Help- High Nitrates

[Bluebubbles]

Hi.
I have a 2ft turtle tank that houses two green tree frogs and is holding about 30 liters of water.

I bought a freshwater master test kit today for the fish tank I'm setting up and decided to test the water in the frogs tank out of curiosity and the Ammonia is at 0.25ppm, Nitrite is at 0ppm and the Nitrate is at 160ppm.

This was approximately 2 hours after changing out 2 thirds of the water.

Should I be concerned?

Thanks

 

[BoomerXIV]

Wait, just to be clear, you dont have anything beside tree frogs in there right?

 

[mbsqw1d]

Hi.
I have a 2ft turtle tank that houses two green tree frogs and is holding about 30 liters of water.

I bought a freshwater master test kit today for the fish tank I'm setting up and decided to test the water in the frogs tank out of curiosity and the Ammonia is at 0.25ppm, Nitrite is at 0ppm and the Nitrate is at 160ppm.

This was approximately 2 hours after changing out 2 thirds of the water.

Should I be concerned?

Thanks

What's the nitrate measure like on your tap water/water source?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Your readings must be wrong... even in an uncycled tank, the nitrate readings never go above 100ppm. Will you please re test? What test kit do you have?

 

[Essjay]

Is the water contaminated with anything eg frog poop?

 

[seangee]

How frequently did you do water changes before the big change? And how much do you normally change? Nitrates will just climb forever unless you remove them (by dilution). I suggest that you test your tap water to get a baseline. Then do another large water change and test the tank again.

 

[seangee]

Your readings must be wrong... even in an uncycled tank, the nitrate readings never go above 100ppm. Will you please re test? What test kit do you have?

Please check you sources. That information is patently incorrect. And FWIW nitrate in a cycled tank will be higher than an uncycled one.

 

[Essjay]

A cycled tank makes nitrate from ammonia unless there are plants which take up the ammonia faster than the bacteria. In a cycled, non-planted tank which has infrequent water changes, nitrate just goes up and up. That's part of old tank syndrome.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

A cycled tank makes nitrate from ammonia unless there are plants which take up the ammonia faster than the bacteria. In a cycled, non-planted tank which has infrequent water changes, nitrate just goes up and up. That's part of old tank syndrome.

This is what happened in my dad's tank. Years of 'topping up' without doing regular water changes, let alone large ones. When I first tested it when I took over maintenance, the nitrates tube was a deep, deep dark red, off the chart. It took 4-5 30% water changes just to get it down closer to 80ppm. Nitrates must have been well over 200ppm and I had to bring it down slowly with smaller water changes a couple of days apart to give the fish time to adjust. I was told if I did it too fast, with huge water changes when they hadn't been done for so long, that I could kill the fish. So slow and steady just to get it back into a measurable range.

 

[Bluebubbles]

Wait, just to be clear, you don't have anything besides tree frogs in there, right?

Also 2 snails.

What's the nitrate measure like on your tap water/water source?

From my tap the Ammonia, Nitrate, and Nitrite all measure 0ppm.
I also tested my 5g betta tanks water and I was also 0ppm for all and had a water change around the same time as the frogs but not as much water was changed.

Your readings must be wrong... even in an uncycled tank, the nitrate readings never go above 100ppm. Will you please re-test? What test kit do you have?

I'll test again in a few minutes and get back to you. I have the API Freshwater Master Test Kit.

Is the water contaminated with anything eg frog poop?

Over the week it will become contaminated with deceased insects (Woodies and crickets) and frog poop. The only plant matter in there is an anubias attached to driftwood.

How frequently did you do water changes before the big change? And how much do you normally change? Nitrates will just climb forever unless you remove them (by dilution). I suggest that you test your tap water to get a baseline. Then do another large water change and test the tank again.

The tank is cleaned every 2 weeks and 20ls out of the 30ls are changed.

Sorry if I have missed any questions

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Ok, that is a good test kit.

You may have not performed the test correctly, which can lead to skewed results.

 

[Bluebubbles]

Ok, that is a good test kit.

You may have not performed the test correctly, which can lead to skewed results.

Quick to call user error

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Quick to call user error

Didn’t mean to offend! It is just a very common error.

 

[Bluebubbles]

Didn’t mean to offend! It is just a very common error.

No it's all good I'm not offended. It's a likely possibility

 

[Bluebubbles]

I have just retestedand the Ammonia is at 2.0ppm, Nitrites are 0.25ppm and Nitrates are in between 0ppm-5.0ppm.