Why Your Ammonia Test Kit is Probably Lying to You!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Hello Fellow Fish Keepers,
In this video we talk about the importance of unionized ammonia in your fish tank and why your ammonia test kit isn't telling you the whole story. Below are a couple really good references that will help you calculate unionized ammonia:
Explanation and chart: www.patroutint...
UIA Calculator: www.hamzasreef...
API Test Kit (Affiliate Link): amzn.to/2GSjqoy
If you want to see more behind the scenes stuff, exclusive videos and support the channel consider becoming a member! / @primetimeaquatics
Also, our new shirts can be found at: www.primetimea...
For the latest in the fish room check us out on Instagram primetime_aquatics
Thanks for watching!
![Seachem Ammonia Alert Facts - Ammonia Testing Made Easy [MUST SEE]](/img/n.gif)
Looking for a water test kit? API Test Kit (Affiliate Link): amzn.to/2GSjqoy
Want to know more about water parameters? Check out these videos!
Here is more information about water parameters. Definitely worth a look if you are trying to learn all you can about the subject!
What exactly is the nitrogen cycle? th-cam.com/video/dFpN4wXgmfI/w-d-xo.html
What is Water Hardness? th-cam.com/video/xRYdtvakfv0/w-d-xo.html
How Does pH Impact Fish Health? th-cam.com/video/d9N-JliqsJg/w-d-xo.html
How to Lower Ammonia: th-cam.com/video/5l-POiCc0dI/w-d-xo.html
How to Lower Nitrites: th-cam.com/video/3t8yq-ydOaE/w-d-xo.html
How to Lower Nitrates: th-cam.com/video/rTdjjZRBIDU/w-d-xo.html
What Does Water Quality Really Mean? th-cam.com/video/TkPwQGG1LMQ/w-d-xo.html
Api sucks, doesnt distinguish between nh3 and nh4 get a sera master box
Brilliantly explained. I am a freshwater newbie who is currently waiting for first ever tank to cycle. Keep up the good work.
Test kit is lying to you! ...Now buy the test kit?
I've heard somebody talking about pH and temp affecting amonia toxicity, but I've never had it explained so well! Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you! Appreciate you watching
I've been having such a hard time trying to keep my ammonia at 0, its been constantly rising back up to .25ppm or so and driving me crazy! The fish never seemed bothered and it puzzled me and now I know why, the calculation says the true level is negligible. Thank you for the peace of mind!
Growing up I feel like keeping fish was never this complicated. I had a couple Pacu for 5-6 years and I never did one water test.
I was just saying I reckon most fishkeepers don't do any water tests.
Same with me, but all my fish died😥
My mom says this all the time
Same I had a tilapia in a 20 gal for atleast 10 years
@@dankystanky7438sarap ulam hahahaha. we cook and eat tilapia in Philippines 😅
Bamm!!!
API showing 1.0 in my QT was driving me crazy!
7.7PH 25C = 0.028 makes way more sense!
Thanks
bud!
I wish videos (like this)existed 30 years ago when I started in the hobby. Your channel is such a great resource to all of us in the hobby, because no matter how long you have been doing this sometimes it is good to get a second opinion.
I find myself wishing the same when I watch other channels too! : -)
Wow...probably one of the most important uploads for the Aquarium Hobby. Thank You Most Kindly!
Thank you! Appreciate it
I'm new to fishkeeping, and had quite a shock when I tested my tap water and my API test kit read 0.5ppm of ammonia. Apparently my city adds ammonia to long pipelines to keep the water sanitary. Thanks to this video I know that's actually about ~0.02ppm of the toxic stuff. I was much relieved. Thank you!!
Im not so sure. Our tap water in Tampa, fl also reads 0.5ppm but the Ph is at 8.2 and and during summer water temperature is about 80 F and with salinity near 0 this comes to over 0.0561 witch is not all that good in my opinion. Maybe you should recalculate your tap water again!
@@dimitrovbmw they don’t have the same water as you…
Prime from Seachem will help to keep that added ammonia from being an issue in addition to neutralizing chlorine and chloramine. It works by keeping the ammonia bound up as the not-as-toxic ammonium this guy is talking about until your biological filter has a chance to break it down, which should happen quite quickly.
