Low Ammonia reading advice please.

[ETNiESdublin]

Forgive the thread hijack but didnt wanna start a new thread just for this, my ammonia level according to my liquid test kit is at <0.05 I presume this is acceptable? everything ive read has said it should be 0 though

 

[Bellabelloo]

I moved this into it's own post

 

[layna]

Hey,
If you have an ammonia reading then this usually means your tank isnt cycled but if you have already cycled it and just done a water change before you tested, you may have ammonia in your tap water, have you tested your tap water?

You need to keep ammonia below 0.5 ideally so id carry out 20% daily water changes until it drops
Then when you have;
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - <40
then you should switch back to weekly 20-30% water changes

 

[ETNiESdublin]

Thanks for the reply, yeah I read that too, but I thought because it was so low <0.05 that it would be ok. never thought of checking my tap water will check that this evening Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ETNiESdublin]

Ok just checked and there is ammonia in my tap water so that explains it

 

[layna]

If you have a cycled tank, once youve added the dechlorinated fresh water to your tank, your BB will sort out the ammonia problem