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Confused, ammonia spike!?

Joined
2 Aug 2015
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83
I'm a bit confused with an ammonia spike. The tank is cycling, and it is day 18 today. The ammonia spiked up to about 0.4, which I expected with the Fluval statrum substrate. On day 15 the levels where a trace to 0.1. Today I did a 50% water change and thought I would check, expecting it to be 0 to maybe a trace, and it is 0.6. I plan to do another water change again tomorrow, but I can't understand why it's gone up so far? Would appreciate any help with the reason why.
 
A little, I put a couple of plants back in, and a gentle swirl with the siphon tube just over the top. I didn't do any thing that I would have distributed it that much, unless ther was a bit of a build up in the substrate. How long does it for the ammonia in the substrate to go?
 
Not familiar with that substrate so no idea. My big tank took a lot longer than 18 days to cycle. Nearer 5 weeks but I was adding ammonia each day. Even when I've managed to do something silly and cause a mini cycle it has taken 2-3 weeks to settle down again
 
I thought I would check the level before I did the water change, and it is 0. So I check the nitrite level and I have a little spike there. I'm going to leave it another 24 hours to see what happens. I must have disturbed some ammonia in the substrate.
 
Just in case anyone is interested, I tested the nitrite level 24 hrs later, and it had returned to 0.
Happy days!
 
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