My ammonia is low. The only times it ever went up was when I fertilized the pool with miracle gro and ammonium sulfate. I was keeping it between half and one PPM with the fertilizer. Once I accidently shot it up to 2ppm because I didn't wait long enough for the test to complete before adding ammonium sulfate. I've had my goldfish that high and the level returned to normal in a few days. The goldfish seemed fine but I didn't like the way the tilapia were looking after the first hour so I drained the pool and changed most of the water. They were only exposed a couple hours. I am thankful for having my half hp sump pump that can empty a pool in a matter of minutes. If I could find urea or some kind of non ammonia based fertilizer I would use it. The day I lost my two fish the ammonia was almost unmeasurable. I am feeding my fish cat food. I got one that floats with really small pellets that 80 percent of my fish can swallow whole. My latest strategy is to give them as much as they can eat for five minutes twice a day.
Another thing I am thankful for is my garden hose water timer. It has saved me a fortune. I can set it to top off my goldfish kiddie pool or as long as two hours which will fill my new pool half way. I was planning on hooking my pools up with floats that fill them but the timer is the way to go.
