Different ammonia readings on similar tanks

[carolyn]

I have 2 2.5 gallons tanks. Each tank has A betta, java moss, shelter, substrate and river stone, plastic plants and a shelter. And each has a hydor mini heater. With all this stuff in it, each tank really only holds about 1.5 gallons. They have been running for about a week. I'm not trying to cycling them. I understand they are too small to be effectively cycled.

Here is the main difference: One has a Tom mini internal filter; the other is not filtered. Mostly because I could only find 1 mini filter so far.

I treat and change the water on the two tanks the same way. Why is the ammonia reading in the filtered tank consistenly higher than the unfiltered tank?

[Oldfishlady]

How much and how often are the water changes and have you checked your source water for ammonia?

[carolyn]

I have been doing 75% water changes every 2-3 days on each tank. Last night I didn't change either one. The ammonia reading on the filtered tank was 0.50 ppm and 0 ppm on the unfiltered. I am using the API test kit with 2 liquid reagents.

Today I did a 100% water change on the filtered tank. I rinsed everything and took out some of the gravel. It was about 1" deep or more in some places.

The source water is testing at 1.0 ppm.

I treat the water with Prime and let it sit for a day and then Stress Coat when I fill the tank.

[Oldfishlady]

Some of the ammonia locking product can still test positive for ammonium that had been made safe for the fish.

How are the fish acting/looking
What is the pH

Ammonia in the source water- good that you are using Prime
And good move on decreasing the substrate level

[carolyn]

The fish are great, eating and swimming as normal. Jack was getting annoyed with the filter. I put a plant in front of the intake and it slowed it down enough to keep the java moss from swirling around. Flame doesn't have a filter and he has been busy with bubble nests.

The pH is steady around 7.0. The temperature in each tank is about 78.