What is wrong with my ammonia tester?

[Niku-M]

Ok yeah if I seem to be very frustrated I am, I've been trying to get my cycle starting for days now but I have a problem with my tester (a JBL one with liquids and a color scale (not titration)). Because I couldn't get my ammonia levels in my tank up with the ammonia I had bought a new bottle of ammonia today and I calculated an amount and added and tested several times but no results again. I really got frustrated at this point and tested the ammonia solution straight from the bottle... and guess what result I got: 0 ppm. :confused:

Ok now I'm worried I might have damaged my plants because I may have added to much ammonia unknowingly. My plants did look a bit less happy yesterday, although they seem to be better today.

I'm not sure what to do next, go to the LFS saying the tester doesn't work? I'm also seriously considering cycling with fish at the moment because I do have plants in my tank which could buffer the process a bit.

[Lady Hobbs]

Plants will absord the ammonia in the water but something should show up at least for a while. If you have plants, you may as well go with the fish. Zebra danios are great little cycling fish.

[Niku-M]

Well since I tested straight from the bottle (just took 5mL from the bottle and tested that directly) and it still showed 0 I think there is something wrong with my tester.

I want to stock my tank with white clouds, as it is an unheated tank. Would these fish be able to withstand a cycling process without being damaged too much?

[Lady Hobbs]

If you tank is pretty heavily planted, a cycle is not really even needed since the plants absord the ammonia. I would start slow with just a few to began with tho and test your water every now and then to make sure it's safe for them. You've had a most unusual problem, for sure.

[Lady Hobbs]

I've been sitting here thinking about this and are you SURE you have used pure ammonia and nothing with additives like lemon or any of the additives they put in it? It's hard sometimes to find the pure ammonia. I got mine at the Dollar Store.....1 qt for $1.

You can give the bottle a good shake and if you see foam, it may have an additive added altho it should say on the label. Pure ammonia will make a few bubbles that will pop right away but that with additives will actually foam.

[Niku-M]

Yeah I just can't see why my tester would return 0 after testing from a bottle that DEFINITELY has ammonia in it.

I have a picture of how my tank looks right now. I think it's moderately planted but since my tank is also quite small (5 gallon) maybe it's safe enough. The water level is quite low now by the way.

991

[Cichlid_Man]

Yeah I just can't see why my tester would return 0 after testing from a bottle that DEFINITELY has ammonia in it.

I have a picture of how my tank looks right now. I think it's moderately planted but since my tank is also quite small (5 gallon) maybe it's safe enough. The water level is quite low now by the way.

991

Hi,
Hobbs is right about the plants absorbing the ammonia, but since you cannot even get a reading from the bottle, we can assume something is wrong with the testing supplies.
Your 5 gallon could be a death trap for fish right now.
I would empty the tank and refill it and forget the cycle.
Hobbs is correct. You can add hearty fish because it is a planted tank.

[Chrona]

Make sure you only add one fish at a time, with a week in between. Since it's only a 5g tank, you don't have a lot of room for errors. Those articles about adding a medium-heavy bioload at once without an ammonia spike assumes vigorous plant growth and a heavily planted tank, which is not the case with most people.

[Niku-M]

Thanks everyone for your responses,

I will go back to the LFS with the test kit and the ammonia to prove that it isn't working to get a new one. I'll leave the tank how it is right now and probably refill it after testing monday (because maybe it is fine after all). Chrona I have no problems with adding fish one at a time (all this stuff has made me patient about this), but am a bit worried the first white cloud might become very shy and scared being on his own. Could I maybe add 2 in the beginning?

Would it be helpful if I brought some more plants in? I've been thinking about a moss ball (removing a few stones) and ordering some Salvinia Natans online (local LFS don't have it).

[Chrona]

Thanks everyone for your responses,

I will go back to the LFS with the test kit and the ammonia to prove that it isn't working to get a new one. I'll leave the tank how it is right now and probably refill it after testing monday (because maybe it is fine after all). Chrona I have no problems with adding fish one at a time (all this stuff has made me patient about this), but am a bit worried the first white cloud might become very shy and scared being on his own. Could I maybe add 2 in the beginning?

Would it be helpful if I brought some more plants in? I've been thinking about a moss ball (removing a few stones) and ordering some Salvinia Natans online (local LFS don't have it).

