Ammonia reduced from around 8ppm (maybe higher) to 2ppm with ONE water change?

[Atom75]

My tank is now almost cycled and i think it is progressing well, however due to massive die off from live rocks, the ammonia a few weeks ago was at 8ppm (maybe higher). After a single water change it had come down to 2ppm.

Sorry if this is a silly question from a newbie, however i thought this was a huge drop in ammonia from one water change, am i right or is this fairly normal??

 

[farfromsea]

Did you test it right before you did the water change? It will eventually come down naturally as the cycling process continues. But anyways, removing water from the system and replacing it with water that doesn't have ammonia in it is a good way to bring ammonia down too Fairly normal decrease IMO

 

[thegrun]

I suspect that the majority of the drop was via bacteria consuming the ammonia, not due to the water change. Normally the ammonia would only drop by the percentage of water you actually changed. If you had a large die off and an ammonia spike you are not close to the end of your cycle yet.

 

[ziggy2]

How do you know if you actually had a die off of your rock?

 

[Reeferfourlife]

How do you know if you actually had a die off of your rock?

When your ammonia spike is when you have die off if you didn't introduce ammonia into tank.

Op, just let the system take care of the ammonia naturally. It will drop to zero when your bateria consumes it and convert to nitrite.

 

[Atom75]

Thanks heaps for all of your answers, definitely helped calm my anxiety!

farfromsea no i had tested it a few days before the water change

To clarify the mentioned water change was last week and since then the ammonia has come down to (almost) 0, the nitrites are down to .25ppm (from 5ppm), and nitrates at 40ppm.

ziggy2 apart from test results i knew i had die off due to the absolutely terrible smell that came from the tank for a week

thegrun I do realise I'm not cycled yet but it does seem to be going along quite fast since the ammonia begun to drop (which took 5 weeks).

 

[Chibils]

If you tested a few days before the water change, the ammonia had probably dropped to 3 or 4 ppm already. This is the cycle at work. The good bacteria in the tank converted it to nitrite, and other types of bacteria converted the nitrite to nitrate.

This is a good sign that your cycle is almost done! If you think it's done and want to be sure, dose PURE HOUSEHOLD ammonia (no scents or other cleaners added) to the tank until your test says 2ppm. Wait 24 hours and test again and it should read 0. Your nitrates will be elevated (from the ammonia that was processed). Do a water change to get them below 10 and you are ready to add critters!

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Atom75]

I really would like to test if my tank is cycled but unfortunately its almost impossible to get pure/non cloudy ammonia in Australia