Gravel Clean To New Tank

[Newbiesoulman]

hi everyone ,
 
My tank has been running now for 5 - 6 weeks , every thing has been ok , But the ammonia and the nitrates have gone up slightly today than last week , so I have done a 10% water change , but I am wondering if the gravel might need a clean , to be honest it looks ok , when will be the time to give the gravel a clean , thanks Eddy

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Most people clean their gravel every water change. It would be best if you have your gravel a clean just to be sure

Have you added anything new to the tank that could have caused a spike in ammonia?

 

[Newbiesoulman]

hi , thanks for the reply , no I haven't added anything at all , so im a bit confused why its happened , I will do a gravle clean tomorrow when I do a water change , the only thing I can think that it maybe , I have been doing a 10% water change every day while waiting for the filter to mature , last sunday I took a water sample to the lfs for them to check it for me , when I was there I bought a testing kit so I could do it myself , the lad said everything was ok  he told me to start doing a 10 % water change every 3 days instead of daily , I did a test in the week  everything was ok ,so today ( sat ) I decide to do another test as one of my male mollies is acting a bit strange ,
 
these are the readings I got
 
 
ph 7.6
 
ammonia 0.25
 
nitrite 0.25
 
nitrate 5.0
 
 
I think I will go back to doing daily 10% water changes and do daily test to  see how it goes,
 
thanks Eddy

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Is the tank cycled?
 
You can let the ammonia get up to 1ppm before you have to do a water change

 

[ShinySideUp]

Personally I wouldn't touch the gravel at all for the moment, don't disturb it as you may release detritus into the tank which would put more load on the filter. Changing 10% of water every day is next to useless for the following reason:
 
The 0.25 ammonia reading refers to 0.25 parts per million of ammonia in your water. If you change 10% of your water you are removing 10% of 0.25 ppm which is 0.025; hardly worth the effort as you get  0.25 - 0.025 = 0.225. Change 10% the following day and (disregarding any new ammonia build-up) you have 0.225 - (0.225 *10 /100) = 0.2, still too high. 10% the following day and you will end up with 0.18ppm, still no good and anyway your ammonia may still be being generated.
 
However:
 
Change 50% of your  water in one go and using the same calculation you end up with a reading of 0.125 ppm which is pretty good.
 
Change 80% of your water in one go and you end up with an ammonia reading of 0.05 ppm. Pretty much zero.
 
So your best bet would be to change 80% of the water say every three days and monitor in between.
 
PS Blondie, I think with a pH of 7.6, 1 ppm is way too high. If the pH is under 7 you might get away with it as ammonia tends to stay as ammonium in acidic water and this doesn't harm the fish. Once the water turns alkali, and at 7.6 it is quite alkaline, more of the ammonium turns to ammonia and becomes toxic.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

PS Blondie, I think with a pH of 7.6, 1 ppm is way too high. If the pH is under 7 you might get away with it as ammonia tends to stay as ammonium in acidic water and this doesn't harm the fish. Once the water turns alkali, and at 7.6 it is quite alkaline, more of the ammonium turns to ammonia and becomes toxic.

 
I was talking to TwoTankAmin yesterday and he was saying that with a pH under 8, the ammonia can safely get up to 2ppm before it does long term harm (providing the fish aren't in that amount of ammonia for too long). 
You may be right though, I was just pretty much repeating what he was saying

 

[ShinySideUp]

 

PS Blondie, I think with a pH of 7.6, 1 ppm is way too high. If the pH is under 7 you might get away with it as ammonia tends to stay as ammonium in acidic water and this doesn't harm the fish. Once the water turns alkali, and at 7.6 it is quite alkaline, more of the ammonium turns to ammonia and becomes toxic.

 
I was talking to TwoTankAmin yesterday and he was saying that with a pH under 8, the ammonia can safely get up to 2ppm before it does long term harm (providing the fish aren't in that amount of ammonia for too long). 
You may be right though, I was just pretty much repeating what he was saying

 

I wouldn't like to risk it but if the change in the water was gradual I suppose the fish could tolerate it for a short time. Bit like living in a smoky room, it'll kill you in the end, but a bit quicker.

 

[Newbiesoulman]

hi , thanks for the replies to my tank problem , today I have done 50% water change , I also went to the lfs and bought some carbon and put it in my filter , I will leave it for 2 days then check the water again if it has dropped ,  I will probably do another water change , I think maybe running the filter without carbon is the cause ? , I took the old carbon out as it had been in the filter 6 weeks , to be honest I read somewhere that not to leave carbon in the filter to long , as it leaks back into the tank , how long shall I leave this new carbon in for this time ? , thanks Eddy

 

[ShinySideUp]

Most aquarists don't use carbon as all it does is remove old medications if you've used any and will also remove plant fertilizers almost as soon as you put it in. It does have a 'water polishing' effect but it is short-lived. Better to use the space for another filter sponge to increase the size of the bacterial mat. Carbon will have no effect on ammonia or nitrite levels whatsoever.

 

[Newbiesoulman]

ok nice one , I do have some spare sponge I will fit them in later today, I had a look the tank this morning and the male mollie is back to normal so it looks as if the 50 % water change has perked it up , also the filter I am using is a versamax 3 ,the  max range is 1200 ltrs ph ,I aint got a clue how many ltrs tank I have as I had it made , at the moment I have it running at half speed will I need to speed it up for the size of the tank , thanks Eddy