ammonia spike ?

[tara]

We have a small tank that has been cycled for 10 months, we had 2 baby axies in there, but removed them 5 weeks ago, the tank only has sand in there for the past 5 weeks .I have been doing small water changes every 2 days, but still the ammonia level does not change, it's 0.25. My question is why does the ammonia remain, when the tank has been cycled for so long and there is nothing in there ? How can i get rid of it :? Thankyou.

 

[Jennewt]

I can think of several reasons this could be happening.

Do you have chlorine or chloramine in your tap water? If it's chloramine, then you are adding a bit of ammonia every time you do a partial water change.

What kind of test kit are you using? And how old is it? Do you have another aquarium that tests zero with the same kit? In other words, how sure are we that the test is accurate?

How thick is the layer of sand? If it's thick, there could be some crud down under it that is generating ammonia.

 

[tara]

same test kit

i use the same test kit on our other tanks, they read 0. The sand would be 1/4 inch thick, i run my hands through it every other day, no waste comes up. The test kits are 2 months old. Thank you

 

[newtsrfun]

have you vacccumed the sand at all? my guess is that you are stirring up organics that are in the sand bed and causes them to reach the oxygen rich water, decaying and producing a spike in ammonia.

I would leave it alone for a few days and then test it.