Still Have Ammonia

Hi Gang, 

My tank is doing well but I still have ammonia, albeit in low levels.  I am water changing everyday and still feeding lightly and am adding API quick start at every water change. My ammonia levels are reading 0.25 - 1ppm but I am getting this down to 0 with every water change.

Is it normal for it to take this long for the ammonia to go??  The tank has been 'going' for ten and a half weeks now and has had fish in for 7 weeks.

I just wondered if there could be something else going on that is prolonging the ammonias stay (other than my initial impatience to get fish in before the tank was ready!!! )

Cheers,

FC

Well I thinks it's sorted itself out!!!

On Saturday I did a water change and got my ammonia readings back to 0. For various reasons I didn't get to test the water again until yesterday and it had only risen to 0.25. I didn't do a water change until today but I tested my water before hand and it had gone down to 0!!!!

I did my water change today and siphoned the gravel and retested afterwards just to make sure I wasn't going mad and again, it was 0.

I'll keep an eye on it over the next couple of days and if it remains at 0 then I shall breathe a sigh of relief and raise my tea cup in celebration!!!!!! 

FC

 

Might be worth getting a small ammonia sucking plant to soak up slight excess ammonia in the future. Hornwort is a good one here, as it can absorb ammonia 24/7 - plants have negative charge, ammonia positive. Means that the plant doesn't have to rely on sunlight to actively take up the nutrient, like it has to with nitrites and nitrates.