This is a great video and very educational. I've been battling constant reading of 0.25ppm in my 6 week old shrimp tank and doing daily water changes with prime... and allsorts of stupid stuff.. panicking and thinking my shrimp are going to die.
I'm going to leave the tank now for 3-4days and just see what happens...
Is this what you would advise?
I'm at 7ph and 20c so hopefully there isn't any problems...?
Matt,Zeolith will suck up your ammonia.
This is the most helpful video I’ve watched for a long time. This gave me so much peace of mind as my total ammonia has remained at 0.25 ppm for quite some time now. However, My UIA is quite low. I’m so happy to have learned this. Thank you!!!!!!
This is a really good explanation, but at the same time, I think 0 ammonia on the test is still the condition that you would want to shoot for. 0 TAN means 0 NH3 regardless of the other parameters, so in a way, I think it's a more useful reading to the average (beginner) aquarist.
If you're reading ammonia on your test kit, it's something you need to deal with. If it's all NH4, then it's probably not going to kill your fish, but I would still want to know where it's coming from.
I know it's not the intent of the video, but some people are going to see 1.5ppm ammonia in their tank, punch it into the calculator, and see that they're
Very interesting! I've always heard that there were reasons why people do plop and drop instead of drip acclamation, but now I know why. Thanks so much for explaining things!
Glad to help!
Its simple you just add a drop or 2 of prime to the bag once you open it then do drip acclimating
Thanks for the good information! As a wildlife biologist it drives me crazy when people in the hobby explain things but doesn’t give you the full picture or explain the whys! I love your channel! I almost don’t watch anything else about fish keeping but your videos!! Still struggling with my first tank cycle but having patience. Thanks!!
Thank you for being here!
I have been in the hobby for over 50 years and I have never tested for NH3, back in the "old days" of brute force filtration with lots of Carbon and massive water changes it wasn't a problem, then when the hobby switched to biofiltration, I never even thought about ammonia unless there was a massive rise of pH.
Now I know that if my biofiltration is working and the pH is stable then there is no Ammonia problem.
If pH starts rising then the likely culprit is ammonia
We’ve know about this in the hobby for a long time, but I think when forums quit being popular and Facebook started being popular certain myths or half truth become popular. Good video
Thank you!
facebook groups have pushed me back to forums. much more respect and etiquette on forums.
@@Bhousm76 exactly! I have ran intp bullying egotisical a holes on groups nothing but beat down bullies!
For a newbie like me... Facebook groups destroyed me! I lost 2 weeks of cycling because of them saying nonsense and eventually I started reading forums and that's where I found the most accurate opinions. That actually have been validated with facts not just rumors..
This may be easier. The common aquarium “ammonia” test measures the total ammonia, both ionized
and un-ionized (Total Ammonia Nitrogen or TAN).
The chronic toxicity, where the ammonia kills slowly by a variety of mechanisms, is as follows:
20 to 100 ppm of ammonia TAN at a pH of 6.0
2 to 10 ppm of ammonia TAN at a pH of 7.0
0.2 to 1 ppm of ammonia TAN at a pH of 8.0
Any pH between the above numbers you will have to make a linear interpolation. As you can see there
is a 10X increase or decrease in toxicity between pH levels.
A pH of 6.5 will reduce the growth of beneficial bacteria by 90%. A pH of 6.0 will virtually stop beneficial bacteria from oxidizing ammonia to nitrate; hence ammonia may be on the rise.
Just an FYI...
Thanks for this. I've been trying to figure out what's going on in my 300L(80g) tank as I had a couple of fish start looking sick. I've not been doing much maintenance or water changes as the tank is lightly stocked, has a big filter, and is half full of java moss (and because I have a young child who exhausts me and isn't aquarium maintenance friendly). I freaked out when my ammonia came back as at least 8.0ppm (as high as the chart goes) and wondered why everything wasn't dead... but the other scary result was the pH coming in at 6.0 or lower (again, as low as the scale went). After a few water changes I'm down to about 2.0ppm ammonia and the pH is up to about 6.4. What's perplexing me is how my pH 8.4 tap water got down to 6.0?? Also, after reading your post - are all my bacteria dead due to the low pH, or just inert - ready to spring back into action now the pH is on the rise? Also (last one) if the pH is at 6.0 how is all the fish and food waste processed?
