melonheadorion
Well-Known Member
the ultimate issue is that ammonia has never been zero. with that said, here is the backstory....
the tank is a 20 gal long that i cycled with dry rock and dry substrate sand. i went about 3 weeks without anything in it, to allow it to cycle itself. ive been using the suggestions of the LFS who is not pushing to sell sell sell, and is sincerely looking out for the safety of the tank, so i feel i can trust their suggestions.
after the 3 weeks had come, they thought it was a good time to add a couple fish, but no more, so i got 2 clowns. (ammonia-.25 nitrite-.25 nitrate-10-20 depending on what day it was checked) i kept it like that for a couple weeks and monitored water levels every day/every other day to ensure everything has been good, and not hurting the fish. about 2 weeks later, i was at a point where all of the readings were still good, and not fluctuating the ammonia or nitrite higher than it was previously. in fact. around this time, nitrite read a constant 0, which is how it is now. before doing a water change, my readings were ammonia-.25 nitrite-0 nitrate-10-20. after doing my weekly water change today, ammonia-.20 nitrite-0 nitrate-almost none.
so, here we are, 6 weeks or 7 weeks in, the tank has some sort of cycle going because nitrites are reading 0 continuously, but it seems that ammonia never goes to 0. however, it never goes about .20 or .25 depending on what test kit i use to check it (i have both the API and red sea test kits). ultimately, i have never seen ammonia levels spike crazy amounts, prior to nitrate being zero conintuously, ive never seen it go above .25, and nitrates have never been crazy elevated; 20 ish at the most.
the water i use is tap water. i have checked the water multiple times to see if that is where my ammonia levels are coming from, and the ammonia reads 0. this has been confirmed with multiple test kits. i do use seachem prime for the chlorine aspect of it.
once i started adding livestock, i originally started with 10 hermits and the 2 clowns. 2 weeks later, i added a bi color blenny and a cleaner shrimp (added to help with waste/cleanup), and just last week, i added a diamond gobbie to help clean any extra food that hits the bottom.
over the last week or so, i have limited the feeding and added the gobbie, to see if that is the cause. the changing of the feeding doesnt seem to have changed anything, and the gobbie is definately helping with the extra junk on the bottom that the shrimp/crabs cannot keep up with. all fish are doing well, and no stress or odd behavior that would indicate that tthey arent thriving in the conditions. most of them i have had for at least 5 weeks in the tank.
so, the ammonia situation is driving me crazy. it should be 0 by now. since the water has 0 ammonia in it before adding, there has to be something in the tank causing ammonia to stay steady. i use a turkey baster to remove any waste that i see so that it doesnt sit and fester. there are two theories that i have. originally i bought 10 hermits, but can only account for like 7. the other 3 might be hiding in the rock, but i havent gone through to be detective to find them all. the larger rock i have has many crevasses so they could be way up in it hiding. obviously this would be a cause of ammonia, but i dont know that it would be enough to keep it steady like it is. or perhaps its the rock itself.
other than the possibility of the hermits causing it, im wondering what the possibilities are that it is the rock? the rock was bought as dry rock from the LHS, and put directly in the tank after purchased.
since i am at a loss, as of today, i am going to start testing the possibility of the rock. i have removed the smaller rock to see what happens over the next week. if it doesnt change, i will take one of the other larger rocks out and see what happens then. i would think that maybe its a misreading, but it reads the same with two different test kits, and reads the same when i have had the LFS check it as well.
any thoughts or suggestions?
\
the tank is a 20 gal long that i cycled with dry rock and dry substrate sand. i went about 3 weeks without anything in it, to allow it to cycle itself. ive been using the suggestions of the LFS who is not pushing to sell sell sell, and is sincerely looking out for the safety of the tank, so i feel i can trust their suggestions.
after the 3 weeks had come, they thought it was a good time to add a couple fish, but no more, so i got 2 clowns. (ammonia-.25 nitrite-.25 nitrate-10-20 depending on what day it was checked) i kept it like that for a couple weeks and monitored water levels every day/every other day to ensure everything has been good, and not hurting the fish. about 2 weeks later, i was at a point where all of the readings were still good, and not fluctuating the ammonia or nitrite higher than it was previously. in fact. around this time, nitrite read a constant 0, which is how it is now. before doing a water change, my readings were ammonia-.25 nitrite-0 nitrate-10-20. after doing my weekly water change today, ammonia-.20 nitrite-0 nitrate-almost none.
so, here we are, 6 weeks or 7 weeks in, the tank has some sort of cycle going because nitrites are reading 0 continuously, but it seems that ammonia never goes to 0. however, it never goes about .20 or .25 depending on what test kit i use to check it (i have both the API and red sea test kits). ultimately, i have never seen ammonia levels spike crazy amounts, prior to nitrate being zero conintuously, ive never seen it go above .25, and nitrates have never been crazy elevated; 20 ish at the most.
the water i use is tap water. i have checked the water multiple times to see if that is where my ammonia levels are coming from, and the ammonia reads 0. this has been confirmed with multiple test kits. i do use seachem prime for the chlorine aspect of it.
once i started adding livestock, i originally started with 10 hermits and the 2 clowns. 2 weeks later, i added a bi color blenny and a cleaner shrimp (added to help with waste/cleanup), and just last week, i added a diamond gobbie to help clean any extra food that hits the bottom.
over the last week or so, i have limited the feeding and added the gobbie, to see if that is the cause. the changing of the feeding doesnt seem to have changed anything, and the gobbie is definately helping with the extra junk on the bottom that the shrimp/crabs cannot keep up with. all fish are doing well, and no stress or odd behavior that would indicate that tthey arent thriving in the conditions. most of them i have had for at least 5 weeks in the tank.
so, the ammonia situation is driving me crazy. it should be 0 by now. since the water has 0 ammonia in it before adding, there has to be something in the tank causing ammonia to stay steady. i use a turkey baster to remove any waste that i see so that it doesnt sit and fester. there are two theories that i have. originally i bought 10 hermits, but can only account for like 7. the other 3 might be hiding in the rock, but i havent gone through to be detective to find them all. the larger rock i have has many crevasses so they could be way up in it hiding. obviously this would be a cause of ammonia, but i dont know that it would be enough to keep it steady like it is. or perhaps its the rock itself.
other than the possibility of the hermits causing it, im wondering what the possibilities are that it is the rock? the rock was bought as dry rock from the LHS, and put directly in the tank after purchased.
since i am at a loss, as of today, i am going to start testing the possibility of the rock. i have removed the smaller rock to see what happens over the next week. if it doesnt change, i will take one of the other larger rocks out and see what happens then. i would think that maybe its a misreading, but it reads the same with two different test kits, and reads the same when i have had the LFS check it as well.
any thoughts or suggestions?
\
