# Ammonia spike after water change -Mystery solved: I'm stupid.



## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

wow ........ thats weird. Sorry I cant think of anything myself. Hopefully a guru will chime in.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

Thanks, I think its weird too. 

Also I got some BornioWild Shield that I added this week after the water change as well.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Same container for all WC? Maybe it's contaminated? That's really wierd...and you're dripping it in too...


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

shrimpnmoss said:


> Same container for all WC? Maybe it's contaminated? That's really wierd...and you're dripping it in too...



Same hose for all water changes in all tanks, but in this tank I am just taking water out with the hose not putting it in. 

Same RO unit for both EBI tanks.

Does anyone think it could be the stratum substrate? I mean it seems strange but that is the only thing I can think of.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Try dripping the water into a clean empty container. Test the water you're adding for ammonia.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

Maybe...I hope not tho....cause I'm using stratum for one of my tanks...You'd think if anything the soil would be dead by now if it has been up since Dec 2010....

Empty the tank...if if there's any dead animals in there...unless you can see every square inch of your tank...


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

jasonpatterson said:


> Try dripping the water into a clean empty container. Test the water you're adding for ammonia.



I did that today before and after filling the tank, it was 0.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

shrimpnmoss said:


> Maybe...I hope not tho....cause I'm using stratum for one of my tanks...You'd think if anything the soil would be dead by now if it has been up since Dec 2010....
> 
> Empty the tank...if if there's anything dead in there...



If there was something dead in there wouldn't the ammonia be high all the time? I have really been sifting through the plants looking for dead shrimp in case there is like a pile of bodies I couldn't see. But I am finding nothing. 

I hope its not the substrate because I don't look forward to this happening to "team black" like it's happening to "team red".


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

You might just have to add Prime from now until you figure out the culprit.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

shrimpnmoss said:


> You might just have to add Prime from now until you figure out the culprit.



I always add Prime or Amquel to all my tanks after adding water. 

But I would like to find out what is really wrong. I have never had ammonia happen after a small water change. 

If it happens again I will tear down the tank and replace the substrate with some moon sand or something and keep the stratum from the tank to experiment on in an empty tank.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

1) Please use paragraphs. I can't even explain how hard it was to read this whole thing. I'm sure I missed something. 

2) Obviously something is wrong with the source water, or you're causing huge disturbances. Since your flow rate is so slow, i doubt that. BTW, in 15 years I've never done a water change that slow. I fill ALL of my tanks with cold tap water, as fast as it will flow into my tanks. When I used RO, I used a mag drive pump to fill tanks. 

3) What substrate do you have? Sifting through the plants is prob disturbing substrate and gunk more than anything else. This will result in higher ammonia levels. 

4) Something is wrong with your tests kit or methodology. No way does a tank that size consume .5-1 ppm of ammonia in 8 hours.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

shrimpnmoss said:


> You might just have to add Prime from now until you figure out the culprit.


the op says ammonia is 0. There is no reason to do that.


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## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

OverStocked said:


> the op says ammonia is 0. There is no reason to do that.


The ammonia was 0 after a day...but according to the shrimps and test kit it was .5-1 after the WC. So why not add Prime in with the water?


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

OverStocked said:


> 1) Please use paragraphs. I can't even explain how hard it was to read this whole thing. I'm sure I missed something.


Sorry, I am enter key happy this evening.




OverStocked said:


> 2) Obviously something is wrong with the source water, or you're causing huge disturbances. Since your flow rate is so slow, i doubt that. BTW, in 15 years I've never done a water change that slow. I fill ALL of my tanks with cold tap water, as fast as it will flow into my tanks. When I used RO, I used a mag drive pump to fill tanks.


I changed the water on 10 tanks today and this is the only one doing this.
I caused no disturbance to the substrate. I don't have a container to run my RO water into so I just run it from the filter to both EBI tanks and it takes a couple hours per tank.





OverStocked said:


> 3) What substrate do you have? Sifting through the plants is prob disturbing substrate and gunk more than anything else. This will result in higher ammonia levels.


The substrate is the Fluval stratum they ship with the EBI tanks. The plants are mostly water lettuce that I lifted out or pushed to the side so I could see the floor of the tank. I did not move anything that would disturb the substrate.




OverStocked said:


> 4) Something is wrong with your tests kit or methodology. No way does a tank that size consume .5-1 ppm of ammonia in 8 hours.