It would help if you got more plants. I would recommend adding one in the beginning, maybe 2 for the second batch. Bacteria population growth is exponential before it hits a peak so you should be adding fewer fish from the beginning.

[Niku-M]

Okay, I'll go with this and try to add some more plants and add 1 fish at first. I'll maybe 'shield' the tank some more to make the first one feel more safe.

I'm also going to change almost all of my water right about now, I think my plants would also welcome this.

I don't know what is going to happen to my water values though, will my tank show the same signs of cycling or will it not be as obvious with the plants absorbing ammonia?

[Chrona]

Okay, I'll go with this and try to add some more plants and add 1 fish at first. I'll maybe 'shield' the tank some more to make the first one feel more safe.

I'm also going to change almost all of my water right about now, I think my plants would also welcome this.

I don't know what is going to happen to my water values though, will my tank show the same signs of cycling or will it not be as obvious with the plants absorbing ammonia?

Just don't touch the substrate or the filter and continue adding ammonia after the water change and your cycle won't be affected. When you figure out what's going on with your ammonia test kit, you'll be able to accurately get it to 5 ppm. If you measure the water right after adding it and mixing it up a little, you will get almost all, if not all of the ammonia before it is absorbed by the plants or nitrified by the bacteria.

[Lady Hobbs]

One more note. Let the tester sit for about 15 minutes. Results are slow to show in some of the testers.

[Niku-M]

I have gone back to the LFS today and got a new tester, I tested my tank water and this is how it turned out:

ammonia: 5 mg/L
nitrites: 0 mg/L
nitrates: 10 mg/L


I haven't added any ammonia for a while now and I'm confused what to do, should I add a tiny bit of ammonia every day right now until I get nitrites? Or should I assume there is ammonia coming from some other source (plant debris etc.) and don't add anything until I get a spike in nitrites? I definitely can't add fish right now.

[Lady Hobbs]

You should add enough ammonia daily to test 5. When you start to see nitrites, drop the ammonia back to 3.

If you have 5. yet tomorrow, then add no more until you need to.

[Niku-M]

Yes, right now it seems a better idea to just finish my cycle, because of this defective tester I think I've added way to much ammonia which is I think why the ammonia levels are now still on such a level and why my vallisnerias are looking ... really bad right now, I'm not sure if they will survive this severe ammonia poisoning. :( My other plants seem to be doing fine however.

[Chrona]

Yes, right now it seems a better idea to just finish my cycle, because of this defective tester I think I've added way to much ammonia which is I think why the ammonia levels are now still on such a level and why my vallisnerias are looking ... really bad right now, I'm not sure if they will survive this severe ammonia poisoning. :( My other plants seem to be doing fine however.

Plants actually like ammonia as it is their preferred source of nitrogen, unless you have an ungodly amount in there (which I doubt). If your other plants are doing fine, then I'm going to assume it's something else with the vals. I couldn't get my vals to grow either, and they just kept rotting. Perhaps it's the light. You aren't adding Flourish Excel by any chance are you?

[Niku-M]

Plants actually like ammonia as it is their preferred source of nitrogen, unless you have an ungodly amount in there (which I doubt). If your other plants are doing fine, then I'm going to assume it's something else with the vals. I couldn't get my vals to grow either, and they just kept rotting. Perhaps it's the light. You aren't adding Flourish Excel by any chance are you?
As far as I know plants do not absorb ammonia actively as it is probably as poisonous to them as it is to us and fish, because it's quite reactive I believe. They mainly absorb nitrates I think... although I have to admit it's been almost a year since I had biology... You also never see a line from 'ammonia' to 'plants' on schematics of the nitrogen cycle.

Anyway, I might have gotten the wrong kind of vallisneria.. a book about aquarium plants lists the spiralis kind with a temperature range of about 15-30 C which is the range I look for in plants. But I'm suspecting the shopkeeper gave me a different one or something so the temperature might not be right and they are dying because of that. They seem to be rotting actually, parts (not even on the end of leaves) becoming brown and I took out one to check the roots and they were also brown and... yucky. Maybe I should just take them out now before it becomes a bigger mess...

