FYI: On Ammonia and Cycling....Calm Yo-self

Seriously, we've all been there when we first got our animals. Freaking out because the ammonia is too high. The tank wouldnt cycle. It's ok.

ammonia is not toxic to the animals when youre tank is at the proper temperature.

keep below 72 degreees and you'll be fine, seriously.

the ammonia is actually ammonium until its too hot for the axies anyway.


So, do this.

I add at least 1 gallon of fresh spring water daily to my aquarium. I do use a small canister filter and I use the evaporation method to keep my water cool in the Texas heat.


Your tank will eventually cycle. It is not as urgent as you think it is. I've had my ammonia levels read like 8 and 10 when I was first starting. I freaked out, did 80% water changes to no avail. My guys didnt even blink. They were always fine. Why? Because the temperature was ok.

I'm not an expert, but I am speaking from experience.:happy:

Ammonia itself is a toxin. It does harm animals...all animals...even ammonia in urine when left to build up can damage a land animals lungs. It's a little less or more toxic at different temperatures.

What you were reading was probably ammoniaum levels in tap water. Ammonia and ammonium are two different things from what I read. Ammonium is not toxic but will show up on a test...ammonia is toxic and when left to build up without water changes will kill what you have living in it.

You're half right there.
Yes the majority of what our test kit reads is ammonium(99% in most cases). Ammonium is less toxic than ammonia, possibly nitrate, never gotten a clear answer on that.
However temp is not the deciding factor of the equilibrium between ammonia and ammonium. PH, and a number of other things influence this as well. From the reading I have done temperature actually plays a small role in the level of NH4 to NH3. As a practice a total ammonia reading of 8 and 10 is still pretty high on the ammonia(NH3) scale when you factor for ph and temperature.
You're also omitting the fact that when people say an ammonia reading of 2-3 is considered bad they are referring to the total ammonia reading. A NH3 reading of .05 is considered harmful, and a reading of .5 is considered fatal. This isn't to say that a reading below .05 will not create stress.
So yes I think that the dangers of ammonia are typically over exaggerated, but I also wouldn't make a practice of ignoring the ammonia readings, and allowing them to reach a high level. In your case your axolotls were probably not happy campers, and they survived because they were hardy. Many people are unaware of the cycling process until their fish/axolotls get sick from a high ammonia reading. I think this is because it is difficult for many people to actually tell what a stressed fish/axolotl looks like unless it is clearly in bad shape.
I think the message to take away from this is low levels of ammonia(.5) seem to cause stress in owners who are determined to provide perfect water quality for their axolotls. The good news is that yes, 99% of the .5ppm's your reading is actually ammonium, and therefore far less harmful than most people make it out to be. However, I don't think this is grounds to neglect waterchanges, and keep the total ammonia reading to a relatively low level(in my opinion shooting for .5 ppm's or less is a good goal to insure no harm is done)

edit: Lizzy beat me to a post, thought I'd clear up some confusion as best as a non-chemistry inclined person can
ammonia is a gas(I think? it's been awhile since I looked this up), but when present in water the ammonia grabs another hydrogen forming NH4(ammonium). The percentage of NH3 that converts to NH4 is dependent on ph, temp, and a number of other things. So while ammonia/ammonium are two different things, we are essentially referring to the sum of them both when we talk about an ammonia test reading, unless someone happens to have a test that only reads NH3.

Yeah my posts are usually to the point and short XD You can buy kits that test for ammonia and ammonium separately but your basic kit combines it all.

When I used to live in philadelphia, my tap water registered ammonia and i was like "well what the heck! why do water changes?!" but when i went online to look at what the water company did, they had it as ammonium...or the ammonium came off being combined with chloramine? Can't remember...something like that. So I kept track of what was normal for my tap and if it ever got higher in my tank, it was from the fish, food, etc, NOT the tap.

Anyway...now that i'm in gerogia, my tap water reads no ammonia. So if I read ammonia in my tank I know its ammonia and not ammonium.

Chloramines = Chlorine + ammonium

Kaysie said:

Chloramines = Chlorine + ammonium

Click to expand...

There ya go that's it
I always treated my water with things that got rid of choramines too and I never had any problems with my animals. I just always had ammonia readings which was from the ammonium but i kept track as mentioned above

Researching where your water comes from is a very good idea