Question: .25 ammonia, no idea why

[Pebble6852]

Hello,
So for the past few days my ammonia rose up to around .25ppm and I’m not sure why. It seems to be staying there but I’m not sure why it’s not zero. Nitrites are zero as usual. He doesn’t seem sick, no curled gills and he always eats. I have a custom filter I made to allow for more room for bacteria growth that I’ll put a picture of. It has worked totally fine for the few months ive been using it. I thought maybe when I replaced the filter floss pads that I blocked too much flow so I removed some but it still is at .25. Anyone know what could be causing it?

 

[wolfen]

check your ph levels, low ph can slow down the ammonia breakdown.
what dechlorinator are you using? some dechlorinators lock free ammonia (NH3 toxic) into ammonium (NH4 non-toxic) which is hard for bacteria to break down but will still give a reading, if using dechlorinator that locks ammonia be careful not to overdose.
make sure your air-stone isn't blocked, the bacteria that consume/convert ammonia require oxygen.
looking at your bio-media the bottom media is quite clean, see whether you can get more flow around the bottom.
check use by date on ammonia test, tests can go off and can still be faulty even if in date.
I can't remember if you are using salt or not (whether as modified holtfreters or only salt) but salt will help protect against ammonia.
at ph 7.6 18°c TAN (NH3 + NH4) 0.25ppm the NH3 would be 0.0033ppm (below 0.025 considered safe)
ammonia (TAN) at 0.25ppm is still safe at up to ph 8.5 at 18°c, so provided your ph is lower than 8.5 there shouldn't be any problems, although ammonia is more toxic at higher temperatures it would have to be nearly 50°c by which point ammonia wouldn't be the problem.
also remember to clean filters after a couple of months, a restricted filter will have reduced efficiency, carbon replaced monthly, zeolite replaced monthly or recharged by soaking in salt water, sponges/floss rinsed/flushed/squeezed through with old tank water, bio-media rinsed through with old tank water.

 

[Pebble6852]

check your ph levels, low ph can slow down the ammonia breakdown.
what dechlorinator are you using? some dechlorinators lock free ammonia (NH3 toxic) into ammonium (NH4 non-toxic) which is hard for bacteria to break down but will still give a reading, if using dechlorinator that locks ammonia be careful not to overdose.
make sure your air-stone isn't blocked, the bacteria that consume/convert ammonia require oxygen.
looking at your bio-media the bottom media is quite clean, see whether you can get more flow around the bottom.
check use by date on ammonia test, tests can go off and can still be faulty even if in date.
I can't remember if you are using salt or not (whether as modified holtfreters or only salt) but salt will help protect against ammonia.
at ph 7.6 18°c TAN (NH3 + NH4) 0.25ppm the NH3 would be 0.0033ppm (below 0.025 considered safe)
ammonia (TAN) at 0.25ppm is still safe at up to ph 8.5 at 18°c, so provided your ph is lower than 8.5 there shouldn't be any problems, although ammonia is more toxic at higher temperatures it would have to be nearly 50°c by which point ammonia wouldn't be the problem.
also remember to clean filters after a couple of months, a restricted filter will have reduced efficiency, carbon replaced monthly, zeolite replaced monthly or recharged by soaking in salt water, sponges/floss rinsed/flushed/squeezed through with old tank water, bio-media rinsed through with old tank water.

I use prime. His last water change was 3 days ago on Saturday, and I had about 5 and a half gallon of water. I used around 18 drops bc I read to use 2 drops per gallon but I always worry about not adding enough so I add a few extra. Air stone is still producing lots of bubbles. In the filter, the top section of poly pad is actually wrapped around three bio rings I can remove that if those extra rings are unnecessary and it’s blocking flow. Or I can remove the bottom piece completely. The tests say they shouldn’t expire until at least 2025 I bought them just a few months ago when I got pebble. I am using api aquarium salt at around 1tsp / 3liters. I just tested and ammonia is at .25 still but I did notice that pH is higher than normal at around 8.1. Other than that everything seems normal. his water is at 66-67 degrees. I did clean his filter media about a couple weeks ago, where I rinsed all the sponge in old tank water and I replaced both of the filter floss pieces because the old ones were getting pretty dirty. The only thing I have not messed with is the bio rings because I was scared of killing the bacteria again

 

[wolfen]

your NH3 is 0.0112ppm which is still at safe levels.
the main draw back with hob filters is the lack of pressure filtration, external canaster and internal filters either push or pull the water through the filtration with pressure where as with hobs the filtration is done through water flow, this means that as soon as the filter media starts to collect muck the flow is reduced and the water goes around rather than through.
would it be possible to put a small piece of pipe on to the pumps water outlet so that rather than filling from the top it fills from the bottom, the aquaclear 70 is an example of a bottom filling hob for comparison.

 

[Pebble6852]

your NH3 is 0.0112ppm which is still at safe levels.
the main draw back with hob filters is the lack of pressure filtration, external canaster and internal filters either push or pull the water through the filtration with pressure where as with hobs the filtration is done through water flow, this means that as soon as the filter media starts to collect muck the flow is reduced and the water goes around rather than through.
would it be possible to put a small piece of pipe on to the pumps water outlet so that rather than filling from the top it fills from the bottom, the aquaclear 70 is an example of a bottom filling hob for comparison.

Hi sorry, I’ve been meaning to reply to this. Yeah I’m sure I could find a tube to attach if that would help. I never had this problem before though. I’ve been keeping an eye on it I rearranged his filter floss too and it’s still reading .25. I’m thinking maybe it’s my plants? Ever since you helped me cycle my tank with the 4ppm method last time you helped me the plants in his tank have been basically slowly rotting. They’ve been brown and especially lately lots of leaves have been falling off and stems have been dying. I’m not sure if the cycle killed them or if I’m not taking care of them properly I’ve never had aquatic plants. I have money wort which is dying the most but I looked it up before I bought them and it said they are good for axolotl tanks. Could the decaying plant matter be causing the .25 ammonia level? (I don’t add any plant food or anything so plant care advise would also be nice I love the way the money wort looks and I want to get new ones)

 

[wolfen]

decaying plants will produce ammonia.