@@marcuscooper9544 How did you end up sorting this one?
I currently have the same problem as @Marcus Cooper.
Using the API Freshwater Master Kit daily, but no changes all this past month:
- Tank: 75 gallon standard
- Fishes: 7 goldfishes
- Filters: 2 Cascade 1500 canisters & 1 sponge filter
- Airpump: Hailea CP-60 AC/DC
- Set-up Date: 10/30/2021
- Date Today: 1/3/2022
a. AMMONIA: Stuck at 4.00ppm since 12/14/2021
b. NITRITE: Stuck at 0.00ppm since 11/20/2021
c. NITRATE: Stuck at 40.00 to 80.00 ppm since 12/14/2021
d. pH: Stuck at 6.00 since 12/10/2021
- Double-dosing daily with SeaChem Prime every 24 hours (3 capfuls = 75g)
- Dosing daily with AquaVitro Seed by SeaChem every 24 hours (4 capfuls = 75g)
@@atty.veronicainoturanosg3487 you have to get your Ammonia well below 4.0ppm, between 2.0ppm to a maximum of 3.0ppm. WATER CHANGES!
Ammonia at 4.0ppm is TOXIC to the Bacteria that convert Ammonia to Nitrite, and even more so to the Bacteria that convert Nitrite into NitrAte.
Seachem's Prime Does NOT remove or lower Ammonia concentration, it simply reduces the Toxicity of Ammonia for a short term of only 2 days.
Get the Ammonia level Down and start dosing with Seachem's Stability to seed your Bacteria Colonies.
Interesting how the TAN is less toxic with decreasing pH but also ends up being processed more slowly, and vice versa. I would guess that aiming for a neutral to slightly basic pH (7 - 7.4) is optimal?
I have been in a panic about ammonia in my tank doing water changes and never testing 0. Using the calculator was very enlightening. Turns out it was only .0005 ppm. These companies need to do a better job of explaining on the packaging what the ammonia is actually testing! I have been doing unnecessary water changes. Thank you for educating me!
Darn, the link to the chart doesn't work anymore 😕!
Mind blown!! This makes so much sense with acclimation!
The sample parameters, water 65 degrees, soft water, pH 6, is TOTALLY ABSURD.... In the "Real World" of Cichlid fish Keeping I do not know ANYONE with those parameters... So, if you are going to present an "Argument" of correct reading of testing Kits, at the least, use Real World parameters.
The example is used to show the drop off - nothing more.
I was told about keeping ammonia levels below 1ppm but was never really explained why. And I believe these test kits are meant for inexperienced people who were told to keep ammonia levels near zero without the explanation in this video. It’s just a general test.
Would be neat if the companies making the test kits would also include the formula to calculate this.
Thanks for explaining this so well, very informative! 👍
The first 30 seconds - lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
Thank you so much for including both Fahrenheit and Celsius! Save me so much calculating!
Bloody great explanation. I've been keeping adult fancy goldfish for the past 5 years in the same tank and i kept getting ammonia readings of 0.25-0.50ppm and burned to different kinds of test kits. No wonder all my fish survived these past 5 years.
Thank you!
I cannot stress enough to you how informative this video has been. I by chance i suppose, set up a pretty dark blackwater aquarium for my Betta, because I knew they liked the tannins and I think blackwater aquariums are beautiful and have diligently kept him nice and warm. Every time i test for ammonia it stresses me out, All the other parameters are fine, my fish is alert and happy, the tank is booming with growth, so I decided to leave it be, not really sure of why he seemed to be thriving. But i'm cycling him a new tank (a bigger one, because I adore him) and I'm trying to check for the ammonia levels when I came across this video. I feel like i understand so much more about the balance of the aquariums now, thank you.
