Amonia levels

[moamanz]

Hi,my tank is in its 4th week,3 with the inhabitants being 10 black neons.They seem very at home,I understand that amonia levels will rise for a while ,I have been testing every few days and doing water changes and filter cleanouts.It has stayed at 1.0 on the colour chart for 2 weeks,is this normal.Ph levels have been marginally above 7 for most of the time.I was also encouraged to use a little iron enriched plant food.How would this have affected any readings.Thanks Dave. :bounce:

[jayci]

Don't clean the filters at all. That is where the ammonia reducing bacteria live. Only clean the filter if there is reduced flow, probably in a couple of months.

[Ianab]

Ammonia reading should drop to zero once the tank is cycled.

I would avoid using plant food while the tank is cycling, you are probably adding extra nitrogen into the system by doing so.

Keep on as you are untill your ammonia and nitrite are zero, then it should be safe to add more fish. The water changes will slow down the cycle but you dont want ammonia building up and killing your fish in the mean time.

Cheers

Ian

[michael.qian]

1.0ppm is a bit too high.

keep up the water changes, don't clean filter sponge because as said above that's where the bacterias are.

what's the size of the tank? if its a fairly small tank more frequent water changes are required.

[Caper]

Ditto re: do not clean filter! Post pics sometime. Careful not to overfeed as well, believe me it is quite easy to do, especially when the fish are screaming GIVE ME MORE WOMAN! :lol:

cAPER