An ammonia question

[pugle1]

I'm using a liquid water testing kit, but the ammonia test is a combined one. It shows total ammonia. I test weekly, and always had a zero or near zero reading for the combined ammonia test, but when I tested today, the result I got was 1 ppm total ammonia. Attached is a pic of my test results ( red squares are the readings I got). I'm assuming and hoping my bacteria count is good as I have lots of media for them to grow on. Can anyone give me suggestions as to what I need to do to reduce the ammonia count? The pH always reads a little high ... 8.0 to 8.2

 

[addy1]

http://users.vcnet.com/rrenshaw/H2Oquality.html#ammon

This might help you

 

[pugle1]

Thanks addy1 I'll take a look.

 

[addy1]

Your welcome

 

[pugle1]

addy1, that was helpful. Thanks. It seems I may have difficulty keeping my pond balanced. My pond is fairly small (500 to 600 gallons) and is partially shaded through the day, but gets almost full sun in the afternoon. My temperatures swing between 75*F and 85*F daily. I just don't understand why I've had a zero ammonia reading all this season, and suddenly I have a 1ppm reading this week. I'm going to reduce feeding for a few days and see what happens. I only feed them (goldfish and minnows) once a day, but they get lots of bugs on the surface, so I'm going to try once every 3 days or so. The fish seem fine though as they're very active. No signs of "gulping" for air or anything. Nice bright colours and no signs of of the gill coverings curling.... I guess I just have to wait and see. I may try adding a little salt and see what that does as well.

Think I'll add a trickle system as well as I need to top up the pond every few days for evaporation. The constant change of water may help too.

 

[crsublette]

I would not put it beyond the test kit becoming inaccurate. All test strip kits have expirations, and from what I have read, the expiration date is not always set in stone even though just one date is printed on the bottle. Same goes for liquid regeants and electronic meter electrodes. I am guessing a quick easy way to verify your test kit is by using another multiple kits from different manufacturers or by taking a water sample to a pet store, like PetsMart, that does water testing.

Do ya have a health presence of algae or did ya have a bunch that died ?? I know algae is one of the reasons why good bio-filters work so well. Algae consumes the nutrient spikes very quick.

If you use Zeolite and do not properly recharge the Zeolite nor refresh it with some new Zeolite, then I am told that old Zeolite can cause Ammonia spikes.

 

[pugle1]

Hi crsublette. I'm not even sure what zeolite is. I do have a healthy amount of algae though as a thin coating on the stones, plus some minor string algae on the water fall. The test kit I have is fairly new (liquid / colour charts, not strips), and I can't see the reagents going wonky in one week. I've consistently had 0 ammonia or at least as near to 0 as the test will show, and that's testing weekly. Then yesterday I got a 1 ppm reading. I know bacteria land in the pond naturally, but I added some yesterday, and added some sea salt to the water as a precaution. On a retest today, I had a reading of 0.5 ppm. I don't know if the extra bacteria had something to do with it or not. (seems a bit fast to me to be the cause of such a drop). Too, I have lots of oxygenating plants, and the fish are not showing any signs of stress at all as there activity is normal (no gulping for air... no signs of stress to the gills etc)

Part of the problem I think is that the pond is fairly shallow, and I do get a 5*F to 10*F water temperature fluctuation between night time and full sun at about 2 in the afternoon depending on how hot the day is and lately that's been mid 80's to low 90's. The thermometer pretty much stays in the green range through these fluctuations, but I understand that higher temps can also cause a higher ammonia reading. Is this correct? As for feeding, I only feed them once a day.as they get plenty of natural food, but for the next while, I'm going to try cutting that back to once every two days to see what happens. I was also considering putting my aquarium pump out for some diffuser stones but I don't know if that's necessary yet or not.

 

[crsublette]

Temperature doesn't add ammonia; it just one variable that determines the ammonia's toxicity to fish.

 

[pugle1]

That's what I gathered based on the info from the web page addy1 sent me to. My water temps range between 75*F and 85*F daily, so I'm assuming the ammonia effect on the fish will be amplified. Thanks again everyone. The info was most helpful.

 

[addy1]

Hang onto that web site, it is a nice read on what to the tests mean and how to fix the issue. I refer to it off and on when people asks questions about their ponds. My brain is not a steel trap for data lol. And I don't seem to have problems with my pond, that keep the need for that info

 

[pugle1]

addy1,

Steel trap for data.... Hmmm, mine neither...lol.I have that page bookmarked.

Tested the water again today, and I guess the added bacterium helped. I also got some biomedia from my neighbor. This was from his aquarium which has been well balanced for many years. He tests weekly as well, and all he does to his tank is a 10% to 15% water change monthly as well as filter changes. SO the added bacterium have been in for 3 days now, and on my retest today, the ammonia was back down to 0 ppm, nitrites were 0 ppm and nitrates were at 5 ppm. I also changed out my filter media several days ago. My algae levels are pretty good too with a nice thin coating on the stone and a little long algae on the waterfall.

I think I'm going to keep the feeding to once every two days (about a tblspn for 20 goldfish and minnows average size 3.5 inches). That's all they were getting before, except it was daily. They've got to be getting lots of natural goodies as they're huge now compaired to when I put them in. I still need to build a skippy as that "temporary" filter I made is just not adequate. It clogs within a week and the filter material needs to be rinsed out. It's too small for the bacteria to really have an effect I think.

Thanks for the help.

 

[sissy]

To refresh zeolite all you have to do ti refresh it is clean it well and I soak it in the solar salt .But using oyster shells has really helped balance my pond .Right now with the hot weather and no rain I have cut back to feeding them once a week

 

[pugle1]

Thanks sissy, I've gone to once every 2 days for feeding as they only get a small amount, but since that ammonia spike, I'm still going to test for that daily instead of once per week like I was doing before. Yesterday it was back down to somewhere between 0 and 0.25 ppm ... so it's heading the right way at least. I'll jut need to keep monitoring for the next while. If over the next week or so I start to see it increasing again, I'll reduce feeding further.