catalpa) will leech tannins and lower ph and I gave some to my niece for her Betta he was a super happy camper.  Betta love the leaves.