Ammonia in established tank..What did I do?

[jmf]

Hi

Sorry for starting I new thread but I thought I should test my water after I did a 50% wc and canister filter clean.

So my nitrates are down, good means I need to change more water. Unfortantalty, I'm getting between 0.5-1ppm ammonia. I had my canister filter not running for around 30mins, whilst I was washing and cutting up some extra filter pads for the canister. I used some type of filter sponge that decreases nitrates.

I cleaned all media in old tank water and washed out the actual canister with tap water. Then I put the canister back together and used fresh water (of course, treated with prime before hand). I had to use the bucket method and boiling water due to it being winter in Australia. I treated the entire tank with prime before adding any water, then didn't use prime in the buckets.

The tank has been running for 6+ months without any ammonia readings. Did I somehow manage to kill the bb? If so, what is the best way going forward (I don't have any spare seeded media, as this tank is the one that normally holds spare filters etc)

 

[jmf]

Could it be the API test kit giving a false positive because of prime?

 

[deeda]

Does your tap water have results for ammonia using the test kit?

 

[Arkeon]

I have heard that testing water right after you use prime will give false reading. If you want to know your real readings test right before doing the water change.

 

[kno4te]

Seachem Prime can do this and can last up to 48hrs after treating if checked again.

 

[duanes]

Using boiling tap water to clean your canister (and do you mean the media too) may have killed off a large part of your beneficial colony,
The best way to clean media, and the vessel they are held in, is just to swish around the media in old tank water, and rinse the filter housing, and not to use hot water on the inside filter casing.
The casing itself has large quantities of bio-film that you want to retain.
Beneficials do not react well to extreme temp changes, and immediately start to succumb if left dry.
While doing maintenance on media, I would fill the can with old tank water, until ready to put back in service, not let it sit dry.

 

[RD.]

Sounds like a false positive reading due to Prime, quite common when using general test kits such as API.

 

[Dixon81]

I would like to hear more info on the bucket and boiling water method. If boiling water was used to clean the media i would say you killed off all your BB.

 

[RD.]

I cleaned all media in old tank water and washed out the actual canister with tap water.

 

[jmf]

Sorry for the late reply. I didn't wash the equipment in boiling water lol. I mixed hot water in with new water going into the tank. I retested the water, and everything is ok