ammonia help

[Mr.Dropp]

I did a water change and changed out my gravel out to the round pea gravel in my tank and all my water level are good but I cant get my ammonia to 0ppm its at 2.0 ppm. What can I do? or should I  just let it run its course. I've add the suggested amount of prime to the water the bottle said. 

[lefty o]

it is likely fine. i dont use prime, but it is my understanding you can still read ammonia with prime, even though it has been rendered safe.

[Mr.Dropp]

I just didn't want to take the chance and hurt my fish, I'm fairly new to this and learning as I go

[GameCzar]

On 6/13/2021 at 9:44 AM, lefty o said:

it is likely fine. i dont use prime, but it is my understanding you can still read ammonia with prime, even though it has been rendered safe.

In my experience, Prime doesn't change your readings, which freaked me out the first time using it.   But we had zero casualties from our nitrite spike, so it did seem to de-toxify it as a stop gap.

Edited June 13, 2021 by GameCzar

[Guppysnail]

How long has your tank been established.  Gravel holds some beneficial bacteria but not enough to cause large ammonia swings. Test your tap water before and after you add your dechlorinator when the chlorine/ chloramine bonds break it breaks to ammonia is my understanding.  Water companies use varying amounts depending on the need at that time. This may be causing the ammonia spike if you had to replace a large water volume.  If it’s your source water add prime to the tank to render it safe is what I would do I’m not a guru or expert. If it’s not your source water just do some extra partial water changes with prime until it returns to zero. Again not an expert or a guru here but these things work for me. 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Guppysnail]

Also if you wiped down all your surfaces to clean it or took everything out and left it dry out while doing gravel you may have removed too much Beneficial bacteria I never do /clean/ change more than one thing at a time to keep mine stable

[Mr.Dropp]

On 6/13/2021 at 10:12 AM, Guppysnail said:

Also if you wiped down all your surfaces to clean it or took everything out and left it dry out while doing gravel you may have removed too much Beneficial bacteria I never do /clean/ change more than one thing at a time to keep mine stable

I did take everything out and wipe down the glass. I did not let it dry out though. its been established since may 14th 2021

Edited June 13, 2021 by Mr.Dropp

[Guppysnail]

Yeah I don’t recommend wiping down more than 1 walk at a time or a few decorations at a time. Especially in a newer setup because newer means almost every bacteria is essential.  It’s ok we’ve all done it others may even do it different.  I use prime it’s reliable. But I still do extra water changes. The last time I jacked up one of my tanks I did 25-30% water changes 3 times a day for a few days. It recovered fine they always do.  I would test morning afternoon and before I went to bed to make sure that are safe. 

[Guppysnail]

By the way prime only keeps it detoxed for 24 hours then it will rerelease as harmful so don’t rely solely on that or it comes back with a vengeance water changes are key. 

[NanoNano]

@Mr.Dropp- When you say "pea gravel" are you talking about one of the commercially available substrates like Fluval Stratum?  Some substrates (e.g. those made from volcanic rock) have a reputation for releasing ammonia for a period when initially submersed.  You may be running into this.  My experience is that using chemical water treatments like Prime isn't effective.  Chemicals work by combining with and removing other things in the water (usually oxygen) which then throw open the doors to other imbalance related problems.  @Guppysnail is calling out the exact right path- you want to be doing daily partial water changes to remove the ammonia from your water column.  Aeration where you're breaking as much surface tension of the water as possible (without turning your tank into a blender) to encourage gas exchange between water and atmosphere is also hugely helpful in speeding up the permanent dissipation of the ammonia.   If you don't have an air stone / air pump,  I would encourage you to get one.  This type of ammonia problem is a total PITA frustrating situation for the short term, but if you can dedicate time and discipline to doing the water changes and aeration,  you'll beat it and it should never return unless you replace the substrate again.

[Guppysnail]

On 6/13/2021 at 2:49 PM, NanoNano said:

@Mr.Dropp- When you say "pea gravel" are you talking about one of the commercially available substrates like Fluval Stratum?  Some substrates (e.g. those made from volcanic rock) have a reputation for releasing ammonia for a period when initially submersed.  You may be running into this.  My experience is that using chemical water treatments like Prime isn't effective.  Chemicals work by combining with and removing other things in the water (usually oxygen) which then throw open the doors to other imbalance related problems.  @Guppysnail is calling out the exact right path- you want to be doing daily partial water changes to remove the ammonia from your water column.  Aeration where you're breaking as much surface tension of the water as possible (without turning your tank into a blender) to encourage gas exchange between water and atmosphere is also hugely helpful in speeding up the permanent dissipation of the ammonia.   If you don't have an air stone / air pump,  I would encourage you to get one.  This type of ammonia problem is a total PITA frustrating situation for the short term, but if you can dedicate time and discipline to doing the water changes and aeration,  you'll beat it and it should never return unless you replace the substrate again.

Good point I was thinking inert actual pea gravel

[Mr.Dropp]

On 6/13/2021 at 1:49 PM, NanoNano said:

@Mr.Dropp- When you say "pea gravel" are you talking about one of the commercially available substrates like Fluval Stratum?  Some substrates (e.g. those made from volcanic rock) have a reputation for releasing ammonia for a period when initially submersed.  You may be running into this.  My experience is that using chemical water treatments like Prime isn't effective.  Chemicals work by combining with and removing other things in the water (usually oxygen) which then throw open the doors to other imbalance related problems.  @Guppysnail is calling out the exact right path- you want to be doing daily partial water changes to remove the ammonia from your water column.  Aeration where you're breaking as much surface tension of the water as possible (without turning your tank into a blender) to encourage gas exchange between water and atmosphere is also hugely helpful in speeding up the permanent dissipation of the ammonia.   If you don't have an air stone / air pump,  I would encourage you to get one.  This type of ammonia problem is a total PITA frustrating situation for the short term, but if you can dedicate time and discipline to doing the water changes and aeration,  you'll beat it and it should never return unless you replace the substrate again.

thanks for all the helpful information. I have a pump with dual outputs I also have a spray bar. I do not not plan on changing it, this will be final I changed it out to the super naturals gemstone creek aquarium gravel