Nitrate and ammonia spike.

[Thomasplatts1]

I am having an ammonia and nitrate spike in my tank how can I combat this .I dosed with prime today and plan to do a water change soon as my water is done being made .TDS is 2 in the water i am making .Iam doing a 20 percent water change .Any tips will help thanks .

 

[Flux Capacitor]

What test kits are you using? How old is the tank?

Also what are the numbers from the tests?

 

[Thomasplatts1]

What test kits are you using? How old is the tank?

Also what are the numbers from the tests?

API test kit Ammonia .25 to .50 and Nitrates 10ppm to 20ppm

 

[Thomasplatts1]

API test kit Ammonia .25 to .50 and Nitrates 10ppm to 20ppm

API test kit Ammonia .25 to .50 and Nitrates 10ppm to 20ppm

I have had the tank set up since black friday .

 

[Flux Capacitor]

API tests are notorious for being off on the ammonia tests, which usually always show .25ppm. The colors can be hard to judge also. With that said, I would treat it as a spike. The prime you used has already detoxified the ammonia and the nitrates, so just do what you planned with the water change.

Have you changed your feeding habits? Or has anything died in the tank?

 

[Thomasplatts1]

2 turbo snails died .I havent taken them out yet cant get to them with my net .The snails seem to fall over and hard at getting back up .

 

[Flux Capacitor]

That could be where your source of ammonia is coming from, which in return converted nitrates. Doing a water change will help bring them down, but I would get those snails out ASAP if they are dead.

 

[Thomasplatts1]

That could be where your source of ammonia is coming from, which in return converted nitrates. Doing a water change will help bring them down, but I would get those snails out ASAP if they are dead.

Just forced to get them out they are out but nothing is left in the shell it looks like .I left them in to long huh? .week maybe. Stupid mistake

 

[Flux Capacitor]

Nah not a stupid mistake, things happen. Something to learn from. I would keep an eye on the numbers after the water change. Remember doing a water change won’t lower the nitrates all the way back down, and the ATI probably won’t show a change at all until you get back down to 10ppm. That’s the down side to them is they only go in 10ppm steps. When it’s time to replace the test kit I would look into the Red Sea, or the up and coming Hanna tester for nitrates.