Persistent ammonia problem

one of our customers just had a problem like this last week. I had her bring in a sample of the water she was using and the pH read 8.8 and ammonia was 1.0. After she switched water sources she no longer has any problems w/ pH and ammonia. I would test the water she is using and see if that is the problem.

Change the media once a month on canisters, every 2-3 weeks on power filters.

 

Thanks for all the help you guys! My mom is totally upset over it, it's like all she talks about to me at the moment. Lol

Thanks. I will ask her to let the media sit a bit longer and see what happens.

I don't think it's the water, since she has another tank (6 gallons) that has 0 ammonia, and she using the same water. But I I will have her test her water source just to make sure.

She is using a water conditioner....I'm not sure what brand. I'll ask her about it.

I'll tell her to pick up this conditioner. Thanks.

Her filter has two parts, a spinning wheel, that is never changed, and a carbon pad. She changes the pad every 2-4 weeks (but I'll ask her to stretch it out a bit and see what happens). Every couple of months she cleans the intake tube and all the stuff, but that's it.

Thanks. Like I said above, I don't think it's the water. But who knows! I will have her check.



Thanks for all the help!!

 

I use RO on my FW tank

 

Ok cool! Thanks! I'll have her get some water from me. She needs barely any for her water changes.

 

Bio wheels do not produce very good bacterial colonies. I would suggest replacing the filter with a conventional HOB like Aqua Clear.

 

Hi KC. I was thinking about this. You said

When she was doing all the water changes to get the ammonia back to 0, she cleaned the gravel really well. That's why she was so irritated, because there was no crap (actual crap, food, etc.) being sucked up out of the gravel as an obvious ammonia source

So did she not get ammonia readings until *after* she cleaned the rock? Or after she had cleaned some other things? I'm wondering if she accidentally cleaned the bacteria out?

I never clean my gravel - sometimes I'll vacuum it, but I never actually take it out and clean it in my FW.

Any update anyway? Hope it's going fine now.