Armed with this info, I stopped doing such frequent water changes on this current fish-in cycle. Found that my NH3 levels are quite low. 👌
Can the calculator be used for saltwater? My api kit says in between 0.25 and 0.50
Yes, but you’d want to enter the salt concentration for sure.
Keep learning more about ammonia. Now how to fine tune it precisely concerning the welfare of the fish. Thank you so much!
You do an excellent job of explaining the entire Ammonia issue.
I use the Seachem Test Kit which can give you readings for both even AFTER using water conditioners in water with chloramines.
How would you go about acclimating betta fish? At PetSmart, they come in cups with lids. What would be the best way to acclimating them to my aquarium water?
Great question. You can ask for them to be bagged at the pet store so you can float them when you get home. Just don't let any of the store water into your tank.
Thanks much for this info.
I measured 4-8ppm today. Fish seemed fine, but I didn't want my wife to lose her fish!
Added started doing a 50% water change and added some ammo lock.
Glad to know they will be fine.
She got excited and added fish when we she saw the ammonia level hit zero for the first time.
Maybe was the plants pulling it down, and wasn't fully cycled yet.
I know this is an old video but I am getting back into the hobby after many years away & it is so helpful along with everything else yall post. Thank you so much.
Absolutely amazing explanation! Thank you so much!
Great video, I once read an article about this topic but it wasn't described nearly as well as in your video.
I also like how you stuck to the relevant topic and kept it short and simple. A lot of people will post a long video mostly rambling about fishkeeping, which isint necessarily bad but sometimes you just want the important info. Thanks!
Thank you! I try to keep the informational videos on task. : -)
In 50+ years in the hobby I only ever tested for ammonia on salt water when I first got into that. I stock lightly and and filter heavily. I replace evaporation loss with distilled water. I do water changes but I'm not pulling 25 gallons out of a 75 gallon tank every week. I've had success with breeding silver angelfish, ocellaris clownfish, danios, and of course lots of live bearers.
I’ve been doing daily water changes due to 1ppm ammonia. My pH is 8 and water temp is 76. This confirms I was making the right call. Finally got the ammonia down to 0 but now dealing with high nitrites. Ugh I hope everything settles in the next week. Tank is just over one month old.
Thank you so much!! I’ve been driving myself crazy because my ammonia tests always come up positive. Everything else I’ve read said it’s super dangerous and all my fish are about to die, so I’ve been breaking my back and bank account buying SO many products to fix it and doing many frequent water changes just to still see it test positive for ammonia, even though my fish don’t look sick/distressed. After watching your video everything makes sense now! You just saved my sanity!! 😂
Good to hear!
Thanks for explaining this, it will help a lot of people.
hum I entered your 3rd example and i got different results , how is that possible, for you 3rd example the calculator is showing me 0.0921 not 0.107!? Unless you input something different for salinity from what is by default!
I'll get back to you on nitrate levels; to much "he said she said" on u-tube. The "fish only" folks seem to stress more over nitrate levels. Not my first rodeo, 30+ year guy. Doing fine between 40-80 ppm nitrates, no fish mortality.
I love to attend your classes.
What I can’t seem to figure out is how to get rid of the ammonium. Bacteria doesn’t affect ammonium. The fish keep adding bioload but most of the result turns to ammonium so the bacteria replication slows down. How could I ever have a test say “0” with out changing all of the water? 6.4pH and no signs of nitrites or nitrates in over 8 weeks. It’s crazy!
The explanatiom chart site is ging a server side 404 error (not fpund)possibly a DNS error
Thanks. Learnt something today which is always a goal for everyday. New fishkeeper of a few weeks. Had a very slight (0.25 ppm) ammonia spike after adding some more fish, which I'm hopeful the will resolve itself with a reduction in feeding and giving the filter time to catch up. But at least i know I'm not at danger levels when other parameters are taken account of.
Thanks for watching!
Ive tested my aquarium for all things throughout their lives and I’ve always seen 0 PPM in all fields.
