# High Ammonia Levels With No Fish



## h2oIsaiah (Jun 10, 2011)

I have had my tank for a little over a week now with nothing in it except gravel, rocks, and a few fake plants. All the levels test perfect except the ammonia. It has measured high and in the 1.0 range twice. Any reason why this would be and how do I correct it?


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Hello and welcome to TFK.

You shouldn't have ammonia present without a source. Did you use gravel from a previous tank setup? Have you used anything to start the cycle like the bottled bacteria, pure ammonia, fish food?

I'd check your tap water for ammonia to start with.


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## h2oIsaiah (Jun 10, 2011)

I used brand new gravel in the tank as well as a bacteria supplement. I'll check the tap water. Will this harm fish?


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## BarbH (May 23, 2011)

Which bacteria supplement did you use? When I used Tetra Safe Start, from information that I found online about the product it says that there will be ammonia in the tank because from what they claim it is what the bacteria needs to live on while it is establishing the benificial bacteria in your tank.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Yes, ammonia will harm your fish. You should wait until your tank is cycled to add fish or if you're going with a fish in cycle, you'll need a hardy type fish and frequent small water changes with a good water conditioner added like Seachem Prime.

What size tank do you have? If you haven't read this thread yet, here's a great guide on cycling.

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...inners-guide-freshwater-aquarium-cycle-38617/


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## h2oIsaiah (Jun 10, 2011)

I think it was topfin bacteria starter. I also used the water conditioner as well. It's a 35 gallon tank.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## kalae (Feb 13, 2011)

the same happened with my first tank. i got some hardy fish (which you should allways start with) and one dose of ammonia fixer and it went straight down


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