Have you tested your tap water? Sometimes, it has ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates already in it.

I usually do between 25% and 50% water changes. Is there a reason you're doing such large ones?

 

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My water tests at .25 ppm ammonia. If you use a conditioner like Seachem Prime or Kordon's Amquel/NovAqua set they neutralize the ammonia. Also, with Prime apparently you get a false positive for ammonia if you test the water within a few hours after using the conditioner.

 

I do 75% water changes because i don't really pay attention to how much i take out xD also i do use seachem prime. I used the conditioner for new water maybe 3-4 hours before putting it in the tank. Is it because i take out so much water it raises the ammonia? And i didn't test my tap water.

 

First guess would be chloramines in the tap water triggering an ammonia reading. If so, Prime as mentioned already.

Second guess: When was the last time the gravel was siphoned? A lot of times, crap settles down into the gravel and starts to decay. When the gravel bed gets disturbed, it can release the ammonia up into the water. If that's the cause, best fix is get a gravel vac and deep clean 1/2 of the tank. Wait a week, and then gravel vac the other half. Then do maintenance cleanings on a regular schedule.

 

Every week on my water changes i stir up the sand that i use. Bigger grained sand. I stir it up and suck out everything that comes out. Also i have lots of diatoms in the tank which i clean out every week to. Every week i take out my fish clean off the plants, tank walls, decor, bubbler, sand and pretty much everything. I think it's because i'm taking too much out of the original water. I don't really know why the ammonia goes up to 0.25ppm every time i do a water change.

 

I do close to 100% water changes weekly in my 2.5 gallon. Its a bare bottom tank and I like that I can clean out the tank in under 10 minutes, including trimming up the plants, swishing the tank out, etc.

My betta is doing fine and the bacteria in the tank seem unaffected.

 

Seachem Prime will only bind ammonia for 24 to 48 hours.

 

If you have a filter in the tank, removing all the decor and scrubbing the tank is detrimental to the beneficial bacteria colonies you have. The water itself holds very little of the beneficial bacteria that converts the ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate, the surfaces of the tank is where the majority of them are located i.e. the tank walls, the filter media, the decor and substrate. So by removing everything weekly two things are happening: 1. whatever extra bacteria inside the tank are being killed off and 2. When you place everything back, there's no ammonia present anymore to sustain the bacterial colony that's still in the filter, which, if you've been doing this since set up may mean that there is very little, if any, bacteria in the filter itself.
Tanks with filters should be maintained on a permanent partial cleaning schedule, tanks without filters on the other hand require a cleaning of everything every once in a while.


Really, I thought it was that it continued to be in effect and bind newly produced ammonia for 24 hrs? Do you know how that works?

 

I only scrub everything because diatoms has gotten over everthing I just want to know why my ammonia goes up after a water change.

 

I've had diatoms for a week or so in my tank as well. They are harmless, and apparently will disappear after they stabilize.

New tanks with new glass appear to be particularly susceptible to this.

 

Check your tap water for ammonia if you haven't already, that's the most probable reason I too can think of.

Diatoms aren't inherently bad for your aquarium and their population stabilizes usually as the tank matures if you give it a chance to.

 

You'll frequently read ammonia after a water change because: Most municipal water suppliers add chloramine as an antiseptic/antibacterial. Chloramine is composed of chlorine and ammonia. Any dechlorinator turns the chlorine into harmless chloride, but leaves the ammonia. Prime then locks the ammonia in a harmless molecule -- but the API test still reads this ammonia.

This harmless molecule begins to decay almost at once, and it loses most of it's protection after a day or two, depending on the amount and type of organics it's locking.

Unless and until you know your tank is cycled (0.0ppm ammonia, 0.0ppm nitrite, nitrate increasing slowly over time), it's a good idea to add a few drops of Prime every day.

How much bacteria is in the filter, as opposed to in the substrate, walls, decor, plants, livestock is a topic for a good discussion -- but it's not as simple as counting. The filter bacteria is exposed to more ammonia, so it treats more water than does the substrate. In a mature, established tank, the bacteria grows and arranges itself throughout the system to oxidize exactly the amount of ammonia produced by the livestock. And it does this in the most efficient way possible.

 

Will adding 2-3 drops of prime directly into the tank with my fish still in it will he get harmed by the conditionor?

 

Nope. He will be fine.