Confussed.......

[AncientMariner]

Right here goes... Is it possible to have a fairly high Ammonia reading of 1.5mg/l but a NitrAte reading of 12mg/l (an ok level) I didn't check the nitrIte reading as I don't have a test kit for this)

These where my readings today after a couple of fish just didn't look right.

I did a 30/40% water change & have just checked & ammonia is back to 0mg/l.

The reason I ask is the filter I have is good upto 135 uk gallons (Eheim External 2128 model) but my tank is only 70 uk gallons so I was of the understanding it would have enough build up of benificial bacteria in it to put any ammonia & nitrIte down to just nitrAte. (Water changes to move this)

I will be honest & say it is 2 weeks since I did a 30% water change.

Help please, am I missing something??

 

[WILDER]

Well if you had alot of decaying food in there yes you can get ammonia reading, that's why it always wise to do a gravel vac and water change weekly.

 

[AncientMariner]

Well if you had alot of decaying food in there yes you can get ammonia reading, that's why it always wise to do a gravel vac and water change weekly.

Ok thanks Wilder. So there is there no real benefit in having an overkill external filter?

Ps - You mentioned decaying food, this last 2 weeks I have only fed flake & some lettuce & sproat leaves.

But I did introduce live plants only 3 weeks ago & have noticed broken pieces of plants at the bottom of the tank & my Cigar Shark & Severum have polished off 2 plants in this period & I have noticed lots of green poop too.

Could this be a reason?

 

[WILDER]

Filters do a good job, but you still have to maintain the tank to keep good water quality, did you remove the veg after a day once they had finished, could be the plants if some leaves were rotting away.

 

[AncientMariner]

Filters do a good job, but you still have to maintain the tank to keep good water quality, did you remove the veg after a day once they had finished, could be the plants if some leaves were rotting away.

They ate all the veg I put in. Anyway just goint to keep an eye on things each week for the next month or so. Seems I can't afford to leave it longer than the once a week water changes everybody goes on about