The Puffer Forum

I have a tank that has been cycling for a while now and seems to be doing ok

BUT

I have a slight ammonia issue that I could really do with some advice to help sort out.

pH is 8
Ammonia is 0.1
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 40

I thought a water change might help but my tap water has almost identical parameters!

How can I finally sort out the last of this ammonia? Do I just need to add some more ammonia and get it to cycle through that way?

Thanks guys and please excuse the naivity.

Are you doing water changes on the tank at all? If so are you measuring before or after the water change? How long have you been trying to cycle it and at what SG?

Please explain all the steps you are doing to cycle your tank.

I have borrowed a few fish from our freshwater tank to help cycle this one and get it ready for a puffer and been going for about 2 months now if not a bit longer. It is currently freshwater as that is what the puffers are in at LFS but plan on increasing it to brackish once I get my F8.

I have been doing water changes and these readings were taken before the water change. I was just concerned about the ammonia really as if it seems to be present in the tap water a water change isn't going to help at all is it.

Please do not cycle a tank with fish!
library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/
library/water-filtration/fishlessconsiderations/
library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

You need to speak to your water supply company if there is ammonia present in your tap water. There shouldn't be.

How are you testing the water?

Liquid test kits work the best (when used according to the directions). Most of us have found that test strips aren't effective.

Correction: Tap water treated with chkoramines always tests positive for ammonia, as ammonia is part of chloramine. It is present, and if the concentration of chloramines is sufficient for the threshold (lowest possible reading from your test kit), that water will always test positive for ammonia. It will still test positive even after treatment with an effective "conditioner" for chloramined water, as the ammonia is still present but locked into the harmless ammonium ion form. Most hobby test kits cannot tell the difference between ammonium ion (NH4+) and dissolved gas ammonia (NH3). That is an issue or problem with our old-fashioned test kits. Seachem does make a test kit which reads the difference, but it is not user friendly IMHO. If you have treated with the correct amount of Prime in the last 24-48 hours, the water is safe for fish and the nitrification bacteria. Bt you cannot read that by common test kits.

High nitrate tap water is common in certain areas of the UK. It is much less common in this country (USA).

Otherwise I strongly agree with Pufferpunk's comment that you should not cycle a tank with fish, and with all the oter comments questions on the fact that we really need all the boring details - name of test kits etc. to be able to assist you. You may well be testing properly, but we cannot tell that from here. What you are using and just how you use it matters a lot.

Duh... I really should not comment on the water chemistry of tap water.

maybe add a little extra live bacteria?.. you can probably just pick that up at you LFS

PP - your water is still chlorine-only isn't it? Just you wait. You will just love chloraminated water! It is a major PITA.

Thanks for all of your advice guys.

I really wanted to do a fishless cycle but getting ammonia here is like gold dust and I had already started this method before finding out other ways so decided to carry on.

I was not convinced by these results at all as I had been using Interpret test kit which was using tablets. So I have since bought the Nutrafin liquid test kit and tried again.

This time I got

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
All in freshwater so I guess things are not as bad as I had first thought after all.

So thanks for the advice for getting a liquid test kit and I am now completely convinced that they are soooooo much better and more accurate.

Excellent Looks like it's ready for a puffer!

So now I need to ask:
How big is the tank?
What puffer are you planning?
What fish have you been using to cycle it? How many?

I currently have a 90 litre tank and am planning on having a single F8 puffer.

How many cycling fish are you using?