reducing ammonia NH3 levels

We know high levels of NH3 (ammonia) is harmful to fish in the aquarium or pond but reducing them can often be a problem.

The root cause of high NH3 can vary but usually it is worth checking the following:

1.  make sure you are not over stocking or stocking too qucikly. Also see New tank syndrome.
2. make sure you are not overfeeding.
3.  make sure that a fish has not died in the pond or aquarium.
4.  make sure that your filtration is working correctly and not too small
5. ensure that water used for changes has a similar pH, else  NH3 may be converted from NH4 with a pH increase.
6. filters may have been over cleaned and the beneficial bacteria colonies killed or removed.

Here are a few common ways to remove or control ammonia:

1. water changes - this is by far the fastest and most reliable method but care should be taken, click here to find out why.
2. ammonia removing chemicals - there are many ammonia removers on the market but they are no magic cure. You have ammonia because somthing is wrong, using chemicals is not a long term solution.
3. increasing biological filtration - this may take longer than the other above so may need to be used in conjunction with them. Usually it involves adding more filtration, especially with a high flow and media with a large surface area for bacteria to colonise. Another way is encourage bacteria to colonise much more rapidally a few tips can be found here.