It is a fairly new ammonia kit but I will get another tomorrow. I tested all my tanks today since I was on a testing rampage and none of them registered any ammonia except the one EBI.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Fluval substrate will release some ammonia. But that should be constant. Did you do anything to your filters? 

It might seem odd, but there is always another chance that it is completely coincidental. What kind of shrimp are these? How long has tank been set up?


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

shrimpnmoss said:


> The ammonia was 0 after a day...but according to the shrimps and test kit it was .5-1 after the WC. So why not add Prime in with the water?


Why add prime now when the ammonia is zero, now?


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

OverStocked said:


> Fluval substrate will release some ammonia. But that should be constant. Did you do anything to your filters?


The first time it happened I put a bag of BioChem Zorb in their filter (after the ammonia not before). Other than that nothing.



OverStocked said:


> It might seem odd, but there is always another chance that it is completely coincidental. What kind of shrimp are these? How long has tank been set up?


Red crystals, the tank has been up since Dec 2010.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

OK so this weekend I did not take any water out of the crystal shrimp tanks.
I bought RO water and used it to top them off, each took half a gallon. The tank that has been having problems didn't show any ammonia after adding the store bought water. Could it be something in my RO unit? (even though I only had a problem with one of my RO tanks showing ammonia after weekly maintenance).


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## IxIBluepitIxI (Jan 25, 2011)

Prime affects API ammonia test kits giving false readings this always happens no big deal. You have to use something like Seachem's ammonia test kit. I can remember reading something about it on some l websites it has something to do with the way the kits actually test for ammonia(remember prime converts ammonia to ammonium). Seachem's site had something on it about testing kits results and false readings as a result of using prime with other name brand kits. I'm sure if you shoot them a email about it they could explain in great detail as to why. IMHO I think you looked at the test results and freaked out I was doing to same until I goggled prime and false ammonia readings it's been a longtime but if you can't find any info on it I'll look it up when I get some much need rest. Good fishing!


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## IxIBluepitIxI (Jan 25, 2011)

Hey I found this on the seachem site I'll post a link if you would like to read more questions and answers.

Q: I am using Prime® to control ammonia but my test kit says it is not doing anything, in fact it looks like it added ammonia! What is going on?

A: A Nessler based kit will not read ammonia properly if you are using Prime®... it will look "off scale", sort of a muddy brown (incidentally a Nessler kit will not work with any other products similar to Prime®). A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime®), so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away. However, the best solution ;-) is to use our MultiTest: Ammonia™ kit... it uses a gas exchange sensor system which is not affected by the presence of Prime® or other similar products. It also has the added advantage that it can detect the more dangerous free ammonia and distinguish it from total ammonia (which is both the free and ionized forms of ammonia (the ionized form is not toxic)).
http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html

I know when I test my water after a water change the ammonia results will be .05 to 1 ppm. That's why I test my water before the change that helps me. You know that the water you add has now ammonia in it so it can't get any worst than the results before the change.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

Thanks for the info on the different tests for ammonia IxIBluepitIxI always good to know.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

I wanted to add that I finally figured out what was happening in my EBI tanks. 

When I was refilling the tanks (It took about 2 hours per tank to drip in replacement water) the water temperature from my faucet was changing after the first hour to hour and a half. So while I was refilling the temperature was changing too quickly and stressing out the shrimp making them all go to the top of the tank.

The ammonia reading was false because of the dechlorinator. Soooo it was ME not checking the temp of the water from the sink after the first couple of hours that was causing the problem.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Glad you figured it out. Great title for the thread as well.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

The seachem test is awesome. I was setting up a new tank for my crystals with Netlea soil, and it was still leeching ammonia and my current tank they were in crashed and they were all dying, so I had to put them in. API test showed 4ppm ammonia, but the Seachem test showed it was 0ppm ammonia and 4ppm ammonium, so it was safe to add my crystals. I added them, no deaths, moms getting berried, babies hatching.  I counted about 15 babies this morning, all doing fine, despite the soil still leeching some.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

GeToChKn said:


> The seachem test is awesome. I was setting up a new tank for my crystals with Netlea soil, and it was still leeching ammonia and my current tank they were in crashed and they were all dying, so I had to put them in. API test showed 4ppm ammonia, but the Seachem test showed it was 0ppm ammonia and 4ppm ammonium, so it was safe to add my crystals. I added them, no deaths, moms getting berried, babies hatching. I counted about 15 babies this morning, all doing fine, despite the soil still leeching some.


That is awesome, glad your babies are doing well. I am going to have to try a seachem kit.


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