# Can Crypts Cause Ammonia?



## DeJay126 (Apr 22, 2013)

I have 2 Crypts that are slowly "crypt melting". I have been experiencing .25-.50 ammonia every day for about a week now. I have been doing about 33% PWCs so that my fish don't all just up and die from ammonia poisoning. My question is can the crypts melting cause the ammonia to rise or is it something else? I cleaned the gravel (took it out and cleaned it) like a week ago because I thought it was causing the cloudy water in my aquarium. So it's either the gravel or the plants causing the ammonia.


----------



## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

Feeding too much? 

Sounds like you killed anything in the gravel, what did you do/not do to the filter when you cleaned out the gravel?

What kind of filter do you run? You may have enough fish in your tank that you're taxing the filters ability to run it's cycle, and killing everything in the gravel was enough to kick off a mini cycle.

Hi Sue!


----------



## DeJay126 (Apr 22, 2013)

I cleaned the filter cartridges (all four) in the dirty tank water. And I cut my feeding back to 1 time a day, so I know I'm not overfeeding.


----------



## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

how long has this tank been set up?


----------



## DeJay126 (Apr 22, 2013)

Its been set up for about 3 weeks.


----------



## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Now there is the issue(s) with it. If you did not use Safe Start(it takes about 2 weeks to cycle a tank/w it) your tank is still doing a cycle.
A natural cycle(I've heard 29 versions of this but most say)will take from 6-8 weeks.
You might use some Safe Start now to save your fish. My LFS says they suggest doing half the bottle first and the other half(not picky about being exact)
on the next day or third day. You will see a reduction in ammonia within hrs after using the Safe Start(but only slight). I would do a water change of
about 30-40% before using the SS but then don't do any more for the first week unless the ammonia gets over .40
The bacteria don't stay suspended in the water but cling to whatever they come in contact/w in there. This means that after a few days you can change the
water without effecting them(but don't use any chemicals except de-chlorinator only for the first 2-3 weeks. It also means that the entire inside of the tank
except for the water is part of "the biological filter". Inside walls of glass/filter and even semi hard surfaces like plant stems and of course the top of the substrate
or gravel. Change only one part of filter at a time and don't clean all the glass at the same time you clean any filter part as you will remove/kill too much
of those beneficial bacteria all at once.
Product dis-claimer: LOL I would appreciate a co-sign (or a "are you nuts ?") on this by any of the more experienced members as that is where I've extrapolated it from.
Safe Start is the freshwater version of "Bio-Spira" which is a laboratory developed bacteria made just for cycling.


----------



## DeJay126 (Apr 22, 2013)

I already cycled the tank using the fishless method. I just set it through a mini cycle by cleaning the gravel.


----------



## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

I just realized that I never actually answered your question about the crypts. I got one recently which did not do that but have heard that they will sacrifice some or all of the leaves but then come back up from the roots. They do contribute some ammonia when decomposing but I never have taken out any of the dead plants in my
tank(one which I'm trying to allow it to be 100% natural except for the air line) and the bio filter handles it quite well. If you can remove parts without removing the root
it may sprout back.


----------

