ADI ammonia question

[Ron Hudson]

Probably too concerned about API test where ammonia 0 (Clearly yellow) to more usually 0.25 (not yellow but pale green)?   I’m 4 months into hobby and enjoying my 125 immensely except for this issue.  Clean tank, heavily planted, fish very active and appear healthy. Nitrite never have been over zero, nitrates usually 10 to 20. Eight snails and no deaths in these 4 months.  Fish load: 1 German blue round, 2 gouramis, 7 Cardinals, 7 cherry barbs and 4 SAE’s..  No problems with algae overgrowth.  Thinking now is safe to increase my fertilization to handle the large plant load and to get my nitrates up a bit. What do you think?   I’ve also been reluctant to overfeed my fish, now only a couple of times a week. Thinking I need to increase that also. Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

[tonyjuliano]

I would attempt the increase, but slowly, and with careful monitoring.

But, stop doing this

On 6/27/2021 at 1:18 PM, Ron Hudson said:

  I’ve also been reluctant to overfeed my fish, now only a couple of times a week.

Uneaten food contributes a negligible amount of ammonia, inconsequential in most instances.

It’s more likely you are weakening your fish’s immune systems, due to lack of nutrition, making them much more vulnerable than your perceived ammonia level.
 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[HH Morant]

I agree increase in stocking and normal feeding should be OK. Filtration? Sometimes cleaning filtration too thoroughly or too often can reduce good bacteria enough to cause an ammonia problem. Cleanliness is not necessarily better when it comes to bacteria.

[Randall from Texas]

Have a pic of your planted tank? At 125 with those few fish and heavy plants you may not have even cycled your filter yet. If you never saw nitrites then you don't have the bacteria to convert to nitrates is my thinking.

[Jcdli]

I read, that you need 75% percent plants 25 percent fish for the tank to be stable, sometimes there is more fish than plants even though you have a lot plants. Since ratio is difrent for both 

[Ron Hudson]

On 6/27/2021 at 2:17 PM, Randall from Texas said:

Have a pic of your planted tank? At 125 with those few fish and heavy plants you may not have even cycled your filter yet. If you never saw nitrites then you don't have the bacteria to convert to nitrates is my thinking.

It goes into email upside down!  Embarrassed to send!  

[tonyjuliano]

On 6/27/2021 at 2:23 PM, Jcdli said:

I read, that you need 75% percent plants 25 percent fish for the tank to be stable,

So, a 75 to 25% ratio.

Is that by quantity?  Mass?  Volume? Cost? 😉

I’ve had plenty of stable tanks that don’t conform to this magic number.

I guess is all depends on what your definition of “stability” is, and whether you’re inclined to believe something just because you read it somewhere. 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[Jcdli]

On 6/27/2021 at 6:37 PM, tonyjuliano said:

So, a 75 to 25% ratio.

Is that by quantity?  Mass?  Volume? Cost? 😉

I’ve had plenty of stable tanks that don’t conform to this magic number.

I guess is all depends on what your definition of “stability” is, and whether you’re inclined to believe something just because you read it somewhere. 

 

Well it was something I read I haven’t test, tonyjuliano this topic is for the person that asked the question, he’s gathering information, if you had tanks great for you but again it’s not about what you had have or will have 

[tonyjuliano]

 

No offense, certainly not what my intention was, @Jcdli.

It’s  just that I am curious on how this ratio is to be applied, any person would.  Also, the source of this information would also be helpful.

And my refuting this piece of information helps the original poster at least as much as making this assertion in the first place.

I think it’s very important to verify any statement such as this, through verification by some corroborative sources, scientific data, or first hand experience.

 

[Jcdli]

On 6/27/2021 at 6:54 PM, tonyjuliano said:

 

No offense, certainly not what my intention was, @Jcdli.

It’s  just that I am curious on how this ratio is to be applied, any person would.  Also, the source of this information would also be helpful.

And my refuting this piece of information helps the original poster at least as much as making this assertion in the first place.

I think it’s very important to verify any statement such as this, through verification by some corroborative sources, scientific data, or first hand experience.

 

Yeah, and if we learn anything here in aquarium co op is, you read and if it makes sense for you then you practice and then you will know, because at the end even all the information here can be bad information if doesn’t fit my situation or anyone’s situation, I think that’s why people like this forum because all Information is only that information, it’s only true to the one who writes it, and on the peace that I read that’s all it had that’s why I didn’t put anything else because it was short and didn’t specified the ratio because i don’t think one plant can consume the waste of 10 2inches fish, so at the end as you stock your aquariums you calculate how much plants you need to filter your water 

[Randall from Texas]

On 6/27/2021 at 8:08 PM, Ron Hudson said:

It goes into email upside down!  Embarrassed to send!  

Lol no worries. If you're reading .25 maybe, I would let it sit. When I was doing the fish in cycle on my tanks that's what I would hold it at. It's not idea, but you need the ammonia to build the bacteria colony. 

Attached pic of my tank. Do you have this many plants? Angel fish for scale.

[Ron Hudson]

T

At lease as many by volume.  Love your tank!

[Randall from Texas]

Thanks. Do you use seachem prime? It's known to cause false positive on ammonia. You should not see any ammonia unless you're using organic dirt type substrate.

I do use easy green and root tabs to get my ferts up. I'm also running CO2 now. 

[MBStevens]

On 6/27/2021 at 1:18 PM, Ron Hudson said:

Thinking now is safe to increase my fertilization to handle the large plant load and to get my nitrates up a bit. What do you think?   I’ve also been reluctant to overfeed my fish, now only a couple of times a week. Thinking I need to increase that also.

Hey Dad!

Technically fish poop is a fertilizer, too. Perhaps feeding more can serve as more fertilizer for your plants? And why do you need to get your nitrates up? Unless you're seeing plant deficiencies in which case it would be a sign that they need something more.

**Are you testing ammonia using the ammonia test strips from Co-Op, or only using the API liquid test kit? It is common with the API liquid test kit to get a false .25 reading actually. Very common. If that is your only reading of ammonia, and your Co-Op strips are fine, I would honestly not give much credence to the API ammonia reading. 

[tonyjuliano]

On 6/28/2021 at 2:59 PM, MBStevens said:

It is common with the API liquid test kit to get a false .25 reading actually.

That’s a demonstrably false statement. A much more accurate statement would be…

”It can be common for persons to not conduct liquid titration tests properly, or to misinterpret the results.”

On 6/28/2021 at 2:59 PM, MBStevens said:

If that is your only reading of ammonia, and your Co-Op strips are fine, I would honestly not give much credence to the API ammonia reading. 

I don’t think this statement makes much sense either.

If you get conflicting test results, from 2 different methods, wouldn’t the proper course of action be to verify via a third means of testing?

it makes little sense to me to Just blindly state that the test strip result should be relied on in this case.

[Daniel]

Let's make sure our comments are kind and helpful, especially if there is a disagreement.