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Question re plants and cleaning gravel

1K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  Geomancer 
#1 ·
Question- I've had low level ammonia problems (6.4) in my tank for months now, and I'm thinking it may be due to the plant detrius in my gravel. Today I removed about 3/4 of the gravel and washed it out thoroughly, but I left the gravel my java ferns have rooted in- and still, ammonia of 6.4. (I also did a 50%- 75% water change.)

Should I gently remove the java ferns from the gravel and rinse out the rest of it too, or will this hurt them? Do they need some kind of stuff in the gravel?

TIA!
 
#2 ·
6.4 Ammonia is very high. I would do a gravel washing but it depends on how much there is to clean. Remeber no soap. The Java Fern will be Okay. As long as the Rhizomes not buried.
 
#10 ·
In a tank of that size, ammonia can build up very quickly. It wouldn't take a decaying plant or much fish waste to cause it. I don't know if you could even maintain a cycle on it.

What's your WC schedule? You have do to 100% changes fairly frequently to keep the ammonia down. Others will chime in on this, I'm a big tank girl.

Actually, a .25 ammonia reading isn't bad, but it shouldn't get above that or you risk hurting your fish. You have to do WCs and gravel vacs as needed to keep that number at or below your current reading. Fortunately on such a small tank it's not such a big deal to change water.
 
#11 ·
In a tank of that size, ammonia can build up very quickly. It wouldn't take a decaying plant or much fish waste to cause it. I don't know if you could even maintain a cycle on it.

What's your WC schedule? You have do to 100% changes fairly frequently to keep the ammonia down. Others will chime in on this, I'm a big tank girl.

Actually, a .25 ammonia reading isn't bad, but it shouldn't get above that or you risk hurting your fish. You have to do WCs and gravel vacs as needed to keep that number at or below your current reading. Fortunately on such a small tank it's not such a big deal to change water.
My schedule *had* been 50% once or twice a month, but no more! I hear twice a week is the way to go, I think I'm going to wash the gravel thoroughly and then go to that schedule.
 
#15 ·
Without a cycle it will never be zero as fish always produce waste, and it doesn't take much of anything in that volume to get a reading.

Fast growing stem plants can really help, and even more so floating plants. The Java Fern is nice and you should keep it, but they are a very slow grower so their effect on water quality is correspondingly low.
 
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