Please help with ammonia levels....

[Googlybubble]

My tank has been set up for about 2.5 months.

Alright, so about a week and a half ago, I moved my tank from the basement to my room.... Here is what I did.

I got a gravel vac before hand and vacuumed the gravel which got out the majority of the water. Then, I unplugged a bunch of things and moved the tank and plugged everything back in.

A few days later I got my test kit.

Everything reads fine but ammonia has been going between 2 and 4 ppm... and I just can't get it down. I do water changes every other day.... I use Amquel*, which is supposed to reduce ammonia....

The fish really do seem fine and I want to tell myself that my test solutions are just wrong but I know the probability of that is like 1%.

There are brown specs forming all over my aquarium plants (fake) and one rock, that I can see. The other rock is a brownish red so I can't see anything due to it's color.

I don't know if this is brown algae or what. It's not stringy at all, but I've noticed it has popped up in my aquarium in the past week. I think this is due to the fact that my tank is near a window and I'm sure sunlight reflects off the snow and comes into the window. I try to keep my window closed for the majority of the day, though, and it's definitely not DIRECT sun light.

So... Help please?

Does ammo-lock work? I just really don't know what to do. I've been changing the water every other day since I got my test kit, which was maybe a week ago.

I have a wisper 10i filter... I have a water heater.. Temp is around 76-78. My tank currently has 3 cories in it.. I have held off on getting anything until my water is stable. I have an air pump... And my tank is a 10g. No real plants, all are fake. I have two rocks that are pourous (sp?). One is red and the other is white. I have gravel.... My lights are on maybe 10-12 hours/day.... The fish are fed normal amounts and the gravel has been vacuumed so it's definitely not buildup of old food.

Um.. I hope I gave all the information you guys need. Ask if you need more.

Tonight I will pop in a tank-buddies algae clear tablet.

Yeah, help please. =) Thanks.

[emc7]

Leave the algae, I know it is unsightly. but it is eating ammonia and if you kill it without removing it from the tank, it will turn back into ammonia. When you tank is completely cycled, it may go away on its own, and if it doesn't, you can treat it then.

[Ichthius]

Another thing to be wary of is quick cure alls for algae problems. They target general causes of algae and may not be what you need. I've personally had a fully stocked 10g die off because of products like Algae Destroyer a few years back.

I'm agreeing with emc here. Sounds like you need to finish cycling. It's not a good idea to treat with chemicals while your tank is cycling. Good luck

[emc7]

Aquamel

I'm not familiar with this one. Do you mean Amquel?

[Googlybubble]

Even after 10 weeks my tank is still cycling?

[Googlybubble]

Ha, yes.. I always say Aquamel for some reason.

Amquel is what it really is.

[Ichthius]

Had you checked your ammonia level recently before moving the tank? If there wasn't sufficient enough water in the substrate to keep it wet while moving, you could have killed off quite a bit of your bacteria. Or perhaps, if you hadn't been cleaning the substrate regularly, disturbing it like that caused a cycle. It's not unheard of.

[JustOneMore20]

Also, to go along with what has already been stated, if you left the filter off for awhile while moving that could have killed off alot of bacteria too. And since your tank is still pretty new, you probably didn't have a ton of bacteria in the first place.

Some products like Amquel can cause false readings on ammonia kits.

I suggest you stop using that and check the ammonia daily. If its above 1ppm, do a water change. I think the Amquel could be affecting your readings. Also, check for nitrItes because chances are if there is ammonia, there will be nitrItes.

[emc7]

Hopefully the Amquel is 'detoxifying' the ammonia, keeping it from hurting your fish but allowing the test kit to see it. But I would hope your tank would have cycled by now, and a cycled tank should quickly deal with ammonia from chloramine. High ammonia, even 'detoxified', will turn into high nitrite. So if your Amquel is the original, you might want to try amquel+ which also 'detoxifies' nitrite. Do test your nitrite and nitrate, it sounds like you might have a mini-cycle from the move.

[Googlybubble]

Ich - I didn't have a test kit before I moved the tank. I had sufficient water in the tank to keep the gravel covered. I probably had too much water left in the tank, actually. I hope that doesn't lead to leaks later on.

JOM - The filter was only off for probably 20 minutes max. Would that have killed it? The foamy part was still wet.

Hmm.. Perhaps amquel is screwing up my readings? Because for my nitrites tests I have gotten 0.

EMC - I do have amquel plus. =)

So, if my ammonia is okay (I will stop using amquel)... how do I go about getting rid of this brown algae?

[emc7]

more light - to get green algae instead or
less light - but that can be hard to do

[JustOneMore20]

20 minutes wouldn't have done much damage at all......I think the Amquel could have affected the results.

Your tank is still new (2.5 months setup) and diatom algae is common in new setups. Scrub what you can off the decor and eventually it will go away on its own.

How long do you leave the tank lights on in a day?

[Googlybubble]

My lights are on anywhere between 7-10 hours a day.

[GoodMike]

i would venture to say its amquel that is causing the issue. Even if you do have ammonia, it is binding it in a form that is more difficult for your bacteria to convert to nitrite, then nitrate... so stop using it, keep up with waterchanges, and dont use any algaecides of any kind. keep testing your water, feed less. as things settle down your algae (brown is probably diatoms) will calm down as well. dont stress