[Rich L]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell Peters Salt will not help with the ammonia but it will help when you get nitrites. Your filter will cycle more slowly in colder temperatures. I would watch your ammonia to make sure that it does not go above 0.10. You can control your ammonia level by adding ClorAm-X. Add it slowly because you do not want to make the ammonia go away as your filter needs some to cycle. I would also add some nitifying bacteria as well. Maybe you should wait to add all of them until you see that your new filter is kicking in.

Bring the salt to .1%. That will reduce the stress that will occur when the nitrites do appear. Nitrites are the product of ammonia being converted by bacteria so they don’t start until there’s ammonia to nourish those bacteria. Once you see the nitrite spike appear, then disappear, you can stop with the salt.

Don’t worry much about ammonia at low temperatures. It’s almost all in its non-toxic form NH4. As the water warms, I don’t expect your new filters will be able to deal with the ammonia and the ammonia will start to convert to NH3, its toxic form. Your feeding practices won’t be a problem until your stocking levels increase. You will see an ammonia spike about ½ hour after feeding. If your water pH is high, (8.3?) I would start treating 10% water changes at 60 deg. Lower pHs (7.5) probably won’t be a problem unless your filter dies off or you make large water changes. That’s when I would use either ChlorAm-X or Amquell. They are both essentially the same product although commercial selling practices will want you to believe their product is much, much better. Prices aren’t that much different so get whichever is available close to you.

And neither of those products will cause the ammonia to “go away”. They simply bind it and the filter bacteria will still convert it to nitrites when they can catch up.

You will go a long way looking for support for store bought nitrifying bacteria if you check with experienced hobbyists. On the other hand, most people who sell it claim it’s great. Go wonder!