High Levels When Doing Water Tests

[damovts]

Hey been doing water test's lately, and even with water changes this is the sorta readings we are getting!

Ammonia 1.0
Nitrate 5
Nirtrie .25
PH 7.9

Any idea's how to lower it all?

 

[waterdrop]

What percentage water changes are you doing? For ammonia at 1.0, you should probably do a 50% water change, wait one hour, test again and if ammonia is not 0.25ppm or below, then do another 50% water change.

Any time ammonia or nitrite levels get over 0.25ppm, it becomes more important to lower those two poisons than to worry about pH or mild temperature shocks to the fish - the poisons are even worse for them than the shocks the smaller water changes are trying avoid.

Longer term you will need to assess the problem with your filter. If it has somehow become un-cycled, it will take on average about 4 weeks for it to cycle, during which time you will need to monitor and do any necessary water changes.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[damovts]

well it was on 2.0 yesterday.. we did a 50% change.. and it was in between 1.0 - 2.0.. we then did another about 3 hours later and it went to 1.0

i did a 50% today and its gone back to 2.0 ><

 

[minxfishy]

You need to keep doing those water changes, as Waterdrop says, any level over 0.25ppm is harmful to the fish and you should immdiately do a 50% water change, if need be, you can do several 50% water changes daily to get those levels down. Try your best to temperature match the water going back into the tank to that of the tank water so as not to cause too much stress to the fish.

Can you tell us the size of the tank, what filtration you use and what fish are also in this tank, just to give us an idea? Also how long has the tank been set up, how did you cycle it. Have you changed the media in the filter recently or added new fish?

In the meantime, keep changing water, testing and changing again if necessary. You may need to keep this up for a few weeks until you can get both ammonia and nitrite to 0 or at least 0.25ppm.

 

[damovts]

Ok i did a water change earlier and the ammonia is still high!!

Shall i do another one?

 

[Ficious]

Can you tell us the size of the tank, what filtration you use and what fish are also in this tank, just to give us an idea? Also how long has the tank been set up, how did you cycle it. Have you changed the media in the filter recently or added new fish?

 

[damovts]

Can you tell us the size of the tank, what filtration you use and what fish are also in this tank, just to give us an idea? Also how long has the tank been set up, how did you cycle it. Have you changed the media in the filter recently or added new fish?

Whoops sorry lol

Its a 90litre tank
Fluval 2 i think it is
Neon's, bleeding harts, peppered cory's, female betta's, Silvertips, harlequinns

About 2 weeks now,

Not change the media in the filter, but added some new fish

 

[minxfishy]

Yep keep up those water changes, with ammonia still reading 1.0 do another 50% water change, test an hour or so later, if it still isnt below 0.25, another 50% water change is in order, keep repeating these steps until your levels are as close to 0 as possible.

 

[damovts]

Yep keep up those water changes, with ammonia still reading 1.0 do another 50% water change, test an hour or so later, if it still isnt below 0.25, another 50% water change is in order, keep repeating these steps until your levels are as close to 0 as possible.

How many times can ya do a 50% water change??

is it fine to go through the gravel quite abit with the syphoon? i did a bit lat time and so some #### came up through it

 

[minxfishy]

You can do as many 50% water changes as it takes really, obviously ensuring you dechlor and try to keep the temp of the water your replacing as close to the tank water temp as possible so as not to shock the fish. When doing a normal water change of 25% the temp isnt so much of a problem, but with a lot of changes then the temp needs to be as close as possible.

Yes you can gravel vac with each change, it will help get rid of some of the waste that could also be causing the ammonia to rise, so a good idea

 

[ammoniator]

You can do as many 50% water changes as it takes really, obviously ensuring you dechlor and try to keep the temp of the water your replacing as close to the tank water temp as possible so as not to shock the fish. When doing a normal water change of 25% the temp isnt so much of a problem, but with a lot of changes then the temp needs to be as close as possible.

Yes you can gravel vac with each change, it will help get rid of some of the waste that could also be causing the ammonia to rise, so a good idea

ive got exactly the same problem. I've done bi weekly water changes, with full gravel cleans over the last 3 weeks. The tank is 240litre (about 65 gal) and has an eheim classic canister 620l/hr 2215 and a 1200l/hr internal filter.

the thing is, the fish look really healthy and seem to be thriving but i cant seem to get the ammonia below 0.75. I have a zero nitrite reading and PH is good..between 7 and 7.2 every time.

any other ideas?

Tim (this is my first post and boy im glad i found this place!)

 

[damovts]

You can do as many 50% water changes as it takes really, obviously ensuring you dechlor and try to keep the temp of the water your replacing as close to the tank water temp as possible so as not to shock the fish. When doing a normal water change of 25% the temp isnt so much of a problem, but with a lot of changes then the temp needs to be as close as possible.

Yes you can gravel vac with each change, it will help get rid of some of the waste that could also be causing the ammonia to rise, so a good idea

Yep, plan on taking out everything today and vacumming every bit of gravel there is

Good idea?

 

[minxfishy]

Hi Tim, you may need to start your own thread in case it gets lost in this one, however, as a quick reply here, unfortunatley bi-weekly isnt really enough when the ammonia or nitrite levels are above 0, you need to be doing more regular water changes, I would suggest 50% to start and then 50% as and when needed, especially with ammonia or nitrite above 0.25ppm.

How did you cycle the tank? Is it a new tank, what fish and how many do you have?

 

[damovts]

Hi Tim, you may need to start your own thread in case it gets lost in this one, however, as a quick reply here, unfortunatley bi-weekly isnt really enough when the ammonia or nitrite levels are above 0, you need to be doing more regular water changes, I would suggest 50% to start and then 50% as and when needed, especially with ammonia or nitrite above 0.25ppm.

How did you cycle the tank? Is it a new tank, what fish and how many do you have?

We cycled it by what it said in this tropical start up box with had with filter start and new water starter

we did a big change today... ammonia was near 1.0 *maybe a bit below*.. BUT nitrate and Nitrite was sky high!!. This was after a like 80% water change and letting it set for about 2 hours

This good or bad

 

[minxfishy]

Oh dear looks like you need to do more water changes Im afraid, sky high nitrite is not good at all, 50% at a time, every couple of hours if necessary, although with nitrite readings it means you are processing some ammonia which is good, nitrite is just as harmful to the fish.