It's normal for ammonia and nitrite to be at zero in a cycled tank. Usually there is some nitrate, unless their are lots of plants.
hi mate.i test my water and the result are this..6.4ph, ammonia 2ppm,nitrite 0ppm,nitrate 5.0ppm.is this safe for my discus fish?thanks
Well I change every 4 day it just became a routine I just kept going with
I can’t freaking believe that I found this video way too late and I wasted water because I changed three times my water because I thought my kids fish were going to died. 😒😒 but thank you for informing me about it.
I been fishkeeping since I was about 8. Your videos are very good. Still learning new info from watching your videos. Good job!
Thank you! Glad you are watching.
A heavily planted tank can solve ammonia, I run a semi heavy planted tank and it never has any ammonia, I rarely water change once every 2 months at the moment but mostly to water my plants
I do run a sponge filter and I have several stores test my water to make sure there is no error ( I have a tester at home but it's a strip and I can't afford to get the liquid test rn)
This helped so much. My total ammonia is always around .5-1ppm but my fish seem fine. Now I know why. Thanks.
I use the seachem amonnia alert that you put in the tank, it measures only free amonnia, apparently....
Well I think you mr baldy smarty pants 👖 is lying 🤥 about the test kit not working
I have a question please if you can help so I checked my ammonia with and api test kit and my ammonia test is cloudy all the other once are ok my tank is clear no ammonia but the test it self comes out cloudy and all my fish died
Excellent video. This isn't talked about nearly enough . And isn't very well understood among new hobbyists and even some of the old schoolers. so glad to see someone covering the in depth learning required to properly care for fish.
Thank you!
Nitrates st 5ppm nitrie at .5ppm and ammonia a killer 4ppm.....added to many fish in a short time
Thank you for the video! I learned a lot. If my calculations are correct, I’m in good shape. My aquarium has been steady at around .25 ppm Ammonia with temp averaging at 75 F and pH at 7.5. I think it came out to .004
Thanks for watching!
What if ph is lower temperature is 79. And still getting 1ppm
Can anyone tell me where the nh3 calculator is that is mentioned in the video????
Thank you so much for this video and the calculator. First time I was hearing this!
Any ammonia is bad, ammonia or ammonium.. Stronger bio filtration is key
Where is the link that was mentioned in the video about the how to figure the math?
This video was a god send
Thank you!
He didn't say but I assume if you see 1ppm ammonia you should quickly do a 50% to 90% water change and add Stability or Safe Start. Is that right?
kevinrspBelieves that can certainly help.
Another great video! Thank you
Please do a video how to fix micro bubbles in marine tank
Is this for saltwater tanks, or freshwater? I have a Freshwater tank with 1 large regular goldfish that is either suffering ammonia poisoning or pH poisoning. API test solutions, Ammonia looks to be 0.00ppm but the pH is 8.8. Using well water and the pH of that is 7.4
Thanks
Freshwater!
Wow!!! Where you learn this!?!?!?
In my Aquaculture and Fish Health Masters Program. :-)
@@PrimeTimeAquatics great job!
Wow. This is great information. I really love your channel. I always love your videos, so informative.
Thank you for being here!
Mines measuring 4ppm.....API master kit tester.....using ammo lock right now every 2 days and using sea chem stabilizer every day. Did a few water changes And ammonia staying strong at 4ppm......tank isn't cycled properly. Though I gave it enough time read my tests wrong through it cycled but it didn't. Corydoras sent doing well
Try Fritz Turbo Start. The ammo lock will just prolong the issue.
I do water change and toss alot of bacteria into my tank
Sooooo.....does he mean that if the PH is low, and ammonia is .25 it's ok? Been trying to get my ammonia 0 for 5 months, just won't cycle, and PH is very low. Been using Prime everyday for 5 months with stability, and can't get it to 0. And PH won't rise either, tap water is a good PH, but then lowers in the tank WHY???
It's certainly not as bad as if it were high. I would stop using the prime and stability if there are no fish. If there are fish adding Fritzyme 7 should get the ammonia down.
