No Ammonia Spike Yet?

[seanadg]

Hi, I am new here so forgive any of my really basic questions. I have a 5 gallon Eclipse Hex with a bio-wheel filter and heater. It ran for a few days to stabilize before we put our new betta in on Sunday. I have been testing regularly, 2x a day, anticipating that ammonia spike and water changes. But so far, ammonia has been measuring 0, as tested in a tube with 2 liquid reagents. So it's been 3 days now. I was under the impression that the ammonia would quickly spike - was that wrong? What's the usual time frame? Just wondering what to expect.

I plan on doing a 25% water change and gravel vacuum on Sunday, one week after the fish was added, regardless of test results.

Thanks!

[accountingchick]

Are you also checking the ph, kh (Alkalinity) and gh (Hardness) levels? I know that when I first set up my tank, that I was having a problem with those levels being to high and not the ammonia or the nitrate levels.

[seanadg]

Hi, I've been checking the ph (see post High(er)/Rising Ph) but after the first day or so, stopped checking kh or gh. I didn't realize that would change much in the tank. I'll keep checking that. What did you do about your rising levels?

Based on suggestions in my ph post, I think I know why my ph levels rose - CO2 in the water. So at least that's explained.

Thanks!

[accountingchick]

seanadg said:

What did you do about your rising levels?

Well even though I have been raising bettas for a very long time, I am still somewhat new to filtered tanks (bought the tank in July) and am constantly learning new things about water chemistry from this website (thanks amanichen ). But anyway I will quit rambling on. I bought "PH Down" it is Aquarium pharmaceutical brand and I put that in the water and got it back to where it needed to be. This was before I put Little Charlie in the tank though, I had the tank setup for a little over a week before I put the little guy in to make sure that everything was okay and I check ammonia, nitrate, ph, kh, and gh levels once a week to make sure that everything is okay. However, if the Little guy looks like he is not feeling good then I will check the water again because 9 times out of 10 bad water quality is the cause of sick fish.