[Chrona]

As far as I know plants do not absorb ammonia actively as it is probably as poisonous to them as it is to us and fish, because it's quite reactive I believe. They mainly absorb nitrates I think... although I have to admit it's been almost a year since I had biology... You also never see a line from 'ammonia' to 'plants' on schematics of the nitrogen cycle.

Anyway, I might have gotten the wrong kind of vallisneria.. a book about aquarium plants lists the spiralis kind with a temperature range of about 15-30 C which is the range I look for in plants. But I'm suspecting the shopkeeper gave me a different one or something so the temperature might not be right and they are dying because of that. They seem to be rotting actually, parts (not even on the end of leaves) becoming brown and I took out one to check the roots and they were also brown and... yucky. Maybe I should just take them out now before it becomes a bigger mess...

For a given pH, there is a certain percentage of the ammonia that is in it's ammonium form (which is the stuff deadly to fish). Plants normally uptake nitrates because it's so readily available (and the only thing available in an established tank) but they prefer ammonium, I guess because it's easier to break down or something

[Niku-M]

For a given pH, there is a certain percentage of the ammonia that is in it's ammonium form (which is the stuff deadly to fish). Plants normally uptake nitrates because it's so readily available (and the only thing available in an established tank) but they prefer ammonium, I guess because it's easier to break down or something
I was also thinking ammonium would be harder to absorb than nitrates, because it's an ion. But yeah I don't really know for sure so I'll go with your explanation.

I'm really annoyed with my tank right now. I feel like I shouldn't have rushed out and bought plants (I took out the vals that were almost dead within a week) and complete the cycle before this. For the last few days there's been a constant reading of 5 ppm ammonia and 0 nitrites. Since the last advice I remember having got I didn't add any ammonia anymore because my ammonia isn't going down (I don't remember if that was someone here or elsewhere). I ordered some new plants online because I'm sick of my LFSs not even having simple indigenous plants (not even duckweeds!).

So again I am, confused what to do now. I think I have these options:

1: completing fishless cycle (by adding maybe a teaspoon of ammonia or something each day?)
2: getting fish to cycle? (with my ammonia level not such I good idea)
3: waiting for my new plants (probably next tuesday) and then add fish?

Btw, I'm really sorry to ask these questions over and over again.. but from my point of view this has been a lot harder than it originally seemed. :(

[Chrona]

I was also thinking ammonium would be harder to absorb than nitrates, because it's an ion. But yeah I don't really know for sure so I'll go with your explanation.

I'm really annoyed with my tank right now. I feel like I shouldn't have rushed out and bought plants (I took out the vals that were almost dead within a week) and complete the cycle before this. For the last few days there's been a constant reading of 5 ppm ammonia and 0 nitrites. Since the last advice I remember having got I didn't add any ammonia anymore because my ammonia isn't going down (I don't remember if that was someone here or elsewhere). I ordered some new plants online because I'm sick of my LFSs not even having simple indigenous plants (not even duckweeds!).

So again I am, confused what to do now. I think I have these options:

1: completing fishless cycle (by adding maybe a teaspoon of ammonia or something each day?)
2: getting fish to cycle? (with my ammonia level not such I good idea)
3: waiting for my new plants (probably next tuesday) and then add fish?

Btw, I'm really sorry to ask these questions over and over again.. but from my point of view this has been a lot harder than it originally seemed. :(

Er my mistake. I meant to say that the ammonia is the deadly stuff, whereas ammonium is not. So at a higher pH, there is more ammonia and less ammonium. The plants (and algae) do take in ammonium at a faster rate than nitrates though, when available. All nutrients have to be broken down into ions to be absorbed.

I would recommend doing the fishless cycling, and just throwing the plants in when you get them. Depending on your lighting situation, you may get an algae bloom with all that ammonia, but it will subside in time.

[Niku-M]

Lol actually I reversed the names I think, it's so confusing. In my language "ammonium" is NH4+ I don't know if that's the same in English. Anyway, I forgot the fact that for active absorbing yeah, it can only be ions. Amazing how much you forget in 1 year no biology classes.


I added a teaspoon of ammonia this morning and I tested about half an hour afterwards, and there are nitrites now! :D. My ammonia got to a bit over 10 so I might add about half a teaspoon tomorrow. I'm so relieved that it is finally showing signs of cycling now.