ammonia high

the water's still mucky but I decided to have a go and start adding the ammonia. Made a BIG, HUGE mistake and decided to see if ammonia smells as bad as everyone says............................it does, and my eyes and nose are just settling down from that!.

Added some ammoinia last night and checked the water this morning - ph 7.8, ammonia 8!

what do I do now please??

Do a 50% water change to dilute the ammonia level down. Test again and, if necessary do another water change until the ammonia level is 4ppm. Don't worry, it's a common enough newbie mistake.

Ooh, bottles of ammonia should come with a Government Health warning................sniffing this can seriously damage your health!

By the sound of it you have overdosed your tank a bit. As Mary says it is a common mistake - best to get all the errors out of the way early ..

I think GD did a similar thing didnt he? It took a couple of water changes to get the ammonia down if I remember right, so keep testing the water and change as needed.

Oh..............dint forget......................dont smell the ammonia

Have checked the water this morning and it still seems too dark on the strip. Would it be ok to empty the tank and start again or is that going to damage things?

Evie I had a similar issue as yourself....My advice Change 50% of the water and leave it a few hours and test....if its still high repaet..

Ispent around 18hrs doing waterchanges! its not fun good luck

PS sorry i aint been on here for a long time

Hiya GD, nice to 'see' you again . Hope all is well in your fishy emporium!

Well I havent done as many water changes as I shouls have done but at last my reading is 4. Should I just leave it now till it drops below that?

That's right evie. Just test your tank water at the same time every day, and if it drops below 4 then add ammonia in little drops and test until it it back up to 4 again.

Post your readings on here every day if you like and we can go through it with you!