Easycarbo And Water Perameters

[orli]

hello all,

I was wondering if anyone knew if Easycarbo would effect water perameters? I put the stated dose in yesterday and have had a nitrite jump to over 5ppm and nitrates jump to 80ppm. They where previously 0 for nitrites and between 5-10ppm for the nitrates when I tested yesterday. I also wondered if Easycarbo killed algae in the water/on surfaces as I have 3 Panda Corys and 2 Ancistrus l.338 and didnt want them to struggle for natural food (I do feed algae wafers occasionaly)

Thankyou in advance for any replies and your time
Orli x

 

[ZoddyZod]

Easycarbo will not increase nitrites or nitrates.

How long has your tank been cycled?

What test kit are you using?

Have you performed a massive water change to bring the nitrites down?

Corys and Plecs should not be living primarly from algae (not even usre corys eat it at all). You need to be providing food for them and not just 'occassionally' placing wafers in the tank.

 

[orli]

Tank has been cycled for 4 months
Using API test kit, yes I knwo everyone says all kits are inacurate, I did double test, not had any water problems for ages!
Did a massive 75% water change so as to not damage fishies.
I was told to feed algae wafers every 3 days, I have been feeding 1 a day and put in 2 (one morning, one afternoon) a couple of days ago to ensure they werent hungry as my mollies and platies are very greedy and eat more of the wafer than the pleco's and cory's.

 

[ZoddyZod]

the API kit is one of the most trusted, so no worries there (as long as it's the liquid based one, and not the strips?)

There must be something else at work here. Any recent fish additions or cleaning of the filter?

 

[orli]

Liquid ones
i did clean the filter sponges about a week ago, cleaned them in the old tank water, only cleaned the sponges, nothing else! Thought it would have had a spike earlier than a week if it was my filter cleaning but obviously not it should clear up soon hopefully, got a bigger filter than needed in the tank. Thankyou for you feedback!
How often would you suggest feeding algae wafers? I have got Hikari sinking wafers.