Before explaining my situation i should note that I dont have any live stock in my tank yet. I should also note that I made the mistake of putting live sand in BEFORE putting in mixed salt water and it killed off some of the bacteria causing the ammonia to rise.
Ive been testing my aquarium pretty frequently for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. My ammonia hasnt gone down from about .5ppm in a few weeks. My nitrites/nitrates have both gone up significantly. I was under the impression that as my nitrates went up, my ammonia would go down. Im using the API saltwater master test kit for my tests. I read somewhere online that there is toxic ammonia and non toxic ammonia and the test cant tell the difference between the two. I did a calculation online using my pH and temperature to find the toxic ammonia levels and it came up with .0574. So, if that number is accurate, how did some of the ammonia become non-toxic on its own? Should I do a water change now, or should I wait for my nitrate levels to go back down to zero? Right now my nitrate levels are between 80-160ppm and my nitrite levels are 5.0ppm. If anyone could offer me some guidance I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Ive been testing my aquarium pretty frequently for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. My ammonia hasnt gone down from about .5ppm in a few weeks. My nitrites/nitrates have both gone up significantly. I was under the impression that as my nitrates went up, my ammonia would go down. Im using the API saltwater master test kit for my tests. I read somewhere online that there is toxic ammonia and non toxic ammonia and the test cant tell the difference between the two. I did a calculation online using my pH and temperature to find the toxic ammonia levels and it came up with .0574. So, if that number is accurate, how did some of the ammonia become non-toxic on its own? Should I do a water change now, or should I wait for my nitrate levels to go back down to zero? Right now my nitrate levels are between 80-160ppm and my nitrite levels are 5.0ppm. If anyone could offer me some guidance I would appreciate it. Thank you.