# cork bark + ammonia?



## fishorama (Apr 18, 2009)

I'm trying some cork bark siliconed to slate in a new tank & noticed an ammonia spike of almost 1ppm after 1 day. The tank is cycled but fishless thank goodness & only lightly planted. Anyone have this happen? How long might this go on?


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## surpera1 (Feb 18, 2009)

hard to say - but if you cram a lot of plants in there - they will consume ammonia - no fish ?


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## fishorama (Apr 18, 2009)

Ooops, I thought I put this in Aquascaping, sorry.

No fish yet but I have some ready to move in. Kuhli loaches, apistos & a BN plec so I want to have at least some hardscape for them to hide. I did a sort of combo of silent cycling, fishless ammonia & filter squeezin's. I was surprised by the ammonia spike, tannins & a possible pH drop maybe. But I'm not used to testing often . 

I have more cork I'd like to add over the next couple weeks but if I'll get ammonia each time I need to protect my fish. I have mostly slow growing low light plants though this tank will be medium, ~2w/g. I need more stem plants sooner than later I guess.


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## crystalview (Mar 9, 2008)

I am buying some raw cork bark from Tom Barr and he did not mention any increase in Ammonia. He did tell me there are some tannins but I will pre-soak. 
If the tank has been up and running for a bit without fish you can loose your cycle with out feeding it. Can you check the nitrates and nitrites along with the ammonia. I would add more filter mulm to feed the new tank. Add the fish slowly you can also obtain an ammonia spike if they are add all at once.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

I have used the bark of other oak species, and had LOTS of tannins, but not ammonia. 
Treat this like a continuation of a fishless cycle. Keep monitoring the ammonia and nitrite. Allow the ammonia to go to 5 ppm (if it wants to) to feed the nitrifying bacteria. Allow the nitrites to go to 5 ppm, but do a water change if they try to go higher, nitrite can inhibit the growth of the bacteria. 

You could test the other cork bark in a bucket of water that you know has no ammonia, and let it soak for a few days, then test. 

Look for other sources of ammonia, too. Did you add anything else to the tank that was not decomposed, such as meat or shellfish, perhaps some fishfood or even plants with dying leaves? These are usually the things that add ammonia to the tank. Good way to do a fishless cycle. Wood (cork, driftwood) usually decomposes too slowly to contribute any significant amount of ammonia to the tank. 

If the water is clear enough that the light is good, I would go ahead and plant. The plants will help use up some of the ammonia, and get their roots established so that when you add fish they are less likely to dig up the plants. 

If the ammonia drops to 0 ppm, and you are not yet ready to add fish you need to keep feeding the nitrfying bacteria. Use clear, pure ammonia, with no surfactants, perfumes or other additives. Add enough to read 3 ppm ammonia until you are ready to add fish, then do a couple of BIG water changes to remove any remaining nitrogen. 
The bacteria and plants ought to be able to return the ammonia to 0 ppm overnight, and to keep the nitrite at 0 ppm. The nitrate might be really high, if the plants are not using it.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

i did experience this same problem once with cork bark. the actual cork was not the source for the rotting organics, rather, the lichens that were attached to it.


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## fishorama (Apr 18, 2009)

Lichens! I think that could be it hydrophyte. Did you need to remove them with a brush or anything? Or does the ammonia go away? It's not a lot, 1x2 inch sparse area. 

I did have a little ambulia die but not much, nothing the bacteria didn't handle.

I did use ammonia to keep the cycle going & it had dropped to 0 again just before adding the cork. I had been going to add a couple fish but I'm glad I didn't. 

Day 3 post-cork & ammonia has only dropped from 1ppm to .5., no nitrites, nitrates ~10. I guess I'll add some more filter squeezin's & try to remove some lichens--this is why I didn't want to attach the bark to the tank itself.

Thanks for all the help


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

fishorama said:


> Lichens! I think that could be it hydrophyte. Did you need to remove them with a brush or anything? Or does the ammonia go away? It's not a lot, 1x2 inch sparse area.


the lichens on the bark that i used didn't cover so much area either, but i'm pretty sure that that was the source of the problem. for all pieces that i moistened the bark, used a brush to scrub everything off the surface, then rinsed thoroughly.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

fishorama said:


> Lichens! I think that could be it hydrophyte. Did you need to remove them with a brush or anything? Or does the ammonia go away? It's not a lot, 1x2 inch sparse area.


the lichens on the bark that i used didn't cover so much area either, but i'm pretty sure that that was the source of the problem. for all pieces that i used after that first experience i moistened the bark, used a brush to scrub everything off the surface, then rinsed thoroughly.


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## fishorama (Apr 18, 2009)

Thanks again. I did just brush & scrape off the lichens. It was a bigger area than I'd thought when viewed very close up but not a lot mass. I'll definately soak the next piece & look hard for little lichens. Too bad, I kinda liked the "patina" look.


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## fishorama (Apr 18, 2009)

Yeah! ammonia gone, well maybe a trace of green with API, no nitrites. Onto the next cork + slate, with java fern this time. My apisto fry are starting to fight so I should be able to move them very soon.


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