Tank prep- stuck with .25/.50 ammonia

[Gabbipace]

Hey all!
I’ve been prepping my tank for almost two months now and have been battling to get my ammonia to zero. I’ve introduced bacteria to the water, I do weekly (I’ve tried twice weekly) water changes and I’m using ammo-lock. I cannot get my ammonia to zero. I had hope because my nitrates and nitrites rose, but when that happened the ammonia did not go down. What am I doing wrong??

Parameters-
Ammonia- .25/50
Nitrates- 5.0
Nitrites- 0

 

[JM29]

Hi,
Your tank seems cycled but I understand ammonia is the issue, Ok. So 2 questions :

- Where does this ammonia come from ?
Animals already in the tank ?
Something organic decaying ?
Or Ammonia in the tap water in the form of chloramine ? Is this last case, Ammo-lock will perhaps neutralize ammonia for a while but it will not eliminate it. And each time you make a water change, you introduce ammonia again in your tank.

- Is this ammonia level dangerous ?
What are you actually measuring ? Total ammonia (NH4+ and NH3) ? Free ammonia (NH3 alone) ? The dominant, and less toxic, form is usually NH4+, with aminority of NH3.
Without knowing your pH and what you are measuring, I can't go further.

 

[Gabbipace]

Hi,
Your tank seems cycled but I understand ammonia is the issue, Ok. So 2 questions :

- Where does this ammonia come from ?
Animals already in the tank ?
Something organic decaying ?
Or Ammonia in the tap water in the form of chloramine ? Is this last case, Ammo-lock will perhaps neutralize ammonia for a while but it will not eliminate it. And each time you make a water change, you introduce ammonia again in your tank.

- Is this ammonia level dangerous ?
What are you actually measuring ? Total ammonia (NH4+ and NH3) ? Free ammonia (NH3 alone) ? The dominant, and less toxic, form is usually NH4+, with aminority of NH3.
Without knowing your pH and what you are measuring, I can't go further.

Hi there! There were no animals in the tank. I did have some floating plants in there that were looking a little puny so I took those out. I still have plants in there that look fine.
There is a bit of ammonia in our tap water- about 1.0 ppm. I use Prime water conditioner for every water change
The PH is lower than its ever been, which I was shocked by. It had been staying around 7.2 for so long I hadn’t checked recently- as of this morning it has plummeted to 6.0.
I am measuring total ammonia, using the API master test kit. Thank you for your help!!

 

[JM29]

With a pH of 7,2, free ammonia (NH3, toxic) is about 1/100th of total ammonia.
If your total ammonia is 0,5 ppm then free ammonia is 0,005 ppm : not dangerous.
Frequent water changes with a tap water of 1 ppm total ammonia could at least contribute to the ammonia you have in your tank.