I hope someone sees this who can help... I have a 20G, 7 platy, 2 mystery snails, 3 ghost shrimp. Cycled for about 3-5 days (I know not long enough 😓), everything was okay but I have an ammonia spike. At first I was reading at 8.0+. I used fritz complete and got it down to 4.0 with a 80% water change. My water has ammonia but it reads at 0.25.. I don’t want to overdose my tank so I stopped putting treatment in but idk I’m lost...
Fritzyme Turbo Start should do the trick!
How do I test for salinity? It seems to be part of the parameters for the calculator. I know that even though my tank is freshwater, it can still have salinity at low levels. My API test kit keeps showing 0.25ppm for ammonia with 0ppm nitrites AND 40-60PPM of nitrates.
Good question - unless one is adding salt to an aquarium most freshwater systems are around 1% NaCl
Ok mine have 40 gallon tank. 8.0 ppm ammonia, pH 7.0, 0 ppm nirate, 0 ppmm nirite. Have used ammonia lock. I haven't fed them for almost 2 week trying get ammonia lower. Have done 4-5 50% water change ( water tested tap water and agitated in buckets tested for correct before adding). Now water is foggy. Added quick start, stress coat, when do water change. Ammonia lock every 2 days. Now I'm just lost.
Try Fritz Turbo Start. It's live nitrifying bacteria that will help jump start your cycle.
I know this is an older video but the link to the explanation and chart doesn't work, And the calculator is for reef tanks. Would I just put 0 for salinity? I have no way of measuring it. (and don't see the point in a freshwater tank)If anyone has links to more info on this please post it. And I will keep looking myself. I have been changing shrimp tank and fish tank water almost daily for ammonia of 0.25 to 0.5. But they all look ok.
Salinity for freshwater is about 0.9%
Explanation and chart link is broken.
Thanks so much. I am stressing because my tap water comes out with a 1ppm reading but I'm going to use the info you just shared to look into what is the UIA.
Awesome!
The chart you referred to to calculate the ammonia requires a 'salinity' value. What can I assume my salinity would be in a fresh water tank or is there a way to measure that ?
My ammonia levels according to API kit is .5 and no matter what I do I cannot get that value now. I have done as many as 4 ,60% water changes in successive days and the value never changes. I only have 5 fish in the tank ( a glow , 2 gouramis , and 2 plecos).
Also is there a hand held chart available that I can get that will make those calculations of ammonia using ph and temps ?
I don't think the salinity matters as much with freshwater setups. It's usually around 0.9% or so in freshwater.
Was this a test ??
Why do your fishies ,have no air....??
I turn off the air when I shooting videos to cut down on the noise.
My tank is cloudy after 3 days, we did add two fish, a betta and Cory cat. .stupid move. I know. The substrate is from another tank... it is a 3.5g, Topfin tank with filter supplied. The substrate was washed well. The tank is at about 80°. The test is reading... high Alkaline and high water hardness, we did Tetra° Water care Kit complete... and it is still reading High on those two scales. Question is, yes I know should have waited to add fish. Stupid me.. but should I just start over again and rewash the substrate..Taking out the fish ? Add cooler water because the water temperature was too high?..or take the fish out and cycle tank as is?
If you have a cycled tank they can go back in to I would put them there. I wouldn't wash anything out - if there are no fish in the tank go ahead and let it cycle on its own. With no living things letting the ammonia spike is fine. Hope this helps.
Quick question. I have a 10 gallon new tank set up for 4 days with 4 small tetra. I am using a cap full of beneficial bacteria to start. My question is, should I keep the 3 small potted, live and untied plants in their small pot left unpacked in order to keep whatever beneficial bacteria from the past tank. Do you think that the small pots have enough bacteria to help keep ammonia down?? Just a quick thought.
It certainly can't hurt. I would through them in.
Ive been opening my bags to acclimate my fish . So should I not open the bag when acclamating my fish ? And for how long should I let the bag sit closed . I use a digital thermometer to measure tank water and water inside bag
I usually float them for about 20 minutes with the bag closed.
