Ask An Expert
Ammonia in the Aquarium
5th September, 2009
Ammonia in the aquarium
Article written by Jennifer Hilker The Pet Company
You may have heard of new tank syndrome or overloading syndrome caused from putting too many fish in at one time, especially when you start up. You have to think of your aquarium a bit a septic system, pee and poo from the fish need to be broken down by a bacteria similar to the septic systems we use. It is not bad bacteria but good bacteria, we want you to look after this bacteria and make it grow. Your bacteria is going to help cycle your tank, your filter is going to help you clean your tank and it will also house some of your bacteria, but without bacteria your filter will not work alone to maintain your tank.
Now back to the pee and poo, when fish pee and poo and leave food uneaten it will breakdown and form Ammonia, this will trigger the first stage of the cycling process, a bacteria will develope to eat the ammonia (a bit like a tomato left in the fridge too long.) this is suppose to happen but the problem is it is toxic and it if there is too much ammonia in the tank things start to go wrong. You will notice the aquarium looks cloudy like someone poured a bit of milk into the tank, often fish will pant or gasp and some fish may start to die.
It simply means there is not enough good bacteria in your tank to convert the waste breaking down into nitrite nitrate. That is why we advise you to stock your tank slowly, if you have a couple of fish in a average size tank it will create a small amount of amonia and the fish will not even notice it is present, however if you have a large number of fish in the tank it will create alot of ammonia and the problems start before you have even had a chance to enjoy the hobby. unfortunately some shops fail to understand this or fail to tell the customer in the hope of more fish sales.
Well you have the problem what do we do?
Don't be intimidated by this cycle it happens in the aquarium whether you want it to or not, but it does help to have some understanding of what is going on. We want the cycle to happen and we want the bacteria to multiply, so we need to look after the good bacteria and help it to develeope. That is why we are told to use Chlorine Neutralizers and Water treatment it tap water, chlorine kills bacteria, our good bacteria. That is also why we are told not to strip out our fish tanks when we clean them as we strip out the bacteria then we put all the fish back in and there is no bacteria in the tank to control the ammonia and nitrite levels.
onia into Nitrite, this will start a few days after you add your fish. Ammonia & Nitrite are toxic to fish, so the more bacteria that is in the tank the quicker the Ammonia and Nitrite will convert through creating a safe enviroment for your aquatic inhabitants.
THIS SHEET WILL BE COMPLETED ON MONDAY THE 7TH SEP 09
Now back to the beginning for a moment, If you had a brand new tank or you are starting a tank that hasn't been used for a while and you add a lot of fish, in a few days time you will have a lot of ammonia because there is no bacteria to cycle it through it takes time to build up bacteria but ammonia will happen in hours. Ammonia is toxic so you will poison the fish, ammonia can take a white milky look in your aquarium and fish will gasp for air and slowly die the ammonia will take from 1 and 10 days to reach it's highest level and then fall to a low level as the bacteria starts to develope. So the idea is a small amount of fish will create a small amount of ammonia and a small amount of ammonia is not as toxic as a large amount of ammonia, so the fish will not feel the effects and on it goes.
The Bacteria will convert Ammonia to Nitrite this again is toxic and usually takes another 14-20 days to rise and fall, these two toxic cycles will hardly be noticed if you tred gentley and do not add all of your fish at one time. The ammonia and nitrite will soon cycle through and your fish will then be safe from toxins in the water. You then add a few more fish and the cycle will happen again GENTLY until your tank is fully stocked and your bacteria is fully established. Your system will then continue to cycle and the bacteria will convert all of your fish waste and rotten food to Nitrate which is removed from the tank when you do your monthly maintenance stage of your cycling , (see diagram). You can test daily for ammonia and nitrite if you would like to know where you tank is in the cycling period it helps to keep a diary.
Now let’s assume your Ammonia and Nitrate have both risen and dropped to a level of ‘0”. Congratulations, give yourself a pat on the back, you have successfully cycled your tank, wasn’t that difficult was it? You simply let your bacteria culture correctly and it is now safe to add more fish gradually. Everytime you add fish again the tank will go through another ammonia and nitrite cycle but everytime you do the bacteria will also build up until adventually you will have enough bacteria in your aquarium to continue the cycle of turning fish waste into a non toxic sludge that is removed by gravel cleaning. That is why it is very important never to strip clean your aquarium only ever change 1/4 to 1/2 of your water at a time and always use a gravel cleaner to remove the slude.
You have just matured you tank and now Nitrate is going to indicate how you tank is running for the rest of its duration. You have to maintain and look after your tank and your Nitrate test kit will help you to know when the tank is dirty and starting to get toxic. Nitrate is not as toxic as Nitrite and Ammonia as long as you keep up with regular water changes you will not have a problem with Nitrate.