# Raised Ammonia Level



## mikekomm (Jan 31, 2011)

I recently added CO2, increased my lighting to 5 watts per gallon and started (20%) to use R/O water in my 55 gallon tank. The PH has dropped from 7.8 to 6.8 which is what my PH controller is set at. Prior to these changes, ammonia level was at zero. Now it is between .5 - 1.0 PPM. Do any of these changes affect the whole system in a way that would cause a rise in ammonia?


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

last time i had a small ammonia spike it was due to a prolonged filter maintenance that caused my bio filtering to take a hit


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## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

We could take a wild guess and say that due to increase in lighting, your other nutrients bottom out thus leaving the ammonia unused/ unconverted by the plants/system. The system should eventually build up enough microbes to convert the ammonia. If not, then algae bloom will take off. 

Have you changed your fertilizing regime after increasing the light level?


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