BioSpira Question

[GeffG81]

Hello all, just recently set up my new 10 gallon. I had one years ago but decided to get another. Just wanted to say I have trolled many fish tank forums in the past week and have found the best and most useful info by far on this site.

I had a BioSpira question. I started to cycle my tank regularly with 2 corys ( 1 albino, other unsure), a white cloud, and zebra danio.
After a few days I got impatient and decided to buy BioSpira.

Before I bought the BioSpira, my results looked like this:

Date PH Amonia Nitrite Nitrate
6/14 7.2 0 0 0
6/15 7.2 .25 0 0
6/16 7.6 .5 0 0
6/17 7.6 1 0 0
6/18 7.6 1 0 0
6/19 7.8 1 .25 5

The BioSpira was added on 6/18 after the test results for that day.
I was wondering if this is normal results. I would think with the Nitrite and Nitrate levels going up, the amonia would have gone down but it hasnt. Maybe I have to wait a little longer?? My tank also seems to lose water due to evaporation alot, so I added about a gallon today.
Are the amonia levels still supposed to be at 1?? Also another question about the PH, I added something called PH 7.0 Seachem Neutral Regulator, which is supposed to neutralize the PH to 7.0, but I added it yesterday and the PH levels actually went up to 7.8 instead of back down to 7.0. Is this just a crappy product or does this take time to work?? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sinistral]

Well...this is an interesting result. If I didn't know better, I'd suggest that the Bio-spira is actually doing something.

Here's my interpretation of your data: After adding bio-spira on 6/18, we can see the immediate appearance of nitrItes *and* nitrAtes. This is a *good* sign, as it indicates that nitrifying bacteria are present in your tank. In the absence of seeding the tank with bacteria, ammonia tends to rise and then fall over the period of a week to two weeks, give or take. I'd suggest that on 6/19, whatever happened is mild, and may be preventing ammonia from rising further (you can see it trending upwards over the course of a few days). At this point, you're on the right track-- some water changes to keep ammonia low would be in order (cory cats are not the best fish to cycle with, as they are sensitive to nitrogenous wastes).

Do you have a hood for the tank? That's one cause of lots of evaporation loss.

I wouldn't add any pH adjusting product at this time. I'll say more about that in a few minutes...

 

[GeffG81]

Today Amonia levels remained at 1, Nitrite levels jumped up to .5 (from .25) and nitrate levels remained at 5.

Does this seem like normal readings for the biospira??

Also the PH neutralizer seems to do absolutley nothing, Im gonna try and see if I can get a refund on that, anyone know of any good PH neutralizers or anything I can buy to lower my PH that actually works??

 

[GeffG81]

Thank you sinstral, yes I do have a hood on my tank, it is somewhat near a window. In the past when I had my tank set up, this was always a problem and especially during the summer months, adding about a gallon every week or so was normal for me. The first week of the tank setup was also during a little heat wave with temps in the upper 90s so the extreme heat may be the reason, it has cooled down now though so I will monitor it.

 

[sinistral]

I see why you're having the evaporation problems now (tank is near a window). Does direct sunlight hit the tank at all during the day? I inquire because if so you may be in for some algae problems...

Seachem's neutral regulator is a high phosphate buffer. The other part about adjusting pH is keeping in mind that buffers are already present in water that will prevent you from doing easy pH changes. If you've done titration curves in General Chem you are already familiar with what this means.

In any event, I wouldn't do too much at the moment to adjust your pH.