::shakes head:: I'm getting frustrated now.. and no, I'm not sitting up waiting for the easter bunny with a pellet gun...
I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my tanks ammonia..
25 gallon tank.
more light than a stadium (130 watt (65 10k/65 actinic03) PC
pH: 7.8 - 8.0
temp: 79
ammonia: approx .80-1.0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm (was around .25 earlier but due to water changes down to 0)
nitrate: 0ppm
sg: 1.0225-1.023
I've been chasing this 1.0 ammonia reading all day. It's not going up or down either. I test the water, I get a 1.0-ish reading... change the water, I get a 1.0-ish reading...(I'm using the AP Ammonia test, the "crap shoot the color and make your best guess" one with the 8 drops of bottle a and 8 drops of B) In the past 16 hours I have done 6 water changes... is this par for the course or am I doing something drastically wrong?
My skimmer was skimming junk like crazy earlier, and has finally slowed down a bit and I've taken all the rock to give it the "fine tooth comb" scrub over getting all dead sponges, and other misc. dead things off. I had so much life on this stuff yesterday when I got it, now it looks like picked over roadkill. Only positive of the whole situation is that I found and executed a pair of 2" & 3" mantis shrimp.
Only "major" source of bio-load that I've found other than the countless stars and barnacles is a tennis-ball sized clam of some form or another... (still trying to get a half decent pic... )
I'm at a loss... suggestions are of course, always welcomed.
Thanks and happy easter!
I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my tanks ammonia..
25 gallon tank.
more light than a stadium (130 watt (65 10k/65 actinic03) PC
pH: 7.8 - 8.0
temp: 79
ammonia: approx .80-1.0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm (was around .25 earlier but due to water changes down to 0)
nitrate: 0ppm
sg: 1.0225-1.023
I've been chasing this 1.0 ammonia reading all day. It's not going up or down either. I test the water, I get a 1.0-ish reading... change the water, I get a 1.0-ish reading...(I'm using the AP Ammonia test, the "crap shoot the color and make your best guess" one with the 8 drops of bottle a and 8 drops of B) In the past 16 hours I have done 6 water changes... is this par for the course or am I doing something drastically wrong?
My skimmer was skimming junk like crazy earlier, and has finally slowed down a bit and I've taken all the rock to give it the "fine tooth comb" scrub over getting all dead sponges, and other misc. dead things off. I had so much life on this stuff yesterday when I got it, now it looks like picked over roadkill. Only positive of the whole situation is that I found and executed a pair of 2" & 3" mantis shrimp.
Only "major" source of bio-load that I've found other than the countless stars and barnacles is a tennis-ball sized clam of some form or another... (still trying to get a half decent pic... )
I'm at a loss... suggestions are of course, always welcomed.
Thanks and happy easter!