Yup... knew about this new in the hobby, it’s amazing how many people don’t know about this
considering the good brands tell u about this in the manual im really suprised how many ppl use the tests and dont know about it.
@@dhoogduin It's the outstanding explanation of the calculation that brings it home. Would have been good for him to have wrote those previous manuals for all of us stupid people huh?
I don’t quite understand. For guppies the ph should be about 7.6, and the temperature should be 72 to 84! They need what is apparently meaning there is more ammonia? I have 0.25 ammonia according to my test, I have not added the guppies yet. Would that be dangerous? I have not planned on adding them until it is 0.
I would try to wait until it is zero.
My ammonia is 2 ppm tank is 76 degrees ph is 6.6 I’m using prime and have several ammonia removing filter media in one of 2 filters the tanks uncycled .. am I getting into dangerous territory?
Definitely. Adding live nitrifying bacteria would help - Fritz Turbo Start!
Dang I guess it explains why my fish survive
I've never had this really explained to me in detail, just bits and pieces like if your ph is lower than 7.0, ammonia is in its less toxic form. Never have I seen a tool to actually calculate UIA, so thank you very much for providing that. I can see why companies might want to make test kits to calculate total amounts, as this would be very difficult for new or inexperienced fishkeepers to understand. I love that there is so much science to go along with fishkeeping, but it does take a LOT of time, research, and trial and error to begin to understand how your aquarium functions. I feel like every time I stumble upon one of your videos a new door opens up and I love that feeling of discovering something new about my aquarium! You are very articulate and being able to explain complicated topics in a straightforward way is truly a wonderful skill!
Thank you Victoria! Appreciate you watching. I love the science behind fish-keeping as well!
My ph is 7.4ppm , amonia 1ppm nitrate and nitrite both read 0ppm but the fish seem to be fine , does that mean I don't have enough beneficial bacteria or my tank haven't fully cycled?
That is most likely the case.
This is such important and helpful information! Thank you so much for putting this in such a well explained format.
Thanks Heidi! Appreciate you watching!
i had an aquarium without filter/co2/fertilizer/heater and no water changes for a year now. all fish, shrimp and snails are thriving..
It can certainly be done! Our planted 50 gallon low boy is very close to the same situation.
The attached chart to calculate the un-ionized ammonia only allows calculation for a pH reading of 7.0 or higher. How do you calculate for a lower pH??
I know at a certain point as the pH drops UIA is almost a non-factor.
0.0312 toxic to my betta? I have been waiting now for 8 weeks for my tank to cycle..
I think your betta will be ok.
You have explained everything so well and so clearly! Thank you very much! I'm really pleased I found your channel! I'm new to fish keeping and only have a basic tank at the moment, one little bristle nose pleco and some blue jelly shrimp. I didn't have a test kit which I know is bad, so thought I'd better learn a bit more about which one to buy. I have been really confused by all the sales and waffle on the internet. Everything makes sense now! Thank you.
Glad it helped - good luck!
Where can I find this equation?
Tanks ph is 7.5-8, temp is 79 F. Ammonia says it’s 3.0 ppm. What can I do ????
Check out our how to lower ammonia video. Lots of water changes, reduce feeding and add some Fritz Turbo Start should help!
I’ve been using my test kit, and nothing shows up for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, or pH. WTH
If the tank is really new that usually happens. Within a week or so in a tank with fish ammonia will start showing. If there are no fish and just plants you may not see ammonia or nitrite and about a month or so later you will see nitrate (possibly).
I've had a fish room for near a decade and I still dont own any test kits at all lol actually i think i have an ammonia test from at least 10 years ago somewhere but i dont think I've ever used it. In my eyes (which I use no chemicals at all) the answer regardless of the issue is always a water change or changes fish behaving differently (rare) means water change, I dont like chasing some ideal numbers all the time just chase fish health and happiness!
First time I've ever tested my tanks and honestly, it's stressful and confusing for me. The fishless cycle is annoying too.
Why is there nothing listed for pH under 7? My pH is 6.6 and temp is 78 and 1ppm ammonia
The pH kits can only go as low as the reagents in